This dissertation examines the thesis that implicit learning plays a role in learning about scientific phenomena, and subsequently, in conceptual change. Decades of research in learning science demonstrate that a primary challenge of science education is overcoming prior, naive knowledge of natural phenomena in order to gain scientific…

The aim of this study was to identify and implement research-based practices in reading comprehension that would enable deaf and hard-of hearing adolescents to monitor their comprehension actively to increase the reading level beyond fourth grade. Making meaning out of teachers' and students' reading comprehension experiences through their…

This teaching note describes one example of a shift from content to competence in a graduate MSW course teaching advanced mindfulness complex practice behaviors and skills for use in direct practice. The development of advanced mindfulness competencies and skills provides a conceptual base o shift teaching from lengthy lectures to experiential…

This 12-week mixed-methods study examined an 8th-grade English language arts curriculum designed to increase participants' (N = 62) reading comprehension and reading motivation. Data consisted of demographic information, pre/post standardized reading comprehension scores, reading motivation survey scores, and participants' periodic semistructured…

Revising standard structured academic programs by incorporating research throughout the curriculum is a modern trend at universities worldwide. There are numerous publications on inquiry-based learning (IBL) in individual courses, but few provide evidence both of success at the program level and of synergy in the teaching--research nexus. Our…

Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools reviews the best available research to offer school leaders six practical recommendations to support good SEL for all children. It stresses this is especially important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and other vulnerable groups, who, on average, have weaker SEL skills at all…

Reading and comprehending a text or selection in a language that is different from one's native tongue can be a daunting task to many English as a Second Language (ESL) learners due to several reasons. Hence, teachers' instructional strategies play a pivotal role in developing students' reading skills. This study used a quasi-experimental design…

"Active learning" has been used to describe classrooms that have varied widely with respect to instructional topics, age of learners, and the procedures used to operationalize the general notion of the term. In most cases, the specific variant of active learning under investigation has been more effective than the particular control used…

Students with visual impairment (VI) lack access to the same models and reinforcers as students with sight. Consequentially, behaviors that children with sight acquire through observation must be explicitly taught to children with VI. In addition, children with VI have difficulty maintaining such behaviors. Therefore, interventions that promote…

Experiential learning is an important pedagogical approach used in secondary agricultural education. Though anecdotal evidence supports the use of experiential learning, a paucity of empirical research exists supporting the effects of this approach when compared to a more conventional teaching method, such as direct instruction. Therefore, the…

E-textbooks have generated attention in education and the expectation to use the technology has become a requirement rather than an option. The purpose of this mixed method explanatory sequential study was to explain the impact that direct instruction on comprehension strategy and e-textbook feature connection had on secondary student…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit instruction combined with video prompting to teach text comprehension skills to students with autism spectrum disorder. Participants included 4 elementary school students with autism. A multiple probe across participants design was used to evaluate the intervention's…

A causal comparative research design was utilized in this study to examine the relationship between international students' perceptions of teacher presence in the online learning environment and students' achievement as measured by end of course grades. Spearman's analysis indicated no statistically significant correlation between the composite…

Direct instruction approach has been widely used in higher education. Many studies revealed that direct instruction improved students' knowledge. The characteristics of direct instruction include the subject delivered through face-to-face interaction with the lecturers and materials that sequenced deliberately and taught explicitly. However,…

Quantitative mixed models were used to examine literature published from 1966 through 2016 on the effectiveness of Direct Instruction. Analyses were based on 328 studies involving 413 study designs and almost 4,000 effects. Results are reported for the total set and subareas regarding reading, math, language, spelling, and multiple or other…