The feelings of difficulty and familiarity (FOD and FOF) are two types of metacognitive experiences. Both may influence student engagement and the application of metacognitive strategies, but these relationships are not well understood, in part because many studies have relied on self-report measures of behaviors that may not accurately reflect…

That social studies and, to a lesser degree science, have become something of orphans in K-6 instruction is an open secret. The system of schooling in the US has increasingly become objectives and standards based. As this edifice has grown, it has demanded more measurability and thus more accountability. That accountability, through testing, is…

Elementary schools face pressures to substantially increase student achievement in all subjects with limited time in the school day. In particular, science struggles to gain instructional momentum due to many internal and external factors. The school district of Wynne (pseudonym), located within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, has generational…

Using data from 82 classroom observations conducted in a large urban school district, we explore how kindergartners spend their time in general and across schools serving children from lower and higher income households. Consistent with prior research, we find that kindergartners spend the majority of instructional time on reading and mathematics,…

In this study, the authors examined the survivability, or persistence over time, of overall science instruction for English learners (ELs) in treatment and control classrooms within a field-based, quasi-experimental grant-funded project in the United States. The project's goal was to increase ELs' science and language achievement through…

Socioscientific issues (SSI) have been found to improve scientific literacy skills among K-12 students. Elementary preservice teachers (PSTs), however, are reluctant to implement SSI due to a lack of confidence with content knowledge concerning SSI and pedagogical abilities. Existing research focuses on helping PSTs overcome these concerns through…

Science tends to be viewed as a completely separate subject area from reading and math. This is the case even in elementary school, where academic content may be more intertwined than in later years. But scientific thinking and processes are valuable across all areas of learning and for career success. Waiting until the middle grades to give…

Sarah Bearchell is a science presenter and writer working with children and families. She aims to engage her audiences through careful tailoring of activities. She works in mainstream primaries and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) schools, with visits to science festivals becoming more frequent. Many of the schools she visits and…

Objectives: Among the 14 indicators identified in Monitoring Progress, this paper focuses on: the adequacy of instructional time (Indicator 2) and opportunities (Indicator 3) for science learning in grades K-5. This paper considers these two indicators together since they form the basis for opportunities to learn science in elementary school.…

The study sought to determine the effects of teacher-introduced multimodal representations and discourse on students' task engagement and scientific language during cooperative, inquiry-based science. The study involved eight Year 6 teachers in two conditions (four very effective teachers and four effective teachers) who taught two units of…

Adequately responding to linguistic diversity in the classroom is imperative in European school contexts, not least because of current migratory movements. This article presents the results of an intervention study with primary school English-foreign-language learners in Germany (N = 42, M[subscript age] = 8.70 years) from linguistically diverse…

Background: Acute physical activity breaks lasting 10--60 min have been related to positive effects on student focus and academic performance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of repeated brief physical activity-infused academic lessons (1-5 min) on student retention and on-task behavior. Methods: One class from each K-2 grade…

This study identifies and explores the dilemmas experienced by three first-grade teachers in teaching elementary school science. The impact of coaching and teachers' career stages on how teachers reconcile their dilemmas was examined. Results of this comparative case study indicate teachers perceived tensions between focusing instructional…

This study explored Saudi elementary school science teachers' beliefs about the process of teaching and learning science. This involved the exploration of their views about the new Saudi science curriculum, which emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving. Comprehensive interviews were held in 8 schools with 4 male and 6 female--2 of whom…

This study investigated the extent to which teacher professional development led to changes in science instruction in K-2 classrooms in rural school districts. The research specifically examined changes in (a) teachers' content knowledge in science; (b) teachers' self-efficacy related to teaching science; (c) classroom instructional time allotted…