Nimal Vaz takes us to the essentials of Montessori as an aid to life for all children, particularly children with special needs. She challenges teachers to truly provide experiences in nature: observing anthills, identifying bird nests, or taking an olfactory walk with a legally blind classmate. Finally, she demonstrates how a child's interest in…

This paper explores the relationship between air pollution, climate and reported subjective well-being (or happiness) in Spanish regions. The results show that, after controlling for most of the socio-economic variables affecting happiness, there are still significant regional differences in subjective well-being. Evidence also suggests that…

Previous research has clearly established associations between low socioeconomic status (SES) and poor youth physical health outcomes. This article provides an overview of the main pathways through which low SES environments come to influence youth health. We focus on 2 prevalent chronic health problems in youth today, asthma and obesity. We…

This study was conducted in three parts. Parts one and two compared students at Fayetteville School (FHS), Drew Middle School (DMS), and Lincoln High School (LHS). FHS comprised the experimental group, whereas DMS and LHS served as the control group. FHS participated in a landscape project prior to this study that involved planting over 400 trees…

The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to examine if simulation training correlated with the decision-making abilities of firefighters from two departments (one in a mountain state and one in a southwest state). The other purposes were to determine if firefighter demographics were correlated with the completion of the simulation…

The present article focuses on Technology Education teachers' opinions on the physical learning environment of Technology Education. The study compares and analyses the changes in the physical learning environment of Technology Education. Two questionnaire surveys (Study I and Study II) were carried out among teachers of Technology Education in…

Teaching skills is one of the building blocks of Turkey's Social Studies Instructional Program. Via skills, information can be effectively transformed into high-level behaviors, that information may become a part of one's daily life, and that one may make right decisions concerning major issues in his/her life. Map skills are called "spatial…

Augmented reality (AR) is an emerging technology that blends physical objects with virtual reality. Through the integration of digital and print media, a gap between the "on and offline" worlds are merged, radically shifting student-computer interaction in the classroom. This research examined the results of a multiple case study on the…

In essence, biophilic design acknowledges urban living as a reality but proposes to integrate nature and natural forms into the built environment, with the goal of inducing biophilic responses and thereby fostering human well-being. The central goal of this paper is to highlight the possibilities of and challenges for biophilic design and discuss…

Children are doing less physical activity and sitting more than they did 20 years ago; exploring physical abilities used to be the norm. But societal changes have modified people's living conditions--children take part in "adult-initiated" activities; they sit statically, influenced by technology gaming/information; and over-cautious parents often…

The purpose of this paper is to propose some ways of reading two wordless picture storybooks which have recently been published, by Suzy Lee and Bernardo Carvalho respectively. The objective is to analyse the ways in which the visual discourse can create an effective narrative using a variety of pictorial strategies. These works were not idly…

This study aims to explore Turkish elementary teachers' (1) perceptions of classroom management, (2) classroom management problems they experience, (3) factors causing these problems, and (4) their classroom management practices. The study employed phenomenological research design in the qualitative tradition. The participants included 15…

Research in education and psychology contributes to an understanding of how educators create contexts for learning that encourage intrinsic motivation and increase academic achievement. In this article, the researcher investigated how teachers themselves define effectiveness and identified what factors influence their motivation, both positively…

This occasional paper is the first in a series on the National Quality Framework (NQF). This paper offers detailed insights into education and care service quality ratings for Quality Area 1 -- Educational Program and Practice, which focuses on ensuring that educational program and practice is stimulating and engaging, enhances children's learning…

Purpose: This study aimed to: (a) compare the physical activity (PA) levels (i.e., moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA] and total PA [TPA]) of preschoolers in 3 different early-learning environments (center-based childcare, home-based childcare, and full-day kindergarten [FDK]); and (b) assess which characteristics (e.g., play equipment, policies, etc.)…