The countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) -- an initiative between the Member States of the European Union and Eastern European and South Caucasus countries -- are navigating significant challenges while striving for sustainable economic growth and social cohesion. Education plays a crucial role in unlocking the potential of digitalisation…

The quality of education is a predictor of a country's economic performance -- which is why comparative international education surveys are important. South Africa performed poorly in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2019. The score of 374 for mathematics and 324 for science is poor compared to the mid-point of…

Multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) models have generated increasing interest in the psychometrics literature. Efficient approaches for estimating MIRT models with dichotomous responses have been developed, but constructing an equally efficient and robust algorithm for polytomous models has received limited attention. To address this gap,…

Standardised International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have gained prominence in global and national educational discussions. ILSAs claim to offer valuable insights for improving education systems, but their impact on educational policy varies and has become a contested arena. This article analyses how these assessments fed educational…

Purpose: The integrated science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education has been reported to improve students' science achievement. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on how this approach affected different ability groups. Lack of equity or the presence of achievement gap can be detrimental because they can reduce medium and…

Numerous initiatives are carried out across the world to support science teaching in early childhood education. However, professional development research shows that in order for teaching interventions to bring about successful changes in practice, it is key that teacher's beliefs, confidence and knowledge change. As a complement to studies…

Students who score within the bottom quartile on cognitive measures of math aptitude have been identified as at-risk for low performance in chemistry courses, with less attention as to "why" such differential performance persists. At-risk students struggle most differentially on assessment items related to the mole concept and…

Students' science knowledge and skills are considered critical to growing the intellectual capital on which societies rely to innovate and prosper. However, recent research has documented notable declines in students' intrinsic valuing of science and science achievement in Australia and other western countries. As a result, there have been calls…

Recent educational research emphasizes the importance of personal social cognitive beliefs and metacognitive knowledge and skills for achievement in science as well as retention in the field. In this project, a mandatory evening tutorial program was developed to provide direct instruction in metacognitive skills for first year students enrolled in…

Teacher professional development, in particular, has been at the center of efforts designed to increase teaching practice and the learning of students. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the 'teacher-led PD for teachers' program, developed by the researchers, on students' achievements. The study was conducted with six high…

This study aimed to explore different scientific creativity tests' prediction of students' science performance and domain-general creativity abilities. Two scientific creativity tests were chosen: the "Scientific Creativity Test" and the "Creative Scientific Ability Test (C-SAT)". The Science Performance Test (SPT) and…

This article is a response to an article written by Wang and Ma "An Examination of Plausible Score Correlation from the Trend in Mathematics and Science Study", published in the Athens Journal of Education. The purpose of this paper is to address issues with Wang's and Ma's suggestion to use analysis method for correlating plausible…

Students' attitudes and approaches to problem solving are claimed to be related to their ways they learn physics and to their success in solving physics problems. In this study, the Attitudes and Approaches to Problem Solving (AAPS) survey was used to reveal Turkish introductory university students' attitudes and approaches to physics problem…

The present study examines if higher socioeconomic status (SES) parents are more involved in their children's education, and if greater involvement is associated with better student science achievement in Hong Kong (N = 5,353). Results showed that (a) there were three latent classes characterized by different patterns of parental involvement; (b)…

Women and minorities remain underrepresented in chemistry bachelor's degree attainment in the United States, despite efforts to improve their early chemistry achievement through supplemental academic programs and active-learning approaches. We propose an additional strategy for addressing these disparities: course-based, social-psychological…