Youth participation in community-based, structured out-of-school time programs (OST) has been found to promote positive developmental outcomes by providing youth with resources to build interpersonal relationships and essential life skills. The increasing prevalence and multiplicity of youth participation in these activities leads us to expand the…

In this paper we report on an aspect of the findings of a larger three-phase study exploring the factors that influence teachers implementing pedagogies that cultivate students' STEM capabilities and 21st century skills. Data were collected through an online questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and case studies. This paper will…

Since there has been no clear overview of educational practices that benefit high-ability students in mixed-ability classrooms in grades one to six, this review aims to provide insight into the effects of educational practices on the cognitive and affective-motivational learning outcomes of high-ability students. In order to identify these…

Smart Classroom Management (SCM) is an approach proposed by Linsin (2013) that takes into account students' needs and interests in class. It has four main strategies: Planning, Organization, Leadership, and Control. This study investigated experimentally the role of English as a Foreign Language teachers' use of SCM in response to learners' second…

This paper estimates a dynamic model of college enrollment, progression, and graduation. A central feature of the model is student effort, which has a direct effect on class completion and an indirect effect mitigating risks on class completion and college persistence. The estimated model matches rich administrative data for a representative…

Drawing on a year of participant observation in an untracked, diversifying middle school, I examine how sixth graders positioned themselves and were positioned by others as "smart" or "not smart." I focus on peer interactions during cooperative small group instruction, identifying the material, relational, and ideational…

The academic self-concept (ASC) is a domain-specific construct, which plays an influential role in academic motivation and choices. Although some ASC models and instruments have been developed for mathematics and science, none have been specifically designed to measure the physics ASC. Therefore, this study focuses on designing and validating a…

Consciousness-based education has been described as both an innovative method for developing the consciousness, and thereby the creativity, learning ability and behaviour, of students, and a pedagogical approach designed to reverse negative trends in schools. For either purpose, it has in the last 20 years been implemented in hundreds of schools…

Beliefs about academic functioning play an important role in the academic development of students. This study considers perceptions about underachievement, that is, the degree to which accomplishments are believed to be in line with potential. In particular, we examined why these perceptions might deviate from measured underachievement, determined…

This is the second in a series of two studies examining the impact of the True Goals (TG) school counseling curriculum on important constructs related to school success for students in elementary, middle, and high school. In this study, TG was implemented as a small-group intervention with 47 students in grades 9-12 across two schools and two…

This small-scale study explored the presence of collaborative metacognitive talk (CMT) during collaborative problem solving (CPS) in a Scottish primary mathematics class. Content analysis was conducted on student and teacher group interactions during CPS (n = 12 students in 3 groups × 3 sessions). The largest proportion of CMT was…

In this quantitative study, the perceptions of grading practices, outcomes, and openness to change were compared between two groups: novice teachers (those with less than 6 years of experience) and experienced teachers (those with 6 or more years of experience). Using the Teachers' Perceptions of Grading Practice Scale and the Openness to…

Musical instrument training has been linked to improved academic and cognitive abilities in children, but it remains unclear why this occurs. Moreover, access to instrument training is not always feasible, thereby leaving less fortunate children without opportunity to benefit from such training. Although music-based video games may be more…

Genetics is an important basic course in the field of life science, and the cultivation of students' practical ability should be emphasized in the experimental teaching of genetics. How to let students have more time to participate in the experimental practice within the limited class hours? Our genetics experimental teaching team has developed…

Social comparison is prevalent, even within classrooms, yet limited research explores its impact on academic outcomes. The current study adopted social comparison theory and achievement goal theory and tested a structural equation model that explained the pathways among two types of social comparison (i.e. ability-based and opinion-based),…