Reading is considered a non-intuitive, cognitively demanding ability requiring synchronization between several neural networks supporting visual, language processing and higher-order abilities. With the involvement of technology in our everyday life, reading from a screen has become widely used. Several studies point to challenges in processing written materials from the screen due to changes in attention allocation when reading from a screen compared to reading from a printed paper. The current study examined the differences in brain activation when reading from a screen compared to reading from a printed paper focusing on spectral power related to attention in fifteen 6-8-year-old children. Using an electroencephalogram, children read two different age-appropriate texts, without illustrations, presented randomly on the screen and on a printed paper. Data were analyzed using spectral analyses in brain regions related to language, visual processing, and cognitive control, focusing on theta vs. beta waveforms. Results indicated that while reading from a printed paper was accompanied by higher energy in high-frequency bands (beta, gamma), reading from the screen was manifested by a higher power in the lower frequency bands (alpha, theta). Higher theta compared to the beta ratio, representing challenges in allocating attention to a given task, was found for the screen reading compared to the printed paper reading condition. Also, a significant negative correlation was found between differences in theta/beta ratio for screen vs paper reading and accuracy level in the age-normalized Sky-Search task measuring attention and a positive correlation with performance time. These results provide neurobiological support for the greater cognitive load and reduced focused attention during screen-based compared to print-based reading and suggest a different reliance on attention resources for the two conditions in children.

A frequent concern about constructivist instruction is that it works well, mainly for students with higher domain knowledge. We present findings from a set of two quasi-experimental pretest-intervention-posttest studies investigating the relationship between prior math achievement and learning in the context of a specific type of constructivist instruction, Productive Failure. Students from two Singapore public schools with significantly different prior math achievement profiles were asked to design solutions to complex problems prior to receiving instruction on the targeted concepts. Process results revealed that students who were significantly dissimilar in prior math achievement seemed to be strikingly similar in terms of their inventive production, that is, the variety of solutions they were able to design. Interestingly, it was inventive production that had a stronger association with learning from PF than pre-existing differences in math achievement. These findings, consistent across both topics, demonstrate the value of engaging students in opportunities for inventive production while learning math, regardless of prior math achievement.

Fostering technology-enhanced science learning in elementary schools is an ongoing challenge as young students are not always motivated to engage with science lessons. The use of technology, such as digital sensors and data recorders, has been found to result in higher engagement with science. However, the association between technology-enhanced science learning and students’ motivation to learn, from a cross-cultural viewpoint, is still discussed among researchers. Thus, the goal of this study was twofold: (a) to examine the motivation to learn science of elementary school students from different countries and cultural backgrounds; (b) to identify phases of technology-enhanced science learning and their association with students’ motivation. Applying the sequential mixed-methods research design, data were collected via questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and online observations. The study included seven experienced science teachers from the USA and Israel and 109 sixth-grade students: English speakers (N = 43), Arabic speakers (N = 26), and Hebrew speakers (N = 40). The findings indicated differences in students’ internal motivation, in terms of “interest and enjoyment,” “connection to daily-life,” and “cross-cultural interactions,” with medium ratings for “self-efficacy.” The study identified and characterized two consecutive phases of technology-enhanced science learning—“divergence” and “convergence”—that can be associated with motivation to learn science. Overall, the study’s results highlight the importance of seamlessly embedding technology to support cross-cultural learning of scientific practices.

One goal of environmental civic education is preparing students, both as citizens and as professionals, to use effective arguments in public debates. Such debates include dominantly economic claims, which are multifaceted and rarely taught in schools. A learning unit that applied the pedagogical principles of socio-scientific issues was developed for ‘Israel’s Natural Gas Export Policy’, a real sustainability dilemma. The study aimed to understand how pre- and in-service science teachers craft their arguments, by comparing their written reasoned opinions on the gas export debate, before and after the learning unit. Content analysis was conducted using Grounded Theory on the two groups’ texts in a multiple case study design. Five reasoning rationales were found: ‘Profits and Risks’, ‘Ethics or Ideology’, ‘Pragmatic Objectives’, ‘Evidence Base’ and ‘Stakeholder Motivations’. Each rationale yielded different reasoning strategies, including ‘Costs/Benefits’, ‘the Trade-Off Dilemma’ or ‘Compromise’, ‘Compensatory Benefits’ and ‘Non-Compensatory Costs/Risks’. The findings show that both groups used more argument types in the post-task. The development of ‘Profits and Risks’ strategies, between the pre- and post-texts, shows how the teachers’ arguments became more complex and decisive. These results exemplify how the SSI-focused learning unit enables learners to enhance their critical citizenship thinking, one of the cornerstones of democracy.

We present the theoretical argument that the use of mathematics in physics can be productively conceptualized as using a language and that learning to make sense of physics equations and appropriating them into novel scientific inquiry can be understood as a process of learning to read fluently with a high level of reading comprehension and to express one’s thoughts in writing. The data are drawn from a longitudinal ethnographic account of a high school student’s year-long research apprenticeship, in which a significant part of the work required the derivation and interpretation of an advanced physics equation (the phase velocity of waves in liquids). The analysis examines in different timescales the extended learning process as a complex activity system. The findings illustrate empirically how this type of learning can be productively analyzed by researchers and instructionally implemented by teachers or mentors as engagement in practices, a perspective that complements more standard cognitivist accounts of mathematical sensemaking. We highlight productive pedagogical and discursive instructional moves that facilitated this process and explicitly connect them to the learning they induced in terms of change in the student’s participation. While constrained by the scope of this case study, the concrete, microanalytic account of the learning process concretizes some of what physicists do with equations and suggests pathways to teaching students to meaningfully participate in this practice.

This study examines a Technology, Pedagogy, Content Knowledge (TPACK) training framework for pre- and in-service mathematics teachers that enables them to experience inquiry-based learning as learners in a dynamic geometry environment that serves as a mathematics laboratory. We investigate the effect of this experience on the teachers’ TPACK, based on both their perceptions towards implementing technology into their teaching; and on their TPACK level demonstrated in inquiry-based dynamic geometry activities they designed for instructional purposes. We present a rubric for assessing teachers’ TPACK level through inquiry-based dynamic geometry activities after they practiced in the mathematics lab. Our findings reveal a significant positive change in the participants’ perceived TPACK, from pre-to post-intervention, only for factors that relate to the technology component and its integration with the pedagogy and content components. In the activities designed by participants, technology was more content-oriented than inquiry-oriented. No difference was found between the two participating groups in the ability to design dynamic geometry activities after they practiced in the mathematics lab. The study suggests theoretical, practical, and methodological contributions related to conceptualizing TPACK in the context of a mathematics lab and to designing TPACK training frameworks for pre- and in-service teachers.

This study investigated the reading comprehension scores of students with reading and language difficulties after reading a passage with and without text-to-speech (TTS). Students, ages 8 to 12 years, read five passages under the following conditions: (a) silent read, (b) read aloud, (c) listen only, (d) TTS with no highlighting, and (e) TTS with highlighting. Students answered multiple-choice comprehension questions following each condition. Mixed ANOVAs were performed to determine whether TTS improved reading comprehension. TTS significantly improved comprehension in comparison to no TTS, and specifically, TTS with no highlighting and TTS with highlighting resulted in significantly higher comprehension scores compared to silent read. No other significant differences were found across conditions including between the presentational features of TTS, specifically TTS with no highlighting and TTS with highlighting conditions. Students were grouped as dyslexia only or reading and language impairment based on their test results. Findings suggested that students with dyslexia only scored significantly higher on reading comprehension questions in all reading conditions and derived significantly more benefit in reading comprehension from TTS and the listen only condition compared to students with Reading and Language Impairment. Overall, TTS may be a helpful tool for supporting the reading comprehension of students with reading and language difficulties, particularly for students with dyslexia only; however, further studies are needed to explore the benefits of TTS’ presentational features such as highlighting with students with reading and language difficulties.

This chapter describes an assessment of self-regulated learning (SRL) that is based on an extended learning task with embedded feedback and resources. These resources serve the dual purpose of providing learners with meaningful choices to support their learning as well as documenting their behaviours. Three affordances of such resources are identified: experimentation, where learners can express and test ideas; explicit feedback, where learners can monitor their progress towards their learning goals; and information-seeking, where learners can receive information about the task and its environment. The chapter analyses the PISA 2025 Learning in the Digital World assessment to demonstrate how these resources support the assessment of SRL. The chapter then addresses the interplay between data and theory in constructing learning and assessment tasks. It discusses some of the main design challenges, focusing particularly on the effect of prior knowledge and supporting generalisable inferences.

This review paper aims to define the involvement of Executive Functions (EF) in reading fluency in typically developing children and those with reading difficulties (RD)/dyslexia using neuroimaging and cognitive measurements. The data presented in this review demonstrate how training reading fluency with EF principles improved reading fluency and associated neural circuits. The possible mechanism for this fluency improvement points to the utilization of EF during reading remediation and its relation to the synchronization between the auditory and visual modalities in RD. Overall, the studies reviewed in the current paper suggest that reading fluency is achieved through a better synchronization of EF-brain regions with sensory networks, which are linked to decreased neural noise. These results support embedding EF principles in reading training and point to the need to include the fluency component in the Simple View of Reading model and open up possible opportunities to improve reading in children.

This study investigated the impact of a secondary school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research apprenticeship program (STEM-RAP) as part of active learning pedagogy on students’ performance. We examined students’ (a) scientific dispositions—self-efficacy, intrinsic goal orientation, and sense of control over learning, (b) STEM career choice, and (c) mentor-student interaction. Research tools included open- and closed-ended questionnaires, as well as interviews with a sample of students and mentors. The questionnaire was administered to 319 11th and 12th grade students majoring in science and technology in Israeli high schools. Of these, 262 participated in STEM-RAP and 57 took part only in studying a high-school STEM subject as a major. The results show highly positive scientific dispositions. A significant difference was found in intrinsic goal orientation in favor of the STEM-RAP students, who also had different contextual images of their mentors as ‘research partners’. The mentor interviews revealed several interaction themes, including content, procedural, and epistemic knowledge development, partnership, and emotional support. The findings emphasize the importance of research activities as part of active learning pedagogy for developing students’ motivation to study science.