The purpose of this study was to measure to what extent an experimental method of teaching argument incorporating elements from both Toulmin's (2004) structural approach and Walton's (2013) dialectical approach effects first-year college students' ability to write strong arguments. This experimental instruction used critical questioning as a…

Nearly all undergraduate biology courses rely on quizzes and exams. Despite their prevalence, very little work has been done to explore how the framing of assessment questions may influence student performance and affect. Here, we conduct a quasi-random experimental study where students in different sections of the same course were given…

Amidst the disruptions caused by COVID-19, maintaining learner engagement in traditional and online courses has become a significant concern. This study explores the use of embedded video questions in an undergraduate Biology course grounded in the Learning Experience Design (LXD) pedagogical paradigm with the objective to reduce cognitive load…

The questions in the practice assignments given to students in the form of worksheets or other formats are often grouped by chapter, topic, or concepts. There is a great emphasis on categorization. Most of the end-of-chapter problems in chemistry textbooks are organized by sections. Although this was done with the intention of helping students…

In recent years, there has been an effort to develop reform-oriented and inquiry-based early science instruction. Preliminary studies suggest that participation in inquiry-based learning activities promotes preschoolers' learning and interest in science. In addition, science education in early childhood is of great importance to many aspects of a…

Purpose: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty asking questions during social conversation, which can negatively impact their interactions with peers. The purpose of this study was to assess whether a question bank intervention would be effective in improving question asking during social conversation. Method: In…

My dissertation examines undergraduates' online learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic through three distinct studies. The primary goal of my dissertation is to shed light on crucial aspects of social cognitive learning theories and learning experience design (LXD) applied in distance learning. These studies, using an LXD approach…

Parents who vary in their experience with formal schooling are likely to use different types of informal guidance with their children. However, rather than assuming a deficit approach we need evidence regarding how parents with limited schooling support their children's learning. Forty U.S. families of Mexican-heritage, from two levels of…

A new teaching assistant model was adopted and qualitatively assessed for the general chemistry laboratory, in which both an undergraduate and a graduate teaching assistant provided instruction to students during the lab. Verbal interactions between graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants were recorded, transcribed, and coded using the…

Questioning is recognised as a well-established aspect of good mathematics teaching, and this study draws on this instructional practice to provide multilingual learners high-level mathematics, discourse, and cognitively demanding mathematics. Three seventh grade mathematics teachers engaged in professional learning to develop their questioning…

This study is part of a series of in situ design-based research investigations within a large public university in California, assessing undergraduate science instruction while distance learning. It has become increasingly important to identify sustainable learning alternatives to support online teaching and learning while integrating educational…

Purpose: Emergent bilinguals (EBs) from Spanish-speaking households are a sizable and quickly growing segment of the preschool population in the United States. However, there is limited research on the provision of opportunities for EBs to engage in language-rich classroom discussion, particularly in English-dominant contexts where most EBs attend…

This one-year collaborative study examined the role of narrative in promoting new forms of culturally responsive literacy learning in two contrasting international preschool contexts. The qualitative project was carried out by a U.S.-based teacher educator and a Palestinian-based teacher educator who examined the benefits of culturally responsive…

This study involved empirical investigation of a moves-based conceptualization of teacher practices of planning, enacting, and reflecting on formative assessment (FA) in mathematics classrooms in a high-needs school district in California. A qualitative case study of six middle school mathematics teachers' practices of "posing"…

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how using technology tools during mentoring impacts the desired outcomes, as defined by the mentor-mentee contract, of the mentoring relationships of technology workers at a private graduate university with the main campus in Southern California. Methodology: This was a single…