This qualitative study aimed to examine: (1) the manner in which kindergarten children and first graders make sense of the term "area" regarding optimization problems; (2) how this manner is manifested in their decision-making and "STEAM" (science, technology, engineering, art and math) skills; and (3) how kindergarten children…

This study investigated income group differences in kindergartners' and first graders' (N = 161) arithmetic by examining the link between accuracy and strategy use on simple and complex addition problems. Low-income children were substantially less accurate than high-income children, in terms of both percentage of correctly solved problems and the…

As children transition from the early to later grades of elementary school, they become increasingly skilled at employing a variety of techniques -- such as rehearsal and organizational strategies -- for remembering information. Developmental changes in strategy use have been well documented, but little is known about the extent to which these…

"Strategy sharing" is a certain type of discussion that centers on students' ideas and occurs when children present different approaches to problems and provide information about how they solved the problem (Wood, Williams, and McNeal 2004). A teacher may orchestrate a strategy-sharing discussion to achieve one or more of the…

There is mounting research evidence that contests the metaphysical perspective of knowing as mental process detached from the physical world. Yet education, especially in its teaching and learning practices, continues to treat knowledge as something that is necessarily and solely expressed in ideal verbal form. This study is part of a funded…

This article presents a lesson plan in which students learn about water in solid, liquid, and gaseous phases through trade books, demonstrations, and artwork. The author illustrates the stages of the lesson plan in the sequence they were conducted in the classroom with a group of students in grades one and two. Each stage targets specific learning…

This study investigated the fluency with which first-graders with strong, moderate, or weak mathematical abilities apply the decomposition-to-10 and tie strategy on almost-tie sums with bridge over 10. It also assessed children's memorized knowledge of additions up to 20. Children's strategies were analysed in terms of Lemaire and Siegler's model…