The aim of this research was comparing the performance of primary school Chilean children when reading different types of graphs included in the primary school curriculum in this country (pictogram, line graph, pie chart and dot plot). A sample of 745 6th and 7th Grade students were given a questionnaire including four tasks in each of which they…

Special relativity theory (SRT) has recently gained popularity as a first introduction to "modern" physics thinking in upper level secondary physics education. A central idea in SRT is the absolute speed of light, with light propagating with uniform speed relative to the reference frame of the observer. Previous research suggests that…

Background: National ranking from the triennial Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) often serves as a barometer of national performance and human capital. Though excessive student- and school-level covariates (n > 700) may prove intractable for traditional least-squares estimate procedures, shrinkage methods may be more…

Relationships among task characteristics, L2 performance, and interlanguage development are of interest both for SLA research and the design of syllabuses and language teaching materials. Complexity has been identified as a promising, but methodologically problematic, task design feature. A study was conducted of the effects of progressive…

Different from other elaborate proses, academic writing needs a clear language to extend its scope of audience. Intending to be seen intellectual, competent, or more attractive, writers may inflate their manuscripts with unnecessary complicated words and pompous frills unique to specific jargons; however, such texts, called flowery writing, in an…

This paper draws on doctoral research exploring the lived experiences of secondary school students during their first year of A-level study, through the theoretical lens of the Threshold Concept Framework. A longitudinal design frame based on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is employed, thus providing an original use of this methodology…

Innovative teaching strategies are designing a new and promising landscape in education. They fill lessons with creativity and imagination for either the students or teachers. This article addresses an attempt to make the approach to science easier in a nonscientific environment: primary education at university level. Gamification methodologies…

Typically developing (TD) children exhibit a transfer deficit imitating significantly less from screen demonstrations compared to a live demonstrations. Although many interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include video materials, little research exists comparing the effectiveness of video demonstration over live…

For the advancement of current and future economic and overall well-being to occur, STEM professionals are highly needed. STEM education is an approach that integrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula into one interdisciplinary curriculum. In the context of STEM education, learners acquire deep and critical thinking…

The findings of previous research into the compatibility of stakeholders' perceptions with statistical estimations of item difficulty are not seemingly consistent. Furthermore, most research shows that teachers' estimation of item difficulty is not reliable since they tend to overestimate the difficulty of easy items and underestimate the…

We tested the effects of orthography on text reading by comparing reading measures in Arabic and Hebrew-speaking adults. The languages are typologically very similar, but use different orthographies. We measured naming speed of single letters, words and nonwords, and visual processing. Arabic-speakers also performed some of the tasks in Hebrew. We…

This article is a conceptual and methodological exploration of a new construct, task interactional difficulty, and of a possible approach to assessing task demands in general. After arguing for the use of 'task difficulty' instead of 'task complexity', the notion of task interactional difficulty is analyzed, first by reviewing previous SLA…

In this research, it is aimed to develop a valid and reliable test to determine the drawing a shape-schema and making a table levels of prospective teachers at Mathematics and Science Education, Turkish and Social Sciences Education and Basic Education Departments. In this process, a comprehensive item pool has been prepared with the table of…

The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesized model that specified direct and indirect effects of textual and individual factors on readers' ability to integrate information about sources and content when reading multiple conflicting texts on a controversial socio-scientific issue. Using a path analytic approach with a sample of 140…

This study focuses on education at primary and secondary level in Northern Ireland and questions whether it meets the needs of gifted students. Gifted students from Mensa were questioned about their experiences in school, and the majority of students stated that they did not have sufficient challenge in school, or any type of differentiation in…