The learning environment comprises the psychological, social, cultural and physical setting in which learning occurs and has an influence on student motivation and success. The purpose of the present study was to explore qualitatively, from the perspectives of both students and faculty, the key elements of the learning environment that supported…

As a result of educational reforms in many countries, including Finland, new or renovated comprehensive schools have increasingly begun to incorporate open and flexible designs and principles. Multipurpose and adaptable open learning spaces can provide children with amplified opportunities to be physically active during general education.…

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of critical thinking (CT) teaching involving general, immersion, and mixed approaches on the CT skills and dispositions of high-school students. The study, which had three experimental groups (EG) and one control group, employed a pretest--posttest control-group quasi-experimental design. CT…

Motivated teachers are more likely to exhibit enhanced interest, persistence, and confidence when engaged in professional development (PD); yet, facilitators often neglect teacher motivation when implementing PD. Self-determination theory suggests that social and environmental contextual factors influence the psychological need of relatedness…

In this article, I report a two-year study of working closely with science teachers and examining perceptions of Year 9 (12-13 year olds) students in 13 New Zealand secondary schools. The Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) was used. The questionnaire was administered to 327 students in the first year and 362 students in the second…

Taking the 'breakdown' in regular schooling as a result of the COVID pandemic as a catalyst to reimagine education, this article formulates a theoretical framework, using design research, that enables a fundamental reconceptualization and introduction of new actors into the space of schooling, which is a learning environment that traditionally has…

Between 2015 and 2018, a university in the Mountain West region of the United States piloted a mathematics intervention supported by the U.S. Department of Education's Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP). Designed to improve outcomes of undergraduates taking Algebra and Pre-Calculus courses, the intervention applied pedagogical and delivery…

In 2020, King's College London introduced HyFlex teaching as a means to supplement online and face-to-face teaching and to respond to COVID-19 restrictions. This enabled teaching to a mixed cohort of students (both online and on campus). This article provides an outline of how such an approach was conceptualized and implemented in a…

Active learning strategies engage students and promote student-centered learning environments. Implementing active learning in a HyFlex environment during the Fall of 2020 global pandemic was challenging. We describe the "Interactive Synchronous HyFlex" approach to teaching design thinking at the introductory college level and explore…

This study focused on K-12 students attending outreach activities (i.e. activities from STEM-based industry emphasizing applications of STEM content in the STEM field), with the main objective being to motivate students for a future career in STEM. Outreach activities can be regarded as environments that extend the regular in-class learning…

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, digital technologies for distance learning have been used in educational institutions worldwide, raising issues about social implications, technological development, and teaching and learning strategies. While disparities regarding access to technical equipment and the internet ('the digital…

Teacher training takes place in distance education to a large extent. Within these contexts, trainers should make use of all the information available to adapt and refine their instructional methods during the training process. Sentiment analysis (SA) can give immediate feedback of the emotions expressed and help in the training process, although…

In this study, we examined relationships between learning environment characteristics (disciplinary climate, teacher support, and teacher feedback) and student outcomes (enjoyment of reading, and reading achievement) among 12,058 students from China who took part in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment. The results of structural…

Interpersonal teacher behaviour refers to the teacher-student interactions in the classroom. One way to measure these interactions is through the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), which is based on the Model for Interpersonal Teacher Behaviour (MITB). This study examined the structure of the Chinese version of the QTI (C-QTI) among a…

We explored Asian international students' successful learning experiences and adjustment through the lens of self-determination theory. To explore how international students perceive their classroom learning environments and learning experiences in more detail, a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach was used. In the quantitative phase,…