This paper continues a discussion started in a special issue about the acceptability of prescriptive statements in educational research articles. In light of some ambiguities concerning what counts as a prescriptive statement, and the special issue's focus on causal relations as a requirement for the justification of prescriptive statements, a…

This paper used meta-analysis to synthesize the relation between visual skills and Chinese reading acquisition based on the empirical results from 34 studies published from 1991 to 2011. We obtained 234 correlation coefficients from 64 independent samples, with a total of 5,395 participants. The meta-analysis revealed that visual skills as a…

School connectedness has a significant impact on adolescent outcomes, including reducing risk-taking behavior. This paper critically examines the literature on school-based programs targeting increased connectedness for reductions in risk taking. Fourteen articles describing seven different school-based programs were reviewed. Programs drew on a…

Currently the main approach in responding to bullying in schools is to focus on undesired behaviours and to apply sanctions. This approach is often ineffective as well as failing to address the needs of children as persons as distinct from the behaviour they produce. A proposed alternative approach is to inquire into the motivation of children who…

The article draws from 199 sources on assessment, learning, and motivation to present a detailed decomposition of the values, theories, and goals of formative assessment. This article will discuss the extent to which formative feedback actualizes and reinforces self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies among students. Theoreticians agree that SRL…

There have been several rather counterintuitive phenomena observed in different fields of research that compared the performance of experts and novices. For example, studies of medical expertise demonstrated that less experienced medical students may in some situations outperform seasoned medical practitioners on recall of specific cases. Studies…

A growing body of literature is demonstrating associations between childhood maltreatment and bullying involvement at school. In this literature review, four potential mediators (explanatory) and three potential moderators (mitigates or exacerbates) of the association between childhood maltreatment and school bullying are proposed. Mediators…

Although researchers have demonstrated that studying multiple examples is more effective than studying one example to facilitate learning, the principles found in the literature for designing multiple examples remain ambiguous. This paper reviews variation theory research on example design which sheds light on unclear issues regarding the effects…

Homophobic bullying is a serious concern for students, parents, teachers, and school officials. This article reviews evidence on the status of this problem and how it may be addressed in a multilevel and multidisciplinary manner growing out of a social-ecological perspective on homophobic bullying as a social phenomenon. The ecological framework…

Mathematics teachers face a myriad of instructional obstacles. Since the early 1990s, mathematics education researchers have proposed the use of constructivist practices to counteract these ever-prevalent obstacles. While we do give credit to the choices of instructional activities the constructivist paradigm promotes, there are problems with its…

We report the results of two replication studies using attribution theory to analyze personal and interpersonal motivation for collaborative projects. Undergraduate students responded to questionnaires containing hypothetical vignettes depicting success or failure outcomes due to ability or effort for dyads working on a group project. Dependent…

Determining the capability of Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory to fulfill key functions of educational theory (such as revealing the complexity of apparently simple events) has been hindered primarily by the following factors: (a) inaccurate information about a minor discussion, the zone of proximal development (ZPD), attracted attention…

Demetriou, Spanoudis, and Mouyi have provided a comprehensive view of the relation between a model of the mind and the process of education. The model they propose is based on cognitive theories of mental action, rather than neuroscientific evidence. I argue here that that is the correct approach, for a model of the information processing…

This paper presents a meta-analytic review (k = 237, N = 44,668) of the adjustment to college literature. The review, based on studies using the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire, is organized around three primary themes: (1) the structure of students' adjustment to college, (2) the relationship of adjustment to college constructs with…

This rejoinder discusses the issues raised by the three commentators of the target article. In agreement with Hunt, it is accepted that, as any overarching theory in any science, it does involve postulates about the mind that must be scrutinized by further research. However, its main postulates are well supported by the findings of specifically…