Background: In this study, we applied behavioral economics to optimize elementary school lunch choices via parent-driven decisions. Specifically, this experiment tested an optimal defaults paradigm, examining whether strategically manipulating the health value of a default menu could be co-opted to improve school-based lunch selections. Methods:…

Comparing deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children with their hearing peers in learning Chinese, the study tested the lexical quality hypothesis (Perfetti, 1992, 2007), which asserts the importance of building orthographic, phonological, and semantic connections in high-quality lexical representations. DHH children and hearing peers matched on…

Using structural equation modeling, we examined the relationship of Hispanicism on recent substance use and whether Americanism moderated the effect in a sample of 1,141 Hispanic adolescents. The Bicultural Involvement Questionnaire (BIQ) was used to determine the degree of individual comfort in both Hispanic (Hispanicism) and American…

Strong correlational evidence suggests that involvement in the arts improves students' academic outcomes and memory of learning events (e.g., Peppler et al., 2014; Robinson, 2013; Scripps & Paradis, 2014). It is unclear, however, whether the improved outcomes are the result of general exposure to the arts, arts integrated into content…

In this districtwide scale-up, we randomly assigned seventh-grade students within 11 schools to receive a series of writing exercises designed to promote values affirmation. Impacts on cumulative seventh-grade grade point average (GPA) for the district's racial/ethnic minority students who may be subject to stereotype threat are consistent with…

The study examines the use of weblogs in teacher education internships and its impact on student stress levels, self-efficacy, and reflective abilities. One hundred and seventy-six student teachers were randomly assigned to five groups. Four groups used weblogs (a) with emotion-focused or with problem-focused writing assignments in combination (b)…

Although evidence of negative associations between early literacy development and children's behavior problems exists, the field still lacks an understanding of the complicated links between these two areas. Children's gender has often not been included in much of the extant research as a potential moderating variable, yet gender differences may…

The objective of this research is to compare the English reading comprehension and motivation to read of seventh grade Thai students taught with applied instruction through the genre-based approach and teachers' manual. A randomized pre-test post-test control group design was used through the cluster random sampling technique. The data were…

The purpose of this study was to test the promise of the NumberShire Level 1 Gaming Intervention (NS1) to accelerate math learning for first-grade students with or at risk for math difficulties. The NS1 intervention was developed through the Institute of Education Sciences, Small Business Innovation Research Program (Gause, Fien, Baker, &…

The purpose of this study was to test the promise of the NumberShire Level 1 Gaming Intervention (NS1) to accelerate math learning for first-grade students with or at risk for math difficulties. The NS1 intervention was developed through the Institute of Education Sciences, Small Business Innovation Research Program (Gause, Fien, Baker, &…

The present study aims to contribute to the understanding of the effects of music education, in particular music composition as a classroom activity for fifth- and sixth-graders. The intervention (experimental condition) focused on a three-step-model for music composition, based on the Cultural Historical Activity Theory of education, and has been…

In this study we examine the interplay between curriculum-embedded formative assessment--a well-known teaching practice--and general features of classroom process quality (i.e., cognitive activation, supportive climate, classroom management) and their combined effect on elementary school students' understanding of the scientific concepts of…

Gratitude is essential to social life and well-being. Although research with youth populations has gained momentum recently, only two gratitude interventions have been conducted in youth, targeting mostly adolescents. In the current research, we tested a new intervention for promoting gratitude among the youngest children targeted to date.…