According to self-determination theory, social contexts that support students' basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness foster motivation toward behaviors that are valued in that social context. This study investigated the socio-contextual elements of a learning environment that support or undermine students'…

Education for Sustainable Development has been discussed as problematic, as a top down directive promoting an--"indoctrinating" education. The concept of the intertwined dimensions (economic, social-cultural, and environmental) of sustainable development is seen both as an opportunity and as a limitation for pluralistic views of…

The purpose of this research was to explore student endorsement of an environmental worldview during the college years through a sampling of freshmen and seniors. Nine independent samples of freshman and senior class undergraduates (N = 779) were surveyed over a five year period in a small, independent liberal arts college. The survey instrument…

The case study reported in this paper is part of a larger multiple cross case analysis focusing on pre-service teachers with various initial confidence and attitudes toward science and science teaching. In this paper, the focus will be on one elementary teacher candidate, Lisa, who began the science methods course with a negative attitude and low…

As the value of multi-disciplinary working in the business and research worlds is becoming more recognised, the number of inter-disciplinary postgraduate environmental and health sciences courses is also increasing. Equally, the popularity of problem-based learning (PBL) is expected to grow and influence instructional approaches in many…

The concept of connected learning proposes that youth leverage individual interest and social media to drive learning with an academic focus. To illustrate, we present in-depth case studies of Ryan and Sam, two middle-school-age youth, to document an out-of-school intervention intended to direct toward intentional learning in STEM that taps…

Despite an increased focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in U.S. schools, today's students often struggle to maintain adequate performance in these fields compared with students in other countries (Cheek in "Thinking constructively about science, technology, and society education." State University of…

Many educational researchers have investigated how best to support conceptual learning in science education. In this study, the aim was to design learning materials using Physlets, small computer simulations, and to evaluate the effectiveness of these materials in supporting conceptual learning in secondary school physics. Students were taught in…

This study contributed to our understanding of those factors that serve as predictors of science teachers' selection and use of technologies and more specifically, how selection and usage was realized among teachers of different science disciplines. Notable descriptive statistics were examined, and we tested an explanatory model of how…

The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare students' collaborative inquiry learning behaviors and their behavior patterns in an augmented reality (AR) simulation system and a traditional 2D simulation system. Their inquiry and discussion processes were analyzed by content analysis and lag sequential analysis (LSA). Forty…

Open learning (OL) strives to transform teaching and learning by applying learning science and emerging technologies to increase student success, improve learning productivity, and lower barriers to access. OL of robotics has a significant growth rate in secondary and/or high schools, but failures exist. Little is known about why many users stop…

A major debate is currently underway in the USA about whether there is, in fact, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce shortage in the country or not. This is the subject of the "Bayer Facts of Science Education XVI: US STEM Workforce Shortage--Myth or Reality? Fortune 1000 Talent Recruiters on the Debate."…

Educational ergonomics focuses on the interaction between educational performance and educational design. By improving the design or pointing out the possible problems, educational ergonomics can be utilized to have positive impacts on the student performance and thus on education process. Laptops and tablet computers are becoming widely used by…

Research and policy documents increasingly advocate for incorporating engineering design into K-12 classrooms in order to accomplish two goals: (1) provide an opportunity to engage with science content in a motivating real-world context; and (2) introduce students to the field of engineering. The present study uses multiple qualitative data…

Stereoscopic technology (3D) is rapidly becoming ubiquitous across research, entertainment and informal educational settings. Children of today may grow up never knowing a time when movies, television and video games were not available stereoscopically. Despite this rapid expansion, the field's understanding of the impact of stereoscopic…