Appropriate design of collaborative learning activities for students using mobile devices can be supported by different forms of scaffolding provided by peers, by the teacher or by the technology. Building on prior studies in mCSCL (mobile computer-supported collaborative learning), we developed Chinese-PP, a novel in-class mobile synchronous…

This article reports on students' experiences of learning to work together in a childhood teacher education programme at a university in South Africa. We were interested in how students from diverse backgrounds, with little shared understanding of a model or framework for collaborative working, would find their footing and learn how to…

In this paper we frame our observations in enactivism, specifically problem posing, to propose the notion of problem drift as a method to analyze the curriculum generating actions of small group learning systems in relation to teacher interventions intended to trigger specific content goals. Teacher attentiveness to problem drift is suggested to…

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines not just what students know in science, reading and mathematics, but what they can do with what they know. Results from PISA show educators and policy makers the quality and equity of learning outcomes achieved elsewhere, and allow them to learn from the policies and practices…

This interactional ethnographic study addresses an emerging problem in higher education: the lack of research tracing the developing processes and principles for instructional design in global education programs. Curriculum design in higher education is often situated within a particular course within a discipline within an ongoing program.…

This study aims at investigating the barriers encountered by science teachers in laboratory activities in Rwandan teacher training colleges (TTCs) using questionnaires and interviews. The results confirmed that teachers face barriers like time limitation, material scarcity and lack of improvising skills in their everyday science teaching life.…

This column includes activities inspired by children's literature. When learning about a topic, scientists refer to documents from past researchers. This month's trade books include nonfiction and historical fiction selections that help to demonstrate similarities and differences "then and now" while incorporating engineering design…

The periodic table does more than provide information about the elements. The periodic table also helps us make predictions about how the elements behave. Understanding the atomic structure of matter and periodic properties of the elements, as shown in the periodic table, is fundamental to many scientific disciplines. Unfortunately, high school…

This study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of the religious teachers' readiness to use mobile phones as m-learning. The focus of the study is to examine some aspects namely; (1) types of handset used; (2) the use of mobile applications, (3) mobile learning activities, and; (4) the acceptance of mobile phones in teaching and learning.…

Children's performance on cognitive tasks is often described in categorical terms in that a child is described as either passing or failing a test, or knowing or not knowing some concept. We used binomial mixture models to determine whether individual children could be classified as passing or failing two search tasks, the DeLoache model room…

Instructing students in sociological theory is a foundational part of the discipline, but it can also be a challenge. Readers of "Teaching Sociology" can find a number of activities designed to improve students' understanding of sociological theory in their general theory courses, but there are fewer activities designed to improve…

The continuing professional development (CPD) is a concerted effort to ensure the educational service officers equip themselves with professional knowledge, skill, values and practices of teachers through in-service training programs organized based on competency development, lifelong learning and career path. Nonetheless, educators do not only…

Mixed methods were used to study the impact of the Project Approach, a curriculum component that can engage and motivate children to participate in learning activities, on the play behaviors and language development of preschoolers. Participants included 4 children with disabilities and 4 children identified as at-risk. Six adults received support…

Taking a test generally improves the retention of the material tested. This is a phenomenon commonly referred to as testing effect. The present research investigated whether two-tier diagnostic tests promoted student teachers' conceptual understanding of variables in conducting scientific experiments, which is a scientific process skill. In this…

Field experience makes a strong contribution to the learning of students. However, the procedure for conducting training sessions based on experiential teaching methods is relatively unclear, and the contents and aspects of students' reflections during such training are not well known. This study applied experiential teaching methods in a college…