Over the past twenty-five years, or so, considerable advances have been made in understanding how learning occurs in the brain, though much of this research is still to make its way into education. One contribution it should be making is to furnish the philosophical critique of past and current theory with supporting empirical evidence. For…

Education ecology is a new crossover research field in network age. Its research content can be either microscopic classroom teaching or macro educational ecology research on teaching and culture. The university music classroom is a special kind of ecology. The reason why this is special is that compared to natural ecology, the classroom ecology…

Language classrooms are complex systems, but theory often simplifies these processes making researching effectiveness difficult. Assemblage theory -- a theory of complexity in the social sciences -- allows us to examine complexity in the language classroom. In this paper, I present an account of the language classroom that captures the complexity,…

The issues experienced by general teachers (GT) in instruction in an inclusive classroom in primary school are the difficulty of designing effective instructional strategies that can meet all students' needs with various uniqueness. This research investigates GTs' experiences of the brain's natural learning systems-based instructional approach in…

This study uses a Q methodology to track the changing motivational profiles of 15 Chinese university students simultaneously engaged in second-language (L2) English and third-language (L3) Spanish learning over 1.5 years. Guided by complex dynamic systems theory (CDST), the study aims to investigate the initial trigger that propelled the Chinese…

This dissertation investigates the longitudinal development of Chinese language proficiency among students in a Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) Flagship Program at an American public university from 2014 to 2024. Using Bayesian multilevel regression models, this study assesses the trajectories of listening, speaking, and reading proficiency…

L2 classroom is a place and process that undergoes an array of incessant and concurrent changes affecting its main agents, i.e. the teacher and students in a non-linear and unpredictable manner. Various aspects of their cognitive and affective potential fluctuate and intensify or weaken depending on what is going on in a particular L2…

Children are intrigued by moving objects, even more so when they can engineer the movement. This volume in the STEM for Our Youngest Learners Series uses Ramps and Pathways as a context to provide children ages 3-8 with opportunities to engage in STEM every day. Ramps and Pathways is a meaningful and fun way for children to develop engineering…

This volume is both a state-of-the-art display of current thinking on second language development as a complex system. It is also a tribute to Diane Larsen-Freeman for her decades of intellectual leadership in the academic disciplines of applied linguistics and second language acquisition. The chapters therein range from theoretical expositions to…

This report describes design techniques, areas of effective application, and research directions in educational simulations. The five chapters contain (1) a review of recent literature; (2) an overview of the field of simulation including definitions and some of the rationales for using simulation in instruction; (3) an outline of the design…

Teachers and students will better understand the experience of learning if they become familiar with a general systems model of the relationship between a teacher and a learner (student). Concepts relevant to this model include learner background, readiness, initiative, and achievement; teacher knowledge, relationship to colleagues, cultural…