Concrete symbols (e.g., "sun," "run") can be learned in the context of objects and actions, thereby grounding their meaning in the world. However, it is controversial whether a comparable avenue to semantic learning exists for abstract symbols (e.g., "democracy"). When we simulated the putative brain mechanisms of…

Research on school improvement has accumulated an extensive list of factors that facilitate turnarounds at underperforming schools. Given that context or resource constraints may limit the possibilities of putting all of these factors in place, an important question is what is necessary and sufficient to turn a school around. We use qualitative…

Published studies of intervention effects probably report effect sizes that are larger than the true effect size. There are probably many reasons for this, but one can be thought of as a "winner's curse." In this essay, I discuss evidence from two recent studies that highlight how evidence clearinghouses might inadvertently expose…

Although identifying the referents of single words is often cited as a key challenge for getting word learning off the ground, it overlooks the fact that young learners consistently encounter words in the context of other words. How does this company help or hinder word learning? Prior investigations into early word learning from children's…

Current theories of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) suggest atypical use of context in ASD, but little is known about how these atypicalities influence speech perception. We examined the influence of contextual information (lexical, spectral, and temporal) on phoneme categorization of people with ASD and in typically developed (TD) people. Across…

Purpose: This paper synthesises international research on effective mentor training, education and development (MTED). Design/methodology/approach: An adaptive theory methodology (Layder, 1998), combining deductive and inductive methods, was deployed in a qualitative meta-synthesis of thematic findings generated in three studies: a systematic…

Cognitive control operates via two distinct mechanisms, proactive and reactive control. These control states are engaged differentially, depending on a number of within-subject factors, but also between-group variables. While research has begun to explore if shifts in control can be experimentally modulated, little is known about whether context…

In response to recent trends in the field of mathematics education, real-world contexts are frequently found in curricula and classrooms across the world. Numerous scholars contend that, in addition to making instruction more engaging and relevant, rich, imaginable contexts can provide a semantic grounding that helps students deeply understand…

Many believe that teacher leaders can positively impact a school system, lifting the level of student achievement as well as cultivating a positive professional culture of learning (Carver & Feiman-Nemser, 2009; Lieberman & Miller, 2004; Nolan & Palazzolo, 2011; York-Barr & Duke, 2004). Drawing on the researcher's own lived journey…

The political, social, and institutional environments in which contemporary universities operate have changed rather dramatically over the past two decades in ways that threaten the resilience of the academic core, both in its ability to map knowledge comprehensively and also to maintain a balance between the branches of the humanities, social…

Computer-based simulations for learning offer affordances for advanced capabilities and expansive possibilities for knowledge construction and skills application. Virtual agents, when powered by artificial intelligence (AI), can be used to scaffold personalized and adaptive learning processes. However, a synthesis or a systematic evaluation of the…

The frequency, intensity and variability of emotional experiences increase in early adolescence, which may be partly due to adolescents' heightened affective sensitivity to social stimuli. While this increased variability is likely intrinsic to adolescent development, greater mood variability is nevertheless associated with the risk of…

Mindfulness-based programs have become popular, empirically supported treatment modalities for increasing positive psychological outcomes for children and adolescents, with an overall effect size of 0.4. We argue for implementing community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodology to investigate the specific effects of mindfulness-based…

Context is considered to greatly impact student engagement. However, little is known about the association between students' situational engagement in a particular lesson and their overall engagement with school and learning over time. The current study aims to validate the InSitu measure of situational engagement in a Norwegian context and to…

Overlapping and entangled crises that comprise and propel society require near constant (re)orientation in order to understand, explain, and address the workings of a multiplicitous world. For those invested in education, this means confronting complexity through the prism of teaching and learning. Educational scholars across fields and…