Even highly urban environments are settings for outdoor learning of local biodiversity, for they contain easily accessible street tree diversity that students walk pass daily. This study uses pre/post assessments and a tree observation curriculum grounded in scientific observation practice to understand the everyday and scientific tree observation…

Detecting wheel-spinning behaviors of students who interact with an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) is important for generating pertinent and effective feedback and developing more enriching learning experiences. This analysis compares decision tree and bagged tree models of student productive persistence (i.e., mastering a skill) using the…

In educational and psychological research, it is common to use latent factors to represent constructs and then to examine covariate effects on these latent factors. Using empirical data, this study applied three approaches to covariate effects on latent factors: the multiple-indicator multiple-cause (MIMIC) approach, multiple group confirmatory…

Live video web-streaming via an electronic field trip (EFT) format can connect youth with scientists working in a variety of settings. Previous research indicated interactions with scientists can change children's perceptions of science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM) careers. We conducted an arts-based study to examine an EFT's…

We designed and implemented two instructional approaches to plant education, with the intention of supporting positive attitudes toward plants among sixth-grade students (11-13 years old). In one instructional approach, students prepared a book about plants that have interesting characteristics. In the other approach, students visited a botanical…

There has been increasing interest in exploring heterogeneous treatment effects using machine learning (ML) methods such as causal forests, Bayesian additive regression trees, and targeted maximum likelihood estimation. However, there is little work on applying these methods to estimate treatment effects in latent classes defined by…

Scenario-based writing assessment has two salient characteristics by design: a lead-in/essay scaffolding structure and a unified scenario/topic throughout. In this study, we examine whether the scenario-based assessment design would impact students' essay scores compared to its alternative conditions, which intentionally broke the scaffolding…

Although green schoolyards provide many benefits to children and communities, little research explores students' perceptions of these benefits and how natural elements (e.g. gardens, trees) and associated use shape student experience. We examine the relationship between nature-based attributes, nature-based activities, and teacher-led activities…

One of the overarching problems of the world today is that too many people see themselves as dominating other groups of people, and dominating nature. That is a root problem. And thus part of a core solution builds from Kohlberg's commitment to a universal moral orientation, though extended to include not only all people but the more-than-human…

This study aims to conduct a comparative study of Bagging and Boosting algorithms among ensemble methods and to compare the classification performance of TreeNet and Random Forest methods using these algorithms on the data extracted from ABIDE application in education. The main factor in choosing them for analyses is that they are Ensemble methods…

Examining students' attitudes towards STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields starting from middle school level is important in their career choices and future planning. However, there is a need to investigate which variables affect students' attitudes towards STEM. Here, we aimed to estimate middle school students'…

Understanding phylogenetic trees representing evolutionary relationships of living organisms is essential in school biology. Traditional instructions based on lectures and textbooks with pictorial presentations have been proven ineffective to promote students' understanding of the concept. This study, therefore, developed a game-based learning…

Despite the overwhelming focus on the overall average treatment effect in the methodological and statistical literature, in many cases the efficacy of an educational program or intervention might vary based on unit background characteristics. The identification of subgroups for which an educational intervention is particularly effective or, on the…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to student psychological wellness. Because of isolation, lack of socialisation and intellectual and physical development from excessive media use, primary and secondary school students are at high risk for health problems. Aim: This study aimed to identify the most effective machine learning…

Self-regulated learning (SRL), which involves the regulation of cognitive, affective, metacognitive, and motivational processes, is an important construct for analyzing effective student learning in open-ended learning environments (OELEs). Novice K-12 students working on complex learning tasks in OELEs often engage in sub-optimal use of SRL…