This paper focuses on evaluating a socio-cultural activity design (SCAD) model for using discussion-based social networking tools as a means to support the development of an online community of learners. Participants included 38 undergraduate students enrolled in a human-centered design course at a large, US university. The SCAD model includes…

Using student mathematical thinking during instruction is valued by the mathematics education community, yet practices surrounding such use remain difficult for teachers to enact well, particularly in the moment during whole-class instruction. Teachers' orientations--their beliefs, values, and preferences--influence their actions, so one important…

Critical thinking (CT) is an essential skill in today's ever-changing society. Yet, the influences of instructional strategy, a crucial factor of educational outcomes, on the development of CT remains unclear. We proposed that the instructional strategy played a significant role in fostering CT and aimed to explore the complex neural mechanisms…

The purpose of the article is to determine the role of critical thinking and unconscious competence in the implementation of effective communication during group discussions, debates and dialogues. The necessary conditions for creating an effective educational environment conducive to the development of students' conversational skills are…

Classroom discussions represent a common learning activity for students in schools. The prevailing discourse has focused on how to encourage as many students as possible to participate actively in classroom discussions with the assumption that only vocal students are engaged learners. The present essay critically challenges this position by…

Cognitively demanding tasks provide important opportunities for students to develop an understanding of mathematics; however, they are challenging to launch and implement. The authors designed a secondary methods unit on launching tasks. Participants in the study were enrolled in five different methods courses. Using a noticing framework, findings…

Understanding the relationship between social interaction patterns and cognitive engagement levels has critical implications on collaborative learning theory, pedagogy, and technology. This study used a multi-method approach to examine the relationship between students' social participatory roles and cognitive engagement levels within asynchronous…

The current study implements digital connectivism theory within an English language teaching (ELT) program-- specifically for pre-service teachers--in order to evaluate teachers' ability to generate teaching activities with Bloom's taxonomy. Connectivism theory emphasizes the principle of connecting students in a network of cognitive processes…

This paper draws on self-efficacy questionnaire data collected at the beginning and end of the TOEIC course, TOEIC scores and focus group discussions data from participating students at a technical university in Vietnam. While the quantitative data reveal positive effects in terms of TOEIC self-efficacy, the qualitative data show how changes in…

Literature circles [LC] are student-centered discussion groups that use various roles to make reading meaningful, comprehensible and enjoyable. The current research investigated the questioning effects and students' perceptions of integrating EFL [English-as-a-foreign-language] literature circles through student-led Facebook Groups. Findings…

This report presents the compilation of interaction analysis of a month long online discussion that supplemented regular FAIMER fellowship programme for health professional teachers. Online discussion forums are considered as an effective means and if conducted using appropriate protocols and activities will help learners to share and gain…

Cognitive group awareness tools are a means to guide collaborative learning activities by providing knowledge-related information to the learners. While positive effects of such tools are firmly established, there is no consistency with regard to the awareness information used and a wide range of target concepts exist. However, attempts to compare…

Group discussions are critical for students constructing new understanding and knowledge in both classroom and distance education. Tagclouds can provide an intuitive overview about the group's collective knowledge and could potentially be used as an anchor for group discussions. The effect of using tagclouds as anchors for group discussions was…

In this article we summarise over 60 reports and research articles on pre-laboratory activities in higher education chemistry. In the first section of the review, we categorise these activities as follows. First are those intending to introduce chemical concepts, that typically take the form of a pre-laboratory lecture, pre-laboratory quizzes, and…

Lesson study (LS) has been practiced in China as an effective way to advance teachers' professional development for decades. This study explores how LS improves teaching that promotes students' understanding. A LS group including didacticians (practice-based teaching research specialist and University-based mathematics educators) and mathematics…