When students enter middle school, they face 2 major challenges, one involving the biological, cognitive, and socioemotional changes they are going through, and another involving the transition from elementary to middle school. Peer learning has considerable influence on how well they manage these challenges. The research that exists on peer…

In this article we propose that in order to advance our understanding of motivation in collaborative learning we should move beyond the cognitive-situative epistemological divide and combine individual and social processes. Our claim is that although recent research has recognized the importance of social aspects in emerging and sustained…

Web-based instruction is not a new phenomenon. There are 15-20 years of research and literature to support the effectiveness of web-based instruction. The purpose of this article is to synthesize the research in this field in order to determine which factors are critical to the success of web-based instruction. We created a toolkit to assist…

This paper describes the results of a qualitative analysis of video captured during a dual indoor/outdoor Augmented Reality experience. Augmented Reality is the layering of virtual information on top of the physical world. This Augmented Reality experience asked students to interact with the San Diego Museum of Art and the Botanical Gardens in San…

Students in Basic schools in Ghana manifest diverse learning needs, which require innovative approaches to enable them to succeed in learning activities. The paper is part of a larger study conducted in Ghana, which used a range of data collecting methods including questionnaires, interviews with teachers and focus groups of below average…

Differentiated instruction in the form of tiered take-home lab exercises was implemented for students of an undergraduate-level programming course. This paper attempts to uncover the perceptions and usage patterns of students toward these new lab exercises using a comprehensive survey. Findings reveal that these tiered exercises are generally very…

This paper details how a 7-month reading-focused professional development initiative, centered on the assessment-to-instruction cycle, supported teachers' growth by combining small group sessions with related individualized literacy coaching. Analysis of participants' experiences revealed the significance of differentiated professional learning in…

This study characterized and compared the arguments eighth grade mathematics students created while working in technological and non-technological environments. Toulmin's (1958/2003) argumentation model was used to analyze the content and structure of the arguments, including the ways in which the students used the tools (technological and…

Based on a framework of identity-as-narrative and multiliteracies, this article describes "Graphic Journeys," a multimedia literacy project in which English learners (ELs) in middle school created graphic stories that expressed their families' immigration experiences. The process involved reading graphic novels, journaling, interviewing, and…

In this paper we explore the relationship between language and developmental processes of logical tools through the analysis at different levels of some "linguistic-manipulative" activities in a primary school classroom. We believe that this kind of activities can spur in the children a reflection and a change in their language…

This article presents a designed learning environment intended to engage students in learning about the relationships among multiple representations as they work together on a shared task. Over the course of several extended problem-solving sessions, groups developed several successive alignments of participants and representations as they learned…

Computer-based clinical simulations are a powerful teaching and learning tool because of their ability to expand healthcare students' clinical experience by providing practice-based learning. Despite the benefits of traditional computer-based clinical simulations, there are significant issues that arise when incorporating them into a flexible,…

Our research aims to identify children's communicative strategies when faced with the task of solving a geometric puzzle in CSCL contexts. We investigated how to identify and trace "distributed cognition" in problem-solving interactions based on discursive cohesion to objects, participants, and prior discursive content, and geometric and…

This study aimed to examine the effect of literature circles on fourth grade primary students' reading habits and comprehension skills and collected the opinions of students and teachers about the method. In this study, quantitative (pre-test and post-test designs) and qualitative (case study) methods were employed together. The study was…

They sat in the Cubberley Education Lecture Hall to hear visiting experts. More often they could be found meeting in reduced-size classes, or working on small-group activities. They usually took notes; sometimes they took field trips. They memorized lists and sat for exams, but they also watched films and acted out scenarios. Rather than take…