This article provides an up-to-date list of reasons for teachers to create a case for residential fieldwork. The list was developed as part of a project examining 'learning journeys' of inner-urban school visits to residential field centres in England. Uniquely, it draws from the perspectives of students and teachers in light of the changes to…

The incorporation of epistemic aspects of science in science education continues to be a challenge for researchers and practitioners. The paper presents an empirical study investigating how epistemic framing of scientific methods can be incorporated in science teaching, learning and summative assessment, and what impact such framing has on student…

This study used mixed methods to investigate the relationships between parental leave policy components and academic achievement measured by TIMSS and PIRLS. Qualitative document analysis was used to analyze the policy documents and available literature on all the parental leave policies that had been implemented early enough to potentially affect…

We introduce an approach for making a quantitative comparison of the item response curves (IRCs) of any two populations on a multiple-choice test instrument. In this study, we employ simulated and actual data. We apply our approach to a dataset of 12,187 participants on the 25-item Science Literacy Concept Inventory (SLCI), which includes ample…

This dissertation aims to investigate the effect size measures of differential item functioning (DIF) detection in the context of cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs). A variety of DIF detection techniques have been developed in the context of CDMs. However, most of the DIF detection procedures focus on the null hypothesis significance test. Few…

This brief continues ongoing research by NWEA® examining the degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic, and its associated school closures, influenced student learning. Prior research focused on math and reading and found that the pandemic's negative impact steadily accumulated during the 2020-2021 school year, with significant disparities in…

Classrooms with higher teaching quality were associated with higher learning outcomes in mathematics and science. Classrooms where teachers reported high degrees of limitations to teaching in the classroom--including disruptive students or students with language barriers--were associated with lower learning outcomes. These are two of the important…

This is the second of 2 reports that look at the results of TIMSS 2023 and Australia's performance. This report, Volume II, presents the results from the contextual questionnaires, and examines the home, school, and classroom contexts in which learning and achievement occur, as well as student attitudes. Each chapter focuses on different…

Why do students give incorrect answers in PISA? What are the reasons for giving incorrect answers? Do all incorrect answers reflect only the lack of competence or might even a competent child make a mistake? The aim of this article is to contribute to a better understanding of these issues. In the current investigation, we selected six students…

This article explores undergraduates' efforts to engage in scientific argumentation during exam settings. Thirteen undergraduate students enrolled in an environmental science course completed exams with questions linked around a central theme. Three types of questions were used, including those that prompted students to construct scientific…

The American Chemical Society-Examinations Institute (ACS-EI) released the first ACS Foundations of Inorganic Chemistry Examination in 2016 to better address the two generalized types of inorganic chemistry courses (i.e., at the foundation or second/third-year level and the indepth or third/fourth-year level). The ACS Inorganic Chemistry Exam that…

Assessment and evaluation instruments provide teachers the opportunity of shaping education in the beginning, contributing to education during the process and evaluating education at the end of the process. Textbooks, on the other hand, are resources that present the aforementioned contributions to teachers at first hand. Thus, the study aims to…

Misconceptions are sometimes called "alternative conceptions" in acknowledgement of the fact that although these concepts are inaccurate, they are congruent with prior experiences. The idea that misconceptions must be addressed to improve learning is helpful to remember when developing a case study. Students will bring their existing…

The development and deployment of STEM education in every continent and country are different. An instrument to access the current situation of the application, knowledge, as well as attitude towards STEM education, is necessary. This research aimed to design and develop a valid instrument that can be used to assure the quantitative degree of…

Assessment, including course exams, clearly indicates to students what learning goals they are expected to master in a certain course. However, most of these assessments tend to focus on generating a correct answer rather than on the type of reasoning or skills used to arrive at the answer. If educators value skills in addition to the correctness…