The past two decades research on teachers' professional development focusses increasingly on professional learning communities (PLCs). Based on a literature search a conceptual framework was developed including a comprehensive PLC-concept. Comprehensive because it takes into account the complexity of the educational context. The PLC-concept…

The present study examined data from the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study to address cross-cultural differences in 4th grade students' attitudes towards science and how students' sense of school belonging (SSSB) scores were related to attitude towards science. Regression results indicated that SSSB emerged as a…

Unfamiliarity with adaptive courseware and its uses may be a barrier to implementation. This article provides insights from a qualitative case study that was conducted to illuminate experiences and perceptions of faculty and staff involved in an adaptive learning technology pilot at a nonprofit university in the United States. Findings revealed…

Web-based collaborative writing (CW) has been widely used in the field of English as a foreign language (EFL) during the last decade. Previous studies have mainly focused on how online platforms have facilitated the CW process for EFL learners, how web-based CW has shown progress in EFL learners' writing development, and how EFL learners in groups…

Establishing a positive peer climate in elementary school classrooms is an important goal for educators because peer dynamics are thought to affect academic learning. Thus, it is important to: (1) understand the relationship between children's peer dynamics and academic functioning; and (2) identify teacher practices that influence both peer…

The main purpose of this study was to analyze how effectively pair/group work writing activities in the currently in-use Grade 11 English textbook were structured or organized to promote CLL. To this end, the pair/group work writing activities were identified and analyzed based on the six basic elements of the CLL. Findings of the study show that…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore students' reactions to a case involving peer rating. We asked undergraduate and graduate students at a Midwestern liberal arts university to rate the performance of a close friend. To explore how role might impact the students' decisions, we randomly assigned participants to one of two rating…

The most recent recipient of the JME Lasting Impact Award, "Lessons from the Best and Worst Student Team Experiences: How a Teacher can make the Difference," by Bacon, Stewart, and Silver (1999) is an elegantly presented examination of how the set of decisions made by instructors regarding team assignments affect student experience. An…

Students' difficulties in interpreting what counts as knowledge have been addressed in past research on science education. The implementation of progressivist pedagogy in terms of more student-active classroom practice and the introduction of a variety of discourses into the science classroom deepens students' difficulties. The integration of…

Teacher education programs and school reform efforts are two mechanisms by which research-based reform messages reach thousands of teachers. Prior research has noted, however, that these messages are often in conflict with longstanding beliefs and norms at school sites. This paper examines teacher agency in the context of school of structure and…

Background: Knowledge translation (KT) is an emerging field of practice, one in need of supports for growth, including, notably, peer mentorship.Aim: To enhance our understanding of peer mentorship, this qualitative research examines the lived experiences of peer mentorship among graduate students and junior faculty whose studies focus on…

This article focuses on how pupils' everyday transitions constitute a condition for pupils' activities and relationships, and how pupils understand and give meaning to their everyday transitions between different school settings (school and Leisure Time Centre). To examine this, we made participant observations in three different educational…

This study demonstrates an application of Facebook for higher education in science (STEM), and it clarifies its impact on students' learning in a formal online learning setting. A combined qualitative and quantitative approach was used. Messages posted on Facebook were classified by qualitative transcript analysis. The perception and experience of…

In the past decade, the importance of teamwork training in higher education and employers' enthusiasm for recruiting team players have been widely discussed in the literature. Yet, the process through which effective teamwork training is developed in a higher education setting has not yet been properly discussed. The present study aims to map the…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use of a simplified version of the Good Behavior Game called the Teacher vs. Student Game, implemented as an interdependent group contingency, increased teachers' use of behavior-specific praise (BSP) statements. Two middle school resource teachers and their respective classes participated in…