K–12 (spoken as "k twelve", "k through twelve", or "k to twelve") comprises the sum of primary and secondary education in the United States, Canada, South Korea, Turkey, Philippines, Egypt, Australia, India, Afghanistan and Iran for publicly-supported school grades prior to college.

The expression is a shortening of kindergarten (K) for 4- to 6-year-olds through twelfth grade (12) for 17- to 19-year-olds, the first and last grades of free education in these countries, respectively.

The related term P–12 is also occasionally used in Australia and the United States, to refer to the sum of K–12 plus preschool education.

Research comprises "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications." It is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the results of previous work, solve new or existing problems, support theorems, or develop new theories.

A research project may also be an expansion on past work in the field.

Research projects can be used to develop further knowledge on a topic, or in the example of a school research project, they can be used to further a student's research prowess to prepare them for future jobs or reports.

To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects or the project as a whole.

The primary purposes of basic research (as opposed to applied research) are documentation, discovery, interpretation, or the research and development (R&D) of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge.

Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably both within and between humanities and sciences.

There are several forms of research: scientific, humanities, artistic, economic, social, business, marketing, practitioner research, life, technological,etc.

Learning is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing existing, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences which may lead to a potential change in synthesizing information, depth of the knowledge, attitude or behavior relative to the type and range of experience.

The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, plants and some machines.

Progress over time tends to follow a learning curve.

Learning does not happen all at once, but it builds upon and is shaped by previous knowledge.

To that end, learning may be viewed as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge.

Learning produces changes in the organism and the changes produced are relatively permanent.