Evaluating the quality of students' programs is necessary for better teaching and learning. Although many innovative learning environments for computer science have been introduced, the scarcity of program evaluation frames and tools is a demanding issue in the teaching practice. This study examined the quality of students' Scratch programs by…

Many mathematics departments have instituted transition-to-proof courses for second semester sophomores to help them learn how to construct proofs and to prepare them for proof-based courses, such as abstract algebra and real analysis. We have developed a way of getting students, who often stare at a blank piece of paper not knowing what to do, to…

All 50 states use observations to evaluate practicing teachers, but we know little about how administrators actually reason when they use those observation protocols. Drawing on think-aloud and stimulated recall data, this study describes the types of strategies and warrants practicing administrators used when rating with their district's…

Real-world processes are complex and require ideas from multiple disciplines to be explained. However, many science courses offer limited opportunities for students to synthesize scientific ideas into coherent explanations. In this study, we investigated how students constructed causal explanations of complex phenomena to better understand the…

Proportionality can be considered among the most important mathematical notions in the middle school math curriculum (grades 5 to 8). It is the capstone of elementary arithmetic, number, and measurement concepts, and at the same time one of the most elementary understandings one needs for more advanced mathematics. Understanding proportionality is…

Fundamental knowledge of natural history is lacking in many western societies, as demonstrated by its absence in school science curricula. And yet, to meet local and global challenges such as environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change, we need to better understand the living and non-living parts of the natural world. Many have…

The topic of this article is how Swedish primary school students aged 12-13 use causal reasoning when they explain a historical event that is usually considered the "origin of the nation". The study is based on student texts about the rise to power of Gustav Vasa, who is traditionally portrayed as the "founding father" of…

In human problem solving, there is a wide variation between individuals in problem solution time and success rate, regardless of whether or not this problem solving involves insight. In this paper, we apply computational and parameterized analysis to a plausible formalization of extended representation change theory (eRCT), an integration of…

Recent discussions of leadership paradoxes have suggested that managers who can hold seemingly opposed, yet interrelated perspectives, are more adaptive and effective. One such paradox that has received relatively little attention is the "Stockdale Paradox," named after Admiral James Stockdale, an American naval officer who was held…

Six experiments investigated variables predicted to influence subjects' tendency to classify items by a single property ("rule-based" responding) instead of overall similarity, following the paradigm of Norenzayan et al. (2002, "Cognitive Science"), who found that European Americans tended to give more "logical"…

In this response, I argue that Hodson and Wong's (2017) (see EJ1133274) critique of the consensus view, though valid, lacks a sufficiently detailed and elaborated alternative. Their emphasis on practice fails to define what the goals of engaging in practice might be. In contrast, the picture of science offered as consisting of six different…

This study was conducted in order to analyze the relation between analytical thinking skill and scientific argumentation in physics learning. The study was conducted with the interactive CK 12 simulation about optics. The sample of the study consists of 28 randomly selected students in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The data was collected using pre and…

Purpose: The significance of visuo-semiotic models in biology education has increased. Students have to develop visuo-semiotic skills, which could enable them to learn biology effectively. However, a lack of a universal theory of visual literacy has made it challenging to develop and assess visualization skills, including visuo-semiotic skills.…

Promoting students' ability to engage in discipline-specific practices is a central goal of chemistry education. Yet if instruction is to meaningfully foster such ability, we must first understand students' reasoning during these practices. By characterizing constraints on chemistry students' reasoning, we can design instruction that targets this…

Project schedules are logic models that focus on the timing of program activities. Value derives from the fact that schedule changes are not random. Why they occur, and how long they last, can reveal information that would not be easily revealed with other approaches to evaluation. Also, using project schedules as logic models forges a strong link…