Rhymes are popular tools in children's learning in many cultures, but the pedagogical underpinnings of rhyme practice are largely unknown. Drawing on insights from a study in China, this paper explores the pedagogical meaning and function of rhymes in early childhood education. Individual interviews were conducted with 10 Chinese early childhood…

Based on self-determination theory, this study examines the relations between teachers' perception of classes' engagement, their motivating teaching practices, and students' motivation. Fifty-two physical education (PE) teachers and their 1,040 students from 52 classes participated in this study. Teachers' perception of classes' engagement was…

Storytelling plays a central role in human communication and in conflict. This activity can be used to teach students the importance of telling stories to better understand conflict or simply to practice storytelling. By engaging in mediations, students simulate the process of resolving conflict, practice storytelling, and improve their active…

Dynamic assessment (DA) is an interactive assessment that encompasses planned mediational teaching and assessment of the effects of that teaching on subsequent performance. DA has been motivated by the inadequacy of conventional static tests to provide accurate information about the individual's learning ability, deficient functions, change…

Spatial ability is a form of intelligence where a person demonstrates the capacity to mentally generate, transform, and rotate a visual image and thus understand and recall spatial relationships between real and imagined objects. The aim of this paper is three-fold: (1) to review related empirical studies on spatial abilities for young children…

Based on self-determination theory and achievement goal theory, this study provided a serial multiple mediation model that examined how students' perceptions of teacher autonomy support (PTAS) relate to different achievement motivations (mastery and performance-approach goals), and further associate with students' intellectual risk-taking (IRT)…

The term 'mediation' has become central to intercultural language education, a fact that is evident from the attention given to mediation activities and strategies in the revised descriptors of the "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages" (North et al. 2017). However, what is meant by 'mediation' is not always clear to…

Over the past 20 years, a significant amount of research has located sports coaching principally as an educational endeavour. In particular, non-linear educative approaches have attracted much attention yet few studies have explored in any real depth the theoretical underpinnings of such practices. Where conceptual analyses have been conducted,…

The creativity is expressed in all individuals, but it manifests itself in different proportions and it may be carried out at different levels. Development levels of this attribute depend on the teacher's mediation in the process of learning. Creativity can be a challenge for most teachers, since they are unaware of its importance and unwittingly…

Although some research has been conducted on the importance of mediation in language learning and teaching (Dendrinos, 2006; González-Davies, 2020; Piccardo, 2012, 2020; Scarino, 2016), there is still scarce research on the integration of plurilingualism, mediation, and technology. Through qualitative and quantitative methodology, this paper…

In this study we analyze how learners constitute what it means to learn and know a song. This is investigated in the context of four 9- to 10-year-old children in dyads teaching each other to sing a song of their own choosing. How the children take on this task is studied in terms of how they dialogically co-construct pedagogical and musical…

Background: Recent alternative concepts of school knowledge emphasize knowledge creation via networks of learning around real-world phenomena. We studied entrepreneurship education as an example of new epistemic activity which opens institutional boundaries for active engagement with society in learning. Methods: We used a case-study strategy and…

The aim of this paper is to address the teaching and learning processes in schools from a Vygotskian perspective based on the notion of "identity artefacts" (IAs) which, for our purposes, consist of documents created by the learners about themselves, in which they try to capture all the things that make sense and are meaningful to them…

The funds of knowledge framework promotes connecting community contexts with curriculum aimed to activate children's prior knowledge. Typically, teachers determine what knowledge sources harmonise best with their existing programming, potentially omitting particular resources that may not align. Young children, on the other hand, can act as agents…

In light of the recent growing interest in conceptual learning and teaching of calculus, and especially with the focus on using technological environments, our study was designed to explore the learning processes and the role played by multiple-linked representations and by interactive technological environment in objectifying the accumulation…