The term "functional play" is used widely and variably in serving young children who have developmental delays, affecting its use in research and practice. It also is confused with play as a functional goal. We reviewed studies that used the term. Of 146 reports, less than half included a definition. We organized those with definitions…

This study proposes methods of reporting results of physics conceptual evaluations that more fully characterize the range of outcomes experienced by students with differing levels of prior preparation, allowing for more meaningful comparison of the outcomes of educational interventions within and across institutions. Factors leading to variation…

Students' understanding of forces in circular motion is often incomplete. The problems are not limited to confusions about centripetal acceleration and centrifugal forces. This paper considers possible effects of different interventions by a teacher who has discovered the many types of free-body diagrams drawn by students for circular motion in a…

Contribution: This work seeks to ascertain the validity of a remote-controlled experiment of the Physics Remote Lab in the educational context, specifically among students from engineering courses. Background: In 2012, it has been started the development of the Physics Remote Lab at the Federal University of Itajubá, Brazil, a laboratory with a…

This paper presents the design and initial learning research with the MMM modeling platform, seeking to advance middle school students' learning through constructing computational models of complex physical and chemical systems. A complexity-based structure of an MMM interface is introduced. It suggests that a complex system can be described and…

Research has shown improved reading following visual magnocellular training in individuals with dyslexia. Many studies have demonstrated how the magnocellular pathway controls visual spatial attention. Therefore, we have investigated the relationship between magnocellular pathway and visual spatial attention deficits in dyslexia in order to better…

Engaging key stakeholders, including students into the process of school-based physical activity (PA) intervention planning is considered important. The present study was part of the preparatory phase of the Estonian Schools in Motion pilot programme and aimed to examine students' perspective of PA opportunities in the classroom. Based on 17 focus…

Recent findings in music research are increasingly confirming the embodied nature of music cognition. Assuming that a bodily engagement with music may affect the children's musical meaning formation, we investigated how young children's interaction with music, based on verbal description after listening versus body movement description while…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics domains draw heavily on spatial reasoning (NRC, 2006). One particular science thought to be especially spatially-complex is astronomy. Understanding astronomy requires using a "space-based perspective" to explain phenomena we see from an "Earth-based perspective." That is, it…

Knowledge integration is essential to achieve deep conceptual understanding, which requires students to develop well-connected knowledge structures through the central idea of a concept. To effectively represent and analyze knowledge integration, a conceptual framework model on force and motion is developed to map learners' knowledge structures in…

Research from brain science and the learning sciences support the notion that human cognition is grounded in our sensorimotor engagement with the physical world and that processes of learning can be shaped by our movements and actions. Increasing recognition that effective educational interventions can be seeded with embodied actions is paralleled…

In this study, we devised research design that provides pre-service teachers to effectively experience embodied geometric thinking with the goal that it will impact teachers' instruction to students in their classrooms. Using a motion-capture video game and design tool, we offered opportunities for pre-service teachers to experience of performing…

Fieldtrips to informal science institutions can be opportunities for children to engage in three-dimensional learning, which is the integration of core disciplinary ideas, science practices, and cross-cutting concepts. We explored the question of whether the combination of a planetarium fieldtrip and classroom lessons could support young…

Large gender gaps in performance on questions involving projectile motion have been observed at high school and university level, even amongst high-achieving students. This gap is particularly problematic because projectile motion is typically one of the first topics formally taught in physics, and this may give girls an inappropriately negative…

From an embodied learning perspective, the active human body can alter the function of the brain and therefore, the cognitive process. In this work, children's activity using motion-based technology is framed as an example of embodied learning. The present investigation focuses on the use of a series of Kinect-based educational games by 31…