This study invited small groups to make several arguments by analogy about simple machines. Groups were first provided training on analogical (structure) mapping and were then invited to use analogical mapping as a scaffold to make arguments. In making these arguments, groups were asked to consider three simple machines: two machines that they had…

Ashraf Shady's paper provides a first-hand reflection on how a foreign teacher used cogens as culturally adaptive pedagogy to address cultural misalignments with students. In this paper, Shady drew on several cogen sessions to showcase his journey of using different forms of cogens with his students. To improve the quality of cogens, one…

The emergence of a proof image is often an important stage in a learner's construction of a proof. In this paper, we introduce, characterize, and exemplify the notion of proof image. We also investigate how proof images emerge. Our approach starts from the learner's efforts to construct a justification without (or before) attempting any…

It is commonly observed that during classroom or group discussions some students have greater influence than may be justified by the normative quality of those students' contributions. We propose a 5-component theoretical framework in order to explain how undue influence unfolds. We build on literatures on persuasion, argumentation, discourse, and…

Findings from an empirical study on prospective elementary teachers' argument productions are reported. In order to analyse the data, a generative study was conducted to develop a framework for expressed actions that afforded the communication of viable arguments for generalizations. Identified are three types of technical handles that appear…

"Current Studies in Educational Disciplines 2021" is published annually from the selected papers invited by the editors. This edition includes 6 sections and 14 papers from the field of Environmental Education, Science Education, Educational Technology, Mathematics Education, Assessment in Education and STEM Education. All submissions…

This short report is a summary of the findings from "Storycraft: The Importance of Narrative and Narrative Skills in Business." This ground-breaking report reveals how prominent business leaders in the United Kingdom view and utilise narrative as an integral part of doing business. Based on extensive interviews with 34 business leaders,…

This article discusses the results of a study that investigated the use of different procedures to support the reflection processes of university-level dance students. As a procedure of unguided reflection, the students were asked to write a free-form essay and, as a form of guided reflection, a semi-structured interview and written reflection…

The study presented here examines how interacting with a more capable interlocutor influences use of argumentation strategies in electronic discourse. To address this question, 54 young adolescents participating in an intervention centered on electronic peer dialogs were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control condition. In both…

An existential interpretation of student angst in Chinese universities raises issues of autonomy and freedom. The governance arrangements in China create a conflict for Chinese students who in their coursework are urged to become critical-minded and open-minded. In this essay, Kant's moral theory provides access to this phenomenon. His theory of…

This article exemplifies how assessment design might be grounded in theory, thereby helping to strengthen validity claims. Spanning work across multiple related projects, the article first briefly summarizes an assessment system model for the elementary and secondary levels. Next the article describes how cognitive-domain theory and principles are…

Various instructional approaches have been laid out for conceptualizing argumentation talk and writing in English classrooms. One prominent, and historically durable, approach is formalist--teachers slot the teaching of argument into a form-based approach, usually using the 5-paragraph theme. This model too often fails to persuade students of the…

This paper presents a higher education experience aimed at explicitly promoting metacognitive processes in a social and collaborative context. Students carried out a debate on an e-forum, and were later asked to collaboratively analyse their own debates. The control group conducted this analysis using text-based tools; the experimental group…

In the comprehension of multiple controversial scientific texts, readers with strong prior beliefs tend to construct a one-sided mental representation that is biased towards belief-consistent information. In the present study, we examined whether an argument in contrast to a summary task instruction can increase the resource allocation to and…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of sustained practice with argumentation on the quality of students' written arguments. Participants consisted of 37 students; 22 males and 15 females enrolled in a 6th grade middle school classroom. Students completed six argumentation tasks but only four of them were considered for data…