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This study aims to analyze the graphical comprehension of 5th and 6th grade students in multigrade rural primary education in Chile. The theoretical framework considers levels of reading and semiotic levels in statistical graphs. A qualitative methodology of descriptive level is followed, using content analysis method for the responses given to a questionnaire by 22 students from five multigrade rural schools. The results show that, overall, students do not encounter difficulties in answering questions at level 1 reading (literal reading), but difficulties gradually increase as the reading level increases. Regarding semiotic levels, difficulties arise in constructing graphs using data distribution (semiotic level 3) and completing a graph with two data distributions (semiotic level 4).

Online learning has become an important advance in education in the last decade. We developed an online learning system related to land and tree measurements. University students were given pre- and postexposure surveys for two courses offered within the online system. Surveys were designed to assess whether the knowledge level and confidence of students increased through interaction with the online system. A final assessment was conducted to understand user experiences with the online technology. Statistically significant increases in knowledge and confidence concerning land measurement concepts and tree measurement topics were evident among survey participants. Survey participants agreed that the course functioned properly, that graphics and images within the courses were useful, and that using the system prior to in-person instruction helped students better understand concepts.

The objective of this study was to find effect of Jazz smart classroom's online quiz on academic achievement of students at secondary school level. Experimental design was used in which two groups were selected one was control and other was experimental group. Experimental group was given a treatment of six weeks by using Jazz Smart Classroom's Online Quiz. A sample of 30 students of class 10 was selected. Convenience sampling technique was used. Instrument used for collection of data was pre-test and post-test. Twenty lessons were delivered by using Jazz Smart Classroom's Online Quiz. Same pre-test and post-test used. The test was validated by the experts from University of Okara. The reliability of test was determined by reliability analysis with SPSS. The t-test was used for the comparison of data of control and experimental group. The results of experiment showed that the mean scores of students in post-test which were taught by using Jazz Smart Classroom's Online Quiz scored significantly higher than those taught by using traditional method. Some recommendations were made for teachers and students to use online quiz for better teaching and learning. Government should take an initiative to use Jazz Smart Classroom's Online Quiz in high schools.

Vocational high schools in "3T" area on Bawean Island have limitations in human resources quality, equipment, production or practice tools, and industrial partnership, which differed from the vocational high schools located in advanced and developed areas. This research objective is to discover the description of employability to the vocational high school students in "3T" area in Bawean island. The research method applied was the qualitative method using the phenomenology approach. The data collection was obtained through semi-structured interviews. This research participant was eight students at vocational high school "X," "Y," "Z," and "W" schools in Bawean Island, which is one of the "3T" area. The analysis method in this research was content analysis. This research result shows that students in the "3T" area were showing their effort to prepare themselves in facing the job market by enhancing their employability in learning activities within the class or practice in the laboratory. The students' employability includes skills, knowledge, comprehension, personality, career identity, social and human relations, and personal adaptability. Students realize that they are in the "3T" area and must work harder to improve their work skills so as not to lose their jobs.

The issue of students' difficulties in solving context-based mathematics problems has been extensively investigated by numerous studies. However, limited study focus on how pre-service primary school teacher (PSPSTs) encounter difficulties in solving context-based fundamental mathematics problems. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate PSPSTs' difficulties encountered while solving context-based mathematics tasks by identifying the error type they made based on the error classification proposed in Newman Error Analysis (NEA). This is an error analysis study with a summative qualitative content analysis approach involving 87 PSPSTs in an Indonesian Islamic University. Data were collected through a test, in-depth interviews and document analysis of the PSPSTs' responses. Data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative content analysis was performed using Atlas.ti software. The findings revealed that many PSPSTs encounter difficulties in solving context-based problems. Approximately 22.1% of PSPSTs committed errors in comprehension, 17.5% each in reading and encoding, 14.7% in transformation, and 8.7% in process skill. Furthermore, the findings indicated a hierarchical structure in the occurrence of errors. Errors in the early stages have a high potential to cause errors in subsequent problem-solving stages. All the results are discussed, along with their implications for practice and suggestions for future research.

The present educational intervention study focused on addressing some areas of improvement in the teaching and learning of trigonometric ratios in high school students. A diagnostic evaluation was performed that revealed an instrumental understanding of trigonometric concepts by the students. Subsequently, a didactic sequence was implemented that incorporated practical applications of trigonometric ratios in the context of displacement vectors. The results of the study indicated significant improvements in students' understanding after the intervention, marking a shift toward relational understanding. This proposal is presented as an effective strategy and suggests promising ways to improve pedagogy in this field.

The present study explores the integration of critical thinking skills concepts in agricultural project management instruction at the undergraduate level, using the traditional classroom theoretical approach and a blended learning model. The study, encompassing 118 undergraduate students, compares the effectiveness of these methods in enhancing students' understanding, measured through examination scores, group presentations, and students' overall perceptions of the use of the methods. Students achieved a mean examination score of 64.82% under the traditional approach and 72.66% for the blended learning approach. Statistical analysis, including a t-test, revealed significant differences favoring the blended approach. Additionally, performance assessments using six criteria during presentations yielded varied mean scores. ANOVA analysis showed a significant difference among the groups, and post hoc tests highlighted distinctions between specific groups' means, emphasizing the effectiveness of blended learning in enhancing students understanding. Students' perceptions, gathered through a 5-point Likert scale, underscored satisfaction with the blended approach due to its flexibility, catering to diverse learning styles, and fostering critical thinking skills. We recommend institutions strengthen project management instruction by adopting blended learning, emphasizing critical thinking, and prioritizing continuous assessment and student-centric approaches since they cultivate an engaging learning experience, preparing students for managing future complexities on projects. [Note: The issue number (25) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct issue number is 24.]

Basketball, as one of the most popular sports courses in Chinese colleges and universities, has always been taught in a traditional ball teaching method, which has caused many problems in students' learning effects, such as poor basketball tactics, weaker physical fitness and so on. Therefore, it is imperative to reform the basketball courses in colleges and universities. Accordingly, this paper is aimed to explore the effects of the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGFU) method in basketball courses on male students from the Class of 2023, a university in Shanghai, China, in terms of their basketball tactics and physical fitness. The study sampled 60 students randomly selected from 1850 students who took the optional basketball courses. The selected students were divided into two classes, either with 30 students: the experimental classes taught with the TGFU method and the control class taught with the traditional method. The data were collected from the pre-tests and post-tests of both classes and analyzed by the tool Statistic Package for Social Science (SPSS 24.0). Including the calculation of average values and standard deviation for T-test. It is found that the TGFU adopted in the basketball courses has significantly improved students' basketball tactics and physical fitness, and that this method is advised to apply in college courses for students of all grades.

Potentially serving as the primary national literacy initiative, the Reading Seed Programme (RSP) by PUSTAKA Negeri Sarawak aims to enculturate a reading culture from an early age. For instance, RSP was invented to promote reading culture by having the pregnant mother read to their infant until the child was three years old. The process is vital to helping children learn to read from a young age and eventually empower them to be independent readers for life. Particularly, the objectives of RSP are to promote reading habits by getting parents to read to their children, strengthen a child's vocabulary, and develop their confidence, especially in reading. Thus, this paper is primarily designed to investigate the demographic differences between RSP participation and the programme's objectives, i.e., reading habits, parent's engagement, vocabulary ability, and confidence development. To assess how well the RSP achieved its goal of assisting toddlers in developing their confidence as readers. An online survey yielded 385 completed responses, representing a 92.33% response rate among RSP participants. The key findings indicated that the age of the child, mode of joining the programme, and year received the RSP's kits are the most important indicators of the usefulness of the programme (RSP and RSP's kits) and the programme's objectives attainment, especially in straightening the child's vocabulary and comprehension and developing their confidence, especially in reading and knowledge. Nonetheless, the results of this study highlighted the novelty of the early literacy programme of the RSP in cultivating the reading culture, parent-child engagement in reading, and preparing children to acquire knowledge.

The use of #digitalpowerups is a technique that involves associating keywords with prompts in online discussion forums, which enables students to have more choice and voice. These powerups not only help structure responses but also enrich discussions and develop academic skills necessary for online assignments. The approach leverages the social media interaction space of discussion forums by introducing hashtags that remind students of the prompt being addressed and indicate the level of Bloom's being engaged. By using the powerups, students can engage in mid-levels and higher-order levels of Bloom's, along with the lower levels that they typically engage in based on the design and facilitation of the discussion. Students typically participate in the lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy (#remember, #understand) due to the way the discussion is structured and facilitated. However, the use of #digitalpowerups encourages students to move beyond these levels and engage in mid-levels (#apply, #analyze, #evaluate) and higher-order levels (#create, #connect) during discussions. The powerups also scaffold or frame student responses with habits of mind skills. This article examines how the #digitalpowerups strategy supports learning in a virtual community for Environmental Concerns in the Environmental Sociology Course through content analysis of student discussion postings. The primary data (total of 375 postings) were collected from the Environmental Sociology Class throughout the following academic years: Fall 2020 (96 postings), Fall 2021 (67 postings), Spring 2022 (92 postings) and Spring 2023 (120 postings).

Students believed physics was one of the most challenging sciences in education, and their interest in learning physics was lacking. Therefore, this study aims to enhance students' understanding and creativity in the STEAM learning system on electricity by creating a project (Paper Circuit) using the students' creativity at the junior high school level - quantitative research with a pre-experimental design used for this study. The population is 8th grade and 9th grade (50 students adapted to the curriculum used in the school) in one of the Junior Secondary Schools located in Bandung and Cimahi, Indonesia. The data is obtained from the pretest-posttest results, which show that the average pre-test score was 57.04 and the post-test score was 76.64. The nonparametric test was tested using the Wilcoxon test to measure student understanding. The results from e Wilcoxon are 0.000, which shows sig. <0.05, which means there is a significant difference between pre-test and post-test. Students' creativity is obtained from the Creativity Product Analysis Matrix (CPAM), and the result for Project 1 is 73.71%, categorized as enough, and Project 2 is 83.13%, categorized as good. Based on the result, Paper Circuit STEAM project-based learning can enhance student understanding and creativity. STEAM project-based learning can be used as an alternative teaching strategy in junior secondary school.

Through signs and symbols, language serves as a means of expressing ideas and sentiments. These signs and symbols are used to encode and decode the information. The world has many different languages in use. As their first language, a baby learns their mother tongue. From birth, he or she is exposed to this language. Any additional language that is learned or acquired is referred to as a second language. There are two definitions of SLA, which stands for second language acquisition. It is a term that is generally used to describe learning a second language. To be more explicit, it is the name of the theory that outlines how individuals learn a second language. As we focus on speaking, this largely unconscious process happens. It is comparable to the acquisition of a second language, which explains how formal language teaching helps us acquire languages more deliberately. The ideas that the teacher can create communication contexts that support language learning, that language learning progresses naturally, that affective filters exist that hinder language learning, especially for adults, and that input is of utmost importance are all implications for the language classroom. This study aims to investigate the impact of language training on young children's language acquisition. The technique is qualitative and draws its methods from literature reviews.

Literary discussions are widely utilized in education, yet their profound impact on students' comprehension requires in-depth exploration. This paper delves into the influence of literary discussions on student comprehension and examines how these discussions can enhance students' understanding and analytical skills. Through literature reviews and case analyses, this study investigates teaching strategies, student engagement levels, classroom ambiance, and other factors involved in literary discussions, revealing the potential mechanisms through which literary discussions influence student comprehension. The paper explores variations in the application of literary discussions across different types of literary works (novels, poetry, drama, etc.) and their relationship with students' creative thinking. Finally, the paper provides recommendations to assist educators in effectively utilizing literary discussions to enhance students' comprehension skills. Students must have the opportunity to discuss literature in ways that provoke deep thought and meaning from each work they encounter. Therefore, English Language Arts teachers and instructors must be creative in finding unique ways in which they encourage their students to experience and respond to literature. This paper discusses a variety of strategies to implement in virtual and in-person classrooms, such as Socratic seminar, Teacher-led as a facilitator, Teacher-led as a promoter of diverse perspectives, Using student-generated discussion questions whole class, Using student-generated discussion questions in small groups, Using Close-ended questions, Using Open-ended questions, Inquiry-based, Making real-world connections to the literature, Literature Circles. These literary discussion strategies can be used for both fiction and nonfiction literature.

The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between teacher and student mindsets in relation to the student's comprehension of mathematics concepts. This study used a qualitative research type with a case study method. Participants in this study were 30 students and one teacher from one of the public junior high schools in Cianjur, Indonesia. Data sources used in this study were collected through teacher and student questionnaires, class observations, and semi-structured interviews. The class observation material was about linear function, and the learning process was carried out using the Complex Instruction (CI) approach based on growth mindset instruction. The questionnaire results show that teachers and students tend to have a fixed mindset. The fixed mindset of both the students and the teacher is particularly evident in their beliefs about the nature of math and their orientation towards student mastery and performance. The results of observations and interviews show a relationship between this mindset and student performance in class. Most students tend to show low performance in understanding linear function concepts. Based on the observations, students experienced problems in algebra thinking, had difficulty understanding mathematical concepts as a whole, and showed a lack of motivation and self-confidence. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between the fixed mindsets of teachers and students towards students' lower performance in mathematics learning in the classroom.

Understanding by Design (UbD) is a well-known curricular methodology aiming at leading students to develop a deep understanding of the arguments proposed by teachers. Through a path including stimulating questions, student motivation, deepening of the argument, reflection, design and assessment of authentic performances, the students develop a broad understanding of the learned argument. While there are plenty of articles describing various experiences in classrooms and schools showing the benefits of UbD, rarely has this methodology been the object of experimental or quasi-experimental studies. A study conforming to quasi-experimental criteria has been performed in a Swiss vocational school, where a teacher taught two groups of students using UbD principles, while using with a third group a more usual teaching approach. The curriculum topic was the study of mathematical relations and functions. The results, collected during one school year, showed that the first two groups outperformed the third and that the effect of UbD lasted at least for one school year. Since the teacher remained the same, we can likely attribute the outcome to the use of the methodology.

Within the past decade, there has been a shift in how our guiding professional documents conceptualise information literacy (IL) - evolving from a skills-based conceptualisation to one emphasising ways of thinking and knowing. This has been both productive and disruptive. Our professional documentation does not provide a framework for making this shift or for scaffolding learning to develop complex and sophisticated ways of thinking and knowing. In this study, we apply Bloom's revised taxonomy for educational objectives to instructor descriptions of IL (n=51) to develop a draft taxonomy that attempts to build a bridge between these two conceptualisations. The data was drawn from a survey that was administered to instructors and instructional support staff immediately preceding their participation in a multi-day teaching professional development workshop related to IL. We believe that this model has implications for how we approach the development of learners' IL with intentionality, both in collaboration with faculty and for our own teaching practices as librarians.

Game-based learning has gained significant attention from educational researchers because of its ability to create an engaging and enjoyable learning environment for students. However, there was a research gap regarding the design of game mechanics that specifically helped students understand abstract scientific concepts. Also, the impact of increased motivation, interest, and engagement on conceptual understanding remained uncertain. The objective of this study was, therefore, to analyze the efficacy of using analogy teaching as a learning design principle for creating game mechanics to improve students' conceptions of bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Additionally, the study aimed to investigate whether providing a clear analogy comparison after gameplay could have a significant impact on students' learning outcomes. The research also examined the correlation between students' enjoyment level during gameplay and their learning outcomes. An embedded experimental mixed methods design was utilized to address the research objectives. The participants were 54 undergraduate students from non-science disciplines. They were divided into two groups: the Game-based Learning [GL] group and the Game-based Learning with eXplicit analogy discussion [GLX] group. Both groups used a board game to learn about bioaccumulation and biomagnification. The GL group had reflective discussions about the concepts after playing the game. The GLX group had an additional task where they identified similarities and differences between the gameplay and the scientific concepts, and they explicitly discussed these through a worksheet provided before the discussion. Results showed that after engaging in game-based learning, both groups exhibited a significant improvement in their understanding of bioaccumulation and biomagnification, moving from incomplete or partial understanding to more scientifically accurate concepts. Notably, the GLX group scored higher in post-tests compared to the GL group. Despite high levels of enjoyment during gameplay, there was no correlation between this enjoyment and the post-test scores. An unexpected slight negative correlation was found between immersion during the game and post-test scores. Discussion and implementation of the research results were provided.

The objective of this study is to develop e-modules for bump pass learning for seventh-grade students. This study identified the problems and needs of students in learning bump pass skills, e-module eligibility and the effect of the e-module on students' bump pass skills. Two groups of seventh grades, two teachers serving as content experts and two media experts participated in this study at State Junior High School 1 Talawi. Five steps were used in conducting this research: analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. The researchers collected data through questionnaires, interviews, observation, documentation, expert testing and tests. The questionnaire, interview, observation and documentation results were analyzed using an interactive data analysis model. Expert test data were analyzed using the inter-rater agreement model and test result data were analyzed using an independent t-test. There are three findings in this research. First, the reason for the students' difficulties in learning bump passes is their lack of interest in the content found in their textbooks. They need learning media that are interesting and can be accessed through smartphones. Thus, e-modules are a suitable learning medium to solve problems and meet their needs. Second, the developed e-module was confirmed to have high content validity and meet the criteria for good learning materials and media based on the feasibility test results. Third, the e-module has positively and significantly affected students' understanding and bump pass skills. Thus, it is suggested that the module be used for teaching bump pass skills at other schools.

Reading comprehension and arithmetic skills are essential abilities for children, particularly at the early career. Examine the link between language proficiency and numeral information process amongst primary school children. This study examines numeral comprehension in 600 Chinese primary second graders with different levels of decoding and linguistic comprehension skills. Four groups of children were compared, including typical readers (TR), poor decoders (PD), poor comprehenders (PC) and general poor readers (GPR). Results showed that the four groups had similar performances in numeral comprehension when the answer options to a question on the quantity of numerals were presented in Arabic numbers. However, when the answer options to a question on the quantity of numeral information were presented in analogue nonsymbolic magnitude representations, the PC group outperformed the PD and GPR group. The findings of this study has demonstrated the link between language proficiency and numerical information process in reading comprehension.

The present study aimed to examine whether Mandarin-speaking children on the autism spectrum showed differences in comprehending spatial demonstratives ("this" and "that", and "here" and "there"), as compared to typically developing (TD) children. Another aim of this study was to investigate the roles of theory of mind (ToM) and executive functions (EF) in the comprehension of spatial demonstratives. Twenty-seven autistic children (mean age 6.86) and 27 receptive-vocabulary-matched TD children (mean age 5.82) were recruited. Demonstrative comprehension was assessed based on participants' ability to place objects in certain locations according to experimenters' instructions which involved these demonstratives in three different conditions (same-, opposite-, and spectator-perspective conditions). Four false-belief tasks were administered to measure ToM, and the word-span task and the dimensional change card sort task were used to measure two subcomponents of EF -- working memory and mental flexibility -- respectively. Children on the autism spectrum were found to score below TD children in the comprehension of spatial demonstratives. In addition, the results showed that ToM and working memory were conducive to the correct interpretation of spatial demonstratives. The two cognitive abilities mutually influenced their respective roles in spatial demonstrative comprehension in the three different conditions. The findings suggest that the comprehension of spatial demonstratives comprehension is an area of need in Mandarin-speaking children on the autism spectrum, and it might be linked to their differences in cognitive abilities.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses aggregate research findings across studies and populations, making them a valuable form of research evidence. Over the past decade, studies in medical education using these methods have increased by 630%. However, many manuscripts are not publication-ready due to inadequate planning and insufficient analyses. These guidelines aim to improve the clarity and comprehensiveness of reporting methodologies and outcomes, ensuring high quality and comparability. They align with existing standards like PRISMA, providing examples and best practices. Adhering to these guidelines is crucial for publication consideration in "Anatomical Sciences Education."

Bodily engagement with the material and sociocultural world is ubiquitous in doing and learning science. However, science education researchers have often tended to emphasize the disembodied and nonmaterial aspects of science learning, thereby overlooking the crucial role of the body in meaning-making processes. While in recent years we have seen a turn towards embracing embodied perspectives, there persist considerable theoretical and methodological differences within research on embodiment in science education that hamper productive discourse. What is needed is a careful examination of how different traditions and disciplines, among them philosophy, social semiotics, and cognitive science, bear on embodiment in science education research. This paper aims to explore and articulate the differences and convergences of embodied perspectives in science education research in the form of a dialogue between three fictitious personas that stand for the cognitive, social-interactionist, and phenomenological research traditions. By bringing these traditions into dialogue, we aim to better position the role of the body in the science education research landscape. In doing so, we take essential steps towards unifying terminology across different research traditions and further exploring the implications of embodiment for science education research.

This study analyzed the comprehension strategies and visuals in two science textbook series for grades 6, 7, and 8 as means of better understanding a core element of the ecological component of science literacy. The iScience [Biggs et al. in iScience (Grade 6), McGraw-Hill, 2015a, iScience (Grade 7), McGraw-Hill, 2015b, iScience (Grade 7), McGraw-Hill, 2015c)] and Interactive Science [Buckley et al. in Interactive Science (Grade 6), vol 1, Pearson, 2015a, Interactive Science (Grade 6), vol 2, Pearson, 2015b, Interactive Science (Grade 7), vol 1, Pearson, 2015c, Interactive Science (Grade 7), vol 2, Pearson, 2015d, Interactive Science (Grade 8), vol 1, Pearson, 2015e, Interactive Science (Grade 8), vol 2, Pearson, 2015f] textbook series were analyzed for the frequency of comprehension strategies used in during-reading activities as well as the explicit references of visuals and the level of visual captions. Analysis revealed comprehension monitoring, graphic organizers, and question answering were the most frequently used comprehension strategies. Although the numbers, do not highlight the lack of instruction in those strategies. Further, most visuals were explicitly referenced and had descriptive captions. Findings from this study point to the need for science educators to critically examine how comprehension and visuals instruction are included in the textbooks they use in their classrooms.

Effective spatial visualization and reasoning skills are often credited for students' success in science and engineering courses. However, students enrolled in these science courses are not always exposed to or trained properly on the best ways to utilize models to aid in their learning. Improving spatial visualization techniques with 3D models, such as molecular and DNA modeling kits, is often suggested to facilitate students' ability to conceptualize compounds in two and three dimensions. Here, we investigate what techniques students use to conceptualize 2D representations of various biomolecules with the use of 3D models by interviewing undergraduate students from various natural science and engineering disciplines in task-based, think-aloud sessions. After scoring and analyzing the participant data we explored some of the techniques used among successful scoring participants, including the use of informal models to transition between 2D and 3D. Additional techniques used by students who were able to successfully conceptualize 3D images included starting with smaller, granular details to inductively make conclusions when thinking between two and three dimensions. We find that (1) students who anchor their thinking in 3D models show a deeper level of understanding in initially solving science problems successfully, and (2) proper 3D model use and spatial visualization techniques may improve students' abilities to accurately visualize 2D and 3D representations of molecules in science courses. Our results demonstrate that implementing spatial visualization training to teach students how to effectively use 3D models may improve students' problem-solving techniques in science curricula.

Despite the national impact on students due to COVID-19, for Black students living in the state of Florida, the disruption of their social, emotional, psychological, and academic normalcy was complicated further. At the height of the pandemic, Florida consistently ranked in the top three states in the U.S. for total COVID-19 cases; moreover, even before the onset of COVID-19, over 33% of Black youth under the age of 18 in the state (the highest for any group in Florida) had faced trauma, also known as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Black Floridian youth with ACEs residing in urban-situated neighborhoods have been overwhelmed by COVID-19. Yet little is known about Black youth and their experiences with COVID-19 beyond average achievement on national assessments. Particularly, we do not understand how Black youth made meaning of what was (and still is) transpiring in their communities with COVID-19 and how they made meaning of their schooling, amid a pandemic. Nor do we understand how the pandemic will affect the educational futures of Black youth. The salient goals of this study were to (a) leverage youth voice amid COVID-19 to add to the discourse about re-envisioning the educational futures of Black students within schools to inform educators and school districts in supporting an educational environment that is prepared to address the post-traumatic growth of students, and (b) promote micro-level policies in schools that enhance equitable educational and mental health practices among youth.

In the modern age, we often consume content at faster than its normal speed. Prior research suggests that watching lecture videos at speeds up to 2x does not significantly affect performance, but the mechanisms by which comprehension is preserved at faster playback speeds are not fully understood. Therefore, we sought to investigate whether there is an effect of speed when the content is audio only, varies in modality (audio-only, audio-visual) and content (textual, pictorial), or is accompanied by distractions. In four experiments, we found that: (1) increasing playback speed to 2.5x speed did not impair test performance (though we still do not advise exceeding 2x speed); (2) having a visual aspect (i.e., presentation slides, instructor images) to learning can be advantageous, especially when processing information at faster speeds; (3) there was a small benefit of receiving textual over pictorial presentations, and the effect did not vary by speed; (4) computer-based distractions (i.e., phone calls, text messages, email notifications) did not impact performance at 1x or 2x speed. Hence, students are more adept at learning at faster speeds than conventional wisdom would suggest, even with distractions present, demonstrating intact comprehension at double the natural speed of to-be-learned material. Furthermore, multimedia presentations can help mitigate the negative costs of accelerated speeds, especially when information is processed by separate working memory components (i.e., narration in the auditory channel, text or pictures in the visual channel), which reduces cognitive load.

This paper examines underlying beliefs and values about nature within the early years education in Turkey, as reflected in the curricula and standards documents guiding instruction. Given that not every child has the opportunity for nature-based education, it becomes essential to incorporate nature-based learning into indoor classrooms. Employing a document analysis, we comprehensively analyse the Ministry of Education's Preschool Education Program (2013), Activity Book-1 (2013a), and Activity Book-2 (2018), which guides teachers in shaping their classroom practices, therefore providing in-depth insights into the conceptualisations of nature. Our analysis reveals that 'nature' in these documents is characterised by its connection to and intersections of specific settings, concepts, and resources. Moreover, we found out that the identified patterns of relationships in the examined curriculum and standards documents demonstrate a purposeful initiative to engage preschool children in the realm of nature through various means, including conceptual comprehension, hands-on interaction with materials, and direct involvement in natural surroundings. The intersections among these elements unveil a complex network of opportunities to promote an enhanced learning journey. By fostering a deeper understanding of the relationship between curriculum guidelines and nature activities, we aim to empower early childhood educators to embrace nature as an integral part of their classroom practices.

A Study with undergraduate engineering students was conducted in order to evaluate whether cognitive and comprehending ability can be improved by incorporating the tool based learning. The simulator tools and virtual labs were used to represent tool based learning. The study was conducted on three different years of students. In the first stage course content was delivered using the traditional mode that is chalk and board and later the same content was delivered using software tools having visualization effects. A total of 422 students participated in the study. Pre-tool and post-tool learning tests were conducted, a statistical analysis was done to understand the effects of tool-based learning on cognitive and comprehending ability of the students using the concept of minimization of the given boolean expression, which can be solved in two methods which depends on cognitive ability and Quine-McCluskey (QMC) method which depends on the comprehending ability of the student. A survey was conducted to gauge the learning experience of the students. In this experimental research process data is collected on pre and post tool learning along with analysis of students learning outcomes. The findings indicate a significant positive effect of software tool based learning approach on student's ability to minimize the Boolean expression. The research aims at filling the gap of understanding software tools role in teaching and learning process.

Purpose: Little is known about the relationship between discourse comprehension and production in traumatic brain injury (TBI), especially for spoken language. This study examined to what extent narrative discourse comprehension accounts for narrative discourse production outcomes (story grammar, story completeness). A secondary aim was to provisionally test an assumption of a discourse model, the structure building framework (SBF), that discourse comprehension and production share cognitive processes by investigating the strength of the relationship between them. Method: Twenty-one individuals with TBI completed story comprehension and story retelling tasks. Discourse measures included the Discourse Comprehension Test, a picture story comprehension task, story grammar, and story completeness. Correlational and multiple regression analyses were performed using comprehension measures as predictors for production measures. Results: There were significant moderate-to-large correlations between all comprehension and production measures. Comprehension measures approached but did not reach significance for predicting story grammar performance but strongly predicted story completeness outcomes. Conclusions: The story comprehension measures likely tapped content aspects of discourse more so than organization. Results provided support for a link between content-focused discourse comprehension measures and discourse production outcomes, which may have clinical implications for approaches to discourse intervention. Findings were interpreted as providing preliminary support for the SBF's claim that discourse production deploys the same processes involved in discourse comprehension.

The sample mean in statistics is a concept of great importance, with its properties being extensively utilized in other areas, such as computer science. This research centers on the concept of the sample mean and its characteristics in a cohort of computer engineering students undertaking a required course in statistics at a university in the Netherlands. The objective of this study was to analyze students' comprehension of the fundamental structure, properties, and applications of the sample mean. A digital mini-course on sample mean was developed and employed with 97 students, who had the option to apply the concepts at their own pace. The action-process-object-schema (APOS) theoretical framework was utilized to analyze the interview responses of seven participants. The majority of participants were able to demonstrate an understanding of the Process conception of the sample mean, with only a minority demonstrating an understanding of the Object conception. The lack of comprehension of the sample mean hindered students' capacity to effectively utilize the associated applications and properties. These findings imply that educators should strive to ensure that students have a sound comprehension of the sample mean so that they are better equipped to work with related applications. Suggestions of this study and further research ideas are indicated.

Contribution: This article identifies possible ruptures between the ways fundamental notions of exact differential and exact differential equations (EDEs) are employed in mathematics courses and professional engineering disciplines. Background: Engineering students often experience difficulties with mathematics courses which may even lead to dropout from engineering programs. Students also face problems applying acquired mathematics knowledge in professional courses. Research is needed to understand how fundamental mathematics concepts are used in advanced engineering courses. Research Questions: How are the notions of exact differential and EDEs used in mathematics and engineering courses? What potential learning difficulties originate from different institutional practices and how can they be addressed? Methodology: The anthropological theory of the didactic is employed to analyze how six different STEM disciplines approach fundamental concepts of exact differential and EDEs. Distinctions in praxeologies associated with different institutions reveal possible learning difficulties students face relating new knowledge in engineering disciplines to that acquired in mathematics courses. Findings: Student learning can be facilitated by bridging the way exact differentials are introduced in Calculus and Differential Equations. Student conceptual understanding can be facilitated through the cross-disciplinary collaboration between mathematicians and engineers in the development of new courses and study programs.

The present work refers to a study of 10-12-year-old students' ideas on the self- or hetero-luminosity of the Moon. To check the validity of students' reasoning on this question, we also examined their ideas on the lunar phases and how we see hetero-luminous objects. Students supported their ideas on the self- or hetero-luminosity of the Moon by using naïve explanatory reasoning, based on alternative ideas about various astronomical phenomena. On the other hand, an analysis of the students' answers showed that there are qualitative differences between the two groups. For students to understand that the Moon is illuminated by the Sun, comprehension of the relative movements, relative sizes and distances of the Sun-Earth-Moon system is necessary.

Purpose: This study investigated irony comprehension by Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants, focusing on how prosodic and visual cues contribute to their comprehension, and whether second-order Theory of Mind is required for using these cues. Method: We tested 52 Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (aged 3-7 years) and 52 age- and gender-matched children with normal hearing. All children completed a Theory of Mind test and a story comprehension test. Ironic stories were presented in three conditions, each providing different cues: (a) context-only, (b) context and prosody, and (c) context, prosody, and visual cues. Comparisons were conducted on the accuracy of story understanding across the three conditions to examine the role of prosodic and visual cues. Results: The results showed that, compared to the context-only condition, the additional prosodic and visual cues both improved the accuracy of irony comprehension for children with cochlear implants, similar to their normal-hearing peers. Furthermore, such improvements were observed for all children, regardless of whether they passed the second-order Theory of Mind test or not. Conclusions: This study is the first to demonstrate the benefits of prosodic and visual cues in irony comprehension, without reliance on second-order Theory of Mind, for Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants. It implies potential insights for utilizing prosodic and visual cues in intervention strategies to promote irony comprehension.

An understanding of how sensemaking unfolds when elementary students engage in engineering design tasks is crucial to advancing engineering teaching and learning at K-12 levels. Sensemaking has been widely studied in the context of science as a discipline. In this paper, we seek to contribute to the more nascent efforts to build theory about the characteristics of sensemaking in elementary school engineering. We report on an interpretive case study of a 3rd grade student team who worked with minimal adult intervention to design a solution to an engineering challenge. Considering the entire trajectory of their design process, from the given problem to the solution, we observed that they navigated through multiple epistemic conflicts while making decisions that informed their final solution. We found that these conflicts served as "opportunities for sensemaking" and that exploring how the students resolved conflicts shed light on their sensemaking processes. Analysis of the team's navigation through epistemic conflicts to come to a design decision helped identify two distinct kinds of engineering sensemaking: student engagement in functional reasoning as they suggested design ideas, and student engagement in mechanistic reasoning as they interpreted test results. Both processes facilitated knowledge building, which in turn supported students' engineering design decisions.

An essential aspect of scientific practice involves grappling with the generation of predictions, representations, interpretations, investigations, and communications related to scientific phenomena, all of which are inherently permeated with uncertainty. Transferring this practice from expert settings to the classroom is invaluable yet challenging. Teachers often perceive struggles as incidental, negative, and uncomfortable, assuming they stem from students' deficiencies in knowledge or understanding, which they feel compelled to promptly address to progress. While some empirical research has explored the role of scientific uncertainties in driving productive student struggle, few studies have explicitly examined or provided a framework to unpack scientific uncertainty as it manifests in the classroom, including the sources that lead to student struggle and how teachers can manage it effectively. In this position paper, we elucidate the importance of incorporating scientific uncertainties as pedagogical resources to foster student struggles through uncertainty from three perspectives: scientific literacy, student agency, and coherent trajectories of sensemaking. To develop a theoretical framework, we consider scientific uncertainty as a resource for productive struggle in the sensemaking process. We delve into two types (e.g., conceptual, epistemic), four sources (e.g., insufficiency, ambiguity, incoherence, conflict), and three desirability considerations (e.g., relevance, timing, complexity) of scientific uncertainties in student struggles to provide a theoretical foundation for understanding what students struggle with, why they struggle, and how scientific uncertainties can be effectively managed by teachers. With this framework, researchers and teachers can examine the (mis)alignments between uncertainty-in-design, uncertainty-in-practice, and uncertainty-in-reflection.

Advances in computational language models increasingly enable adaptive support for self-regulated learning (SRL) in digital learning environments (DLEs; eg, via automated feedback). However, the accuracy of those models is a common concern for educational stakeholders (eg, policymakers, researchers, teachers and learners themselves). We compared the accuracy of four Dutch language models (ie, spaCy medium, spaCy large, FastText and ConceptNet NumberBatch) in the context of secondary school students' learning of causal relations from expository texts, scaffolded by causal diagram completion. Since machine learning relies on human-labelled data for the best results, we used a dataset with 10,193 students' causal diagram answers, compiled over a decade of research using a diagram completion intervention to enhance students' monitoring of their text comprehension. The language models were used in combination with four popular machine learning classifiers (ie, logistic regression, random forests, support vector machine and neural networks) to evaluate their performance on automatically scoring students' causal diagrams in terms of the correctness of events and their sequence (ie, the causal structure). Five performance metrics were studied, namely accuracy, precision, recall, F1 and the area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC-AUC). The spaCy medium model combined with the neural network classifier achieved the best performance for the correctness of causal events in four of the five metrics, while the ConceptNet NumberBatch model worked best for the correctness of the causal sequence. These evaluation results provide a criterion for model adoption to adaptively support SRL of causal relations in DLEs.

Valid consent requires the potential research participant understands the information provided. We examined current practice in 50 proposed Clinical Trials of Investigational Medicinal Products to determine how this understanding is checked. The majority of the proposals (n = 44) indicated confirmation of understanding would take place during an interactive conversation between the researcher and potential participant, containing questions to assess and establish understanding. Yet up until now, research design and review have not focussed upon this, concentrating more on written material. We propose ways this interactive conversation can be documented, and the process of checking understanding improved.

Background: Oral comprehension difficulties are prevalent in preschool children with language difficulties and are frequently the target of speech and language therapy (SLT) intervention. To support the implementation of research to practice, there is a need to identify effective interventions for this population and to describe their components. To date, reviews of oral comprehension intervention have not used inclusion criteria aligned with common clinical practice, particularly in the United Kingdom. No studies have previously used the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist to describe developmental SLT interventions. Aims: To identify intervention studies effective for oral comprehension in preschool children with language difficulties, using the UK definition of 'preschool' as children under 5 years; to describe the components of these interventions. Method: This followed two phases: (1) an International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews registered search, which identified 20 systematic reviews; and (2) an exploration of individual studies within these reviews. Seventeen individual studies described effective intervention for children from 1 to 5 years old with language difficulties. Data were extracted from each study against headings from the TIDieR checklist. Findings were analysed and reported using narrative synthesis. Main contribution: A wide variety of rationales, techniques, procedures, settings and intensities were associated with effective intervention. The TIDieR checklist highlighted components that were unreported or under-described. Conclusions: Studies show that intervention can be effective for improving oral comprehension in preschool children with language difficulties. Analysis of intervention components has relevance to clinical practice and research, and highlights the importance of naturally occurring interactions, cross-over between oral comprehension and expressive language and the variety in delivery models and dosage.

Pacifier use during childhood has been hypothesized to interfere with language processing, but, to date, there is limited evidence revealing detrimental effects of prolonged pacifier use on infant vocabulary learning. In the present study, parents of 12- and 24-month-old infants were recruited in Oslo (Norway). The sample included 1187 monolingual full-term born (without visual, auditory, or cognitive impairments) infants: 452 (230 girls; 222 boys) 12-month-olds and 735 (345 girls; 390 boys) 24-month-olds. Parents filled out an online Norwegian Communicative Development Inventory (CDI), which assesses the vocabulary in comprehension and production for 12-month-old infants and in production only for 24-month-old infants. CDI scores were transformed into age- and sex-adjusted percentiles using Norwegian norms. Additionally, parents retrospectively reported their child's daytime pacifier use, in hours, at 2-month intervals, from birth to the assessment date. Maternal education was used to control, in the analyses, for the socio-economic status. We found that greater pacifier use in an infant's lifespan was associated with lower vocabulary size. Pacifier use later in life was more negatively associated with vocabulary size than precocious use, and increased the odds of being a low language scorer. In sum, our study moves beyond the findings of momentary effects of experimentally induced "impairment" in articulators' movement on speech perception and suggests that, from 12 months of age, constraints on the infant's speech articulators (pacifier use) may be negatively associated with word comprehension and production.

Recognition of the complexity of the world raises questions about new theories, methods, and capabilities for evaluation practice. Approaches originating in the systems sciences show promise; however, many require specialized expertise and resources. This article explores rich pictures as an accessible, low-resource method for facilitating sensemaking amid complexity. The method involves the free-hand drawing of a situation to richly illustrate what is happening and why using images, lines, and few words. The process and product are akin to elaborate childhood doodles, yet are remarkably powerful conveyors of tacit knowledge and issues, differing perspectives, and action possibilities. Drawing together methodological guidance, sensemaking theory, and an application with STEM higher education faculty, this article shows how rich pictures support sensemaking amid complexity and identifies potential applications and directions for research on the method.

Individuals diagnosed with autism are often thought to face challenges in comprehensive metaphors, even for the individuals without intellectual impairment. This study is to investigate the features and mechanisms of metaphor integration in the process of metaphor comprehension in real-time and context-free situations in autism, as well as the influence of the mental complexity of metaphor. Twenty autistic adults and twenty typically developing peers carried out a Lexical Decision Task and a Recognition Task. The results of the study showed that, there are deficiencies in real-time metaphor comprehension in autistic adults without intellectual impairment. It may caused by their relatively inefficient integration of metaphor semantics. This mechanism was equally pronounced in the metaphors with different mental complexity.

Multilingual children living in areas with low socioeconomic status (SES) are at an increased risk of having speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). Many multilingual children with SLCN in Sweden have insufficient basic vocabulary knowledge in the majority language, preventing them from achieving the school's learning goals. However, there is a lack of studies of interventions that could improve vocabulary development in this group, and that can be delivered in an everyday educational setting. This pilot study evaluates the effect of a school-based vocabulary group intervention, which combines elements from shared book reading and the Lexicon Pirate method, on vocabulary skills. A non-randomised pretest-posttest control group design was used. Eighteen six- to seven-year-old multilingual children attending preschool class in low SES areas either received intervention (n = 9) or were included in a control group (n = 9). The intervention group participated in 12 intervention sessions over six weeks. Word knowledge, semantic fluency, and comprehension of semantic relations were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Results revealed that children in the intervention group demonstrated significant gains in knowledge of both trained and untrained words, compared to the control group. No effects were found on semantic fluency or comprehension of semantic relations.

Sensemaking is conceptualized as a trajectory to develop better understanding and is advocated as one of the fundamental practices in science education. However, the field is lacking of a framework to view the prolonged process of sensemaking that starts from a raise of uncertainty of a target phenomenon to a grasping of a better understanding of a target phenomenon. The process requires teachers to recognize the role of scientific uncertainty in different phases of sensemaking and develop responsive instructional supports to help students navigate the uncertainties. With an attention on student scientific uncertainty as a potential driver of the trajectory of sensemaking, this study aims to identify different phases of sensemaking that can be developed with students' scientific uncertainty. This study especially attends to two types of scientific uncertainty - conceptual and epistemic uncertainties. Conceptual uncertainty refers to student struggle of using conceptual understanding (e.g., mastery of content and everyday knowledge) to respond to an encountered phenomenon. Epistemic uncertainty emerges from struggles in using epistemic understanding to generate new ideas. Based on the multiple case study method, we examined sensemaking activities in two Korean science classrooms and one American science classroom and identified three phases of sensemaking: (a) focusing on a driving question related to a target phenomenon; (b) delving into multiple resources to develop plausible explanation(s); and (c) examining the successfulness of the new understanding and concretizing it. Based on the findings, we discuss two emerging themes. First, sensemaking progresses through three distinctive phases driven by students' dynamically evolving scientific uncertainty. Second, attending to both epistemic and conceptual uncertainties can support developing sensemaking coherent with students' view.

This study examined putative benefits of testing and production for learning new languages. Undergraduates (N = 156) were exposed to Turkish spoken dialogues under varying learning conditions (retrieval practice, comprehension, verbal repetition) in a computer-assisted language learning session. Participants completed pre- and posttests of number- and case-marking comprehension, a vocabulary test, and an explicit awareness questionnaire. Controlling for nonverbal ability and pretest scores, the retrieval-practice group performed highest overall. For number/case marking, the comprehension and retrieval-practice groups outperformed the verbal-repetition group, suggesting benefits of either recognition- or recall-based testing. For vocabulary, the verbal-repetition and retrieval-practice groups outperformed the comprehension group, indicating benefits of overt production. Case marking was easier to learn than number marking, suggesting advantages for learning word-final inflections. Explicit awareness correlated with comprehension accuracy, yet some participants demonstrated above-chance comprehension without showing awareness. Findings indicate the value of incorporating both practice tests and overt production in language pedagogy.

This study explored the experiences of seven first-year university students in Johannesburg, South Africa. Recognising storytelling as a lens to reveal identity, this study focused on student experience narratives as a tool to better understand their transition from school to university. It examined the narrated experiences of these students as a means to reveal their student identities. The qualitative study utilised a case study design type to address the research question: "What do first-year students' transition narratives reveal about their emerging student identities?" This paper focuses on a thematic analysis that was used as a tool to analyse participants' narrated experiences. The analysis resulted in five broad themes, namely that student identities in their first-year journeys were formed and influenced by interpersonal experiences, intrapersonal experiences, pre-commencement institutional experiences, experiences of formal learning, and learning experiences beyond the classroom. Despite encountering multiple challenges in their new environment, the students derived benefit through capitalising on their personal strengths as tools to adjust to the demands of their new institution. These tools were crucial resources used by participants to adjust to and ultimately flourish in their first year.

Negation is usually considered as a linguistic operator reversing the truth value of a proposition. However, there are various ways to express negation in a multimodal manner. It still remains an unresolved issue whether nonverbal expressions of negation can influence linguistic negation comprehension. Based on extensive evidence demonstrating that language comprehenders are able to instantly integrate extralinguistic information such as a speaker's identity, we expected that nonverbal cues of negation and affirmation might similarly affect sentence comprehension. In three preregistered experiments, we examined how far nonverbal markers of negation and affirmation--specifically, the so-called "not face" (see Benitez-Quiroz et al., 2016) and red or green color (see Dudschig et al., 2023)--interact with comprehending negation and affirmation at the sentential level. Participants were presented with photos ("not face" vs. positive control; Experiments 1 and 2) or color patches (red vs. green; Experiment 3). They then read negated and affirmative sentences in a self-paced manner or judged the sensibility of negated and affirmative sentences (e.g., "No, I do not want to sing" vs. "Yes, I would like to buy a sofa"). Both frequentist statistics and Bayes factors resulting from linear mixed-effects analyses showed that processing times for negated and affirmative sentences were not significantly modulated by the nonverbal features under investigation. This indicates that their influence might not extend to sentential negation or affirmation comprehension.

Purpose: Using a longitudinal design, this study aimed to describe inferential comprehension abilities of neglected French-speaking preschool children from 42 to 66 months of age in comparison to non-neglected peers, to examine the association with receptive vocabulary, and to determine whether rates of change in inferential abilities over time was stable between the two group conditions. Method: An inferential comprehension task and the French version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Fourth Edition were administered to a group of neglected children (n =37-40) and to a group of same-age non-neglected children (n =71-91) at 42, 54, and 66 months old, as part of the Early Longitudinal Language and Neglect study. Results: Results show that children exposed to neglect obtain significantly lower scores compared to their same-age peers on inferential comprehension and receptive vocabulary measures at all three time points (p < 0.001) with large to very large effect sizes and indicate moderate to strong correlations between the two variables. Children from the neglected group present difficulties in inferencing compared to same-age non-neglected peers, a disadvantage that remains stable over time. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the significant gap in inferential comprehension abilities between neglected and non-neglected preschool children. These results reiterate the importance of early detection of language comprehension difficulties in young children coming from vulnerable environments.