Functions is considered an important mathematical literacy concept within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and it has been shown that Japanese junior high school students are experiencing problems understanding functions. This paper examines the difficulty…

TRACT This study develops a framework for analyzing student comments in Wikis of group writing to inform learning assessment. It first drew on the literature to develop a framework consisting of three modules measuring student interaction, meaning construction and thinking development in the writing process. Inservice teachers were interviewed to…

According to the South African curriculum, two of the aims of learning history are to learn the process of historical enquiry and to understand historical concepts such as the use of historical sources and examining evidence. This paper explores how a sample of seven social science South African textbooks uses historical sources to enable learners…

The capacity to analyse source material critically is foundational to historical thinking (Seixas, 2017). It is indispensable to informed and effective citizens in a democracy, particularly considering struggles to control the representation of the past (VanSledright, 2016). Drawing on key work by Wineburg (1991, 1998, 2001, 2016) and VanSledright…

The National Curriculum for History in England (DfE (Department for Education). [2013]. 'The National Curriculum for England, History Programmes of Study: Key Stages 1 and 2'. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_-_History.pdf, 1) states that the purpose of studying history is to inspire pupils' curiosity, to 'ask…

The Common Core does not advance democratic education. Far from it, the opening section of the language standards argues that the goal of public K-12 education is "college and career readiness." Only at the end of their introductory section do the Common Core's authors suggest that K-12 education has any goals beyond the economic:…

In "Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservatives Care?," Neil Gross introduces research that suggests fifty to sixty percent of college professors are leftist or liberal, a much higher proportion than the seventeen percent of Americans in general. He posits the conservative fear that "bias" in higher education is a…

The primary aim of current study was to investigate the possible relationship between Metacognitive Awareness (MA) and Critical Thinking Skills (CTS) in a foreign language learning context. In addition, this research aimed to probe the effect of gender and years of pre-service English language teachers on the relation between metacognitive…

A 21st-century challenge for educators is to promote meaningful engagement in online courses, and student development of critical thinking skills is an essential aspect of higher order learning. Evaluation of critical thinking in online discussions is often facilitated by the use of rubrics; however, it is not unusual for rubrics to either omit…

In recent decades, technology has influenced various aspects of assessment in mathematics education: (1) supporting the assessment of higher-order thinking skills in mathematics, (2) representing authentic problems from the world around us to use and apply mathematical knowledge and skills, and (3) making the delivery of tests and the analysis of…

Makerspaces, collaborative workspaces stocked with materials and tools for creating, building, designing, and learning, are becoming more and more common in schools and, in particular, in school libraries. Makerspaces in the school library allow for connections between making and literacy. Indeed, such connections are authentic and natural as…

Calls for diversity in higher education have been ongoing for, at least, a century. Today, the diversity movement in higher education is in danger of being co-opted in the US by a move to make 'intellectual diversity,' i.e. the diversity of political opinion, on par with the cultural and historical diversity that one finds within differently…

This study investigates the relationship between early maternal employment history and children's vocabulary and inductive reasoning ability at age 5, drawing on longitudinal information on 2,200 children from the Growing Up in Scotland data. Prior research rarely addresses dynamics in maternal employment and the methodological ramifications of…

The six-sentence argument (6SA) is an exercise to train critical thinking skills. Faced with a decision situation, students argue for their preferred course of action using a logical structure of exactly six sentences. Through a guided peer review, students engage critically with other students' arguments and receive detailed feedback on their own…

This research project attempted to investigate the impact of applying philosophical inquiry method of teaching on classroom engagement and reasoning skills of low achievers. Low achievers are those who have the potential to succeed but lagged behind because of several factors that demotivate them to perform at their highest ability. In this study,…