This study explores how literacy is conceptualized by teachers in two primary classrooms, drawing upon James Paul Gee's theoretical framework on literacy as a social practice. The research is guided by two questions: How do teachers conceptualize literacy within the context of their classrooms? How do contextual characteristics position students'…

A quality physical education program includes a positive emphasis on student development of physical literacy, national standards and grade level outcomes, promoting physical activity and supporting comprehensive school physical activity programming, and the following four essential components: (1) policy and environment; (2) curriculum; (3)…

Despite numerous research findings that support play's positive impact on children's learning, pressure to pass high-stakes tests later in the elementary years has prompted a decrease in the amount of time for kindergarten play. While play proponents work to prioritize play in kindergarten, there is a dilemma. How can educators respond to the…

The randomized trial of the Making Socially Accepting Inclusive Classrooms (MOSAIC) program included intensive coaching from research staff to support teachers' implementation of MOSAIC strategies and resulted in positive student outcomes (Mikami et al., J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol. 51(6):1039-1052, 2022). However, these intensive procedures…

This research was carried out with the aim of examining the opinions of teachers about classroom rules in basic education in terms of various variables. The research data were obtained through interviews with 60 teachers. In the research, why the classroom rules are necessary in basic education, what the classroom rules are that they care about…

Humor can facilitate relationship-building and comfort in new experiences, essential elements for nature education programs prioritizing inclusive practices. This article presents insights on using humor in outdoor educational settings from a qualitative case study of an equity-driven nature education program. I present four key elements of…

A growing interest has been directed toward including a fourth dimension in the engagement construct: the social dimension. The aim of this study is twofold: first, to explore how teachers talk about the social dimension of student engagement in online learning, and second, to explore the possibilities of using computational methods for interview…

The objectives of this study were: (i) to compare the scores on the test between students who took a Chinese Traditional Culture course (including ancient fairy tales, traditional festivals, and ancient etiquette) and students who did not, (ii) to examine students' performance on the traditional culture after taking the Chinese Traditional Culture…

Stories are used for diverse pedagogical purposes. Storytelling is a culturally inclusive and widely used pedagogical technique. However, the success of storytelling interventions in education can be dependent upon how teachers engage students to analyse experiences, and events to gain deeper insights to influence change in their thinking and…

This study was carried out to determine the effect of literature circles on the social skills of fourth-grade elementary school students. To this end, the study was designed as a quasi-experimental study and carried out on 74 students in a public elementary school in the Pamukkale district of Denizli, Turkey. The literature circles method was…

As the school National Science Curriculum in Turkey includes topics such as human reproduction, hormonal growth and adolescent health, elementary school science teachers (ESTs) are required to teach sexuality-related topics to their students. However, studies have shown that teachers in Turkey, like their counterparts in many other countries, have…

By illustrating how eight Korean English language learners came to understand embedded assumptions from traditional fairy tales and retell the tales through a critical literacy framed English literacy workshop, this qualitative study argues that fairy tales as English reading texts can effectively cultivate English learners' critical stance and…

Given the inherently social context of classrooms, students' beliefs are dependent on the beliefs of their classmates, particularly their classroom friends and popular peers (Ryan & Shin, 2018). I investigated the ways in which students observe and interpret teaching practices in a context of their peers with three studies with the following…

The current study investigated whether children's conformity to a majority testimony influenced their willingness to revise their own erroneous counting knowledge. The content of the testimonies focused on conventional rules of counting, by means of pseudoerrors (i.e., unconventional counts) occurring during a detection task. In this work…

This study aimed to determine educational/academic and some social behaviors of elementary school students according to their parents' views during coronavirus pandemic days, when they were under lockdown and were attending distance education. The study used a descriptive analysis methodology, one of the survey models, and the study group…