We explore whether the use of assistive technology allows teachers and children to negotiate shared understandings for learning science and language. We understand our afterschool sessions as critical encounters. Artifacts used in the encounters enabled transcending of the tensions and became drivers for learning. In the studied 13 encounters,…

Sixty middle school students, half average-achieving and half with learning disabilities (LD), were assigned to either a positive or neutral mood induction condition prior to receiving instruction in elementary Hindi language (to control for effects of prior knowledge). Across a two-week period, the LD students in the positive condition performed…

Second language educators need to examine in greater depth the learning processes of young children in order to provide them with the kind of teaching they need in order to really learn. This means searching other fields to learn as much as possible about: questioning strategies and the development of critical thinking skills; hemispheric…