Picture book reading is essential in the early stages of learning and development. The current study aimed to incorporate picture books to improve first graders' scientific thinking, including scientific reasoning and creativity. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. There were 24 students in the experimental group and 23 in the…

Phonological and phonemic awareness are foundational skills in reading development. This explanatory mixed methods study explored primary teachers' beliefs and knowledge of phonological awareness and their perceptions of Heggerty, a phonological and phonemic awareness curriculum. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from surveys and…

While programming was introduced to mathematics classrooms in the 1980s, emerging robotic technologies have encouraged more widespread integration of these technologies to support the development of K-12 students' mathematical reasoning. The recent emphasis of programming and computational thinking in K-12 education has highlighted the need to…

The purpose of this study was to compare the results of a regression discontinuity design (RDD) with those of an experimental design of a tiered vocabulary intervention for children at risk for reading disability to determine RDD's feasibility as a research methodology for this type of study. Researchers reanalyzed an archival dataset of a…

This quasi-experimental study explored a response-to-intervention (RTI) design in which Tiers 2 and 3 were inverted for the most at-risk first grade students in reading intervention in seven classrooms (n = 24) across two culturally diverse schools. These students were matched using propensity scores and compared to a second group of first grade…

This study seeks to explain what first- and second-grade African American, urban students who participated in an explicit comprehension strategy instruction (ECSI) program learned about comprehension strategies and how this knowledge supports self-regulated strategy use. The study was also designed to compare these students' knowledge with those…

The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental group comparison study using a repeated measures comparison group design with random assignment of subjects to groups was to investigate the effects of handwriting instruction on reading progress for learners in grade 1 and grade 2. At three points in time, the number of words each student read…

The purpose of this pilot study is to analyze the efficacy of a program that combines fine motor activities, animated models, exercises on a digital tablet and paper-pencil exercises. The 10-week program with a 45-minute session and daily exercises was implemented in a class of 16 students of first grade (mean age = 6.9 years old), with another…

For music students in the early stages of learning, the music may seem to be hidden behind the scores. To support home practising, Juntunen has created the "Playback Orchestra" method with which the students can practise with the support of the notation program playback of the full orchestra. The results of testing the method with…

Previous research suggests that elementary teachers vary in their enactment of science curriculum materials and may not always engage students in substantive sense making. This mixed-methods study investigates elementary teachers' use of science curriculum materials to engage students in the scientific practice of comparing and evaluating…

We report on a practitioner implementation of Fusion, a first-grade mathematics intervention. Studies such as this evaluation of a loose implementation under realistic conditions are important to curriculum developers' understanding of how evidence-based programs and tools work under a variety of implementation scenarios. In this…

We report on a practitioner implementation of Fusion, a first grade mathematics intervention. Studies such as this evaluation of a loose implementation under realistic conditions are important to curriculum developers' understanding of how evidence-based programs and tools work under a variety of implementation scenarios. In this…

The 3-year Pennsylvania Dyslexia Screening and Early Literacy Intervention Pilot Program (Pilot) began in 2015-16 (Year 1) with the kindergarten class of 2015-16 (Cohort 1). In 2016-17 (Year 2), the Pilot was implemented with Cohort 1 students, now in first grade, and a second cohort of kindergarteners (Cohort 2). A third cohort will be added in…

Tangible programming tools enable children to easily learn the programming process, previously considered to be difficult for them. While various tangible programming tools have been developed, there is still a lack of available tools to help students experience the general programming process. This study therefore developed a tool called…

This paper reports the results of the improving thinking skills (ITS-1) intervention study on the thinking skills of low-achieving first graders. The intervention programme consists of 12 lessons, each lasting for 45 min. Lessons offer enriched-discovery learning activities and tasks to be solved through inductive reasoning. We used a…