In the fall of 2019, 3,355 10-year-old students in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) students participated in the Study on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES), part of an international effort led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with Houston serving as the only U.S. site. This report provides a…

Gender disparity in education is a perpetually compelling issue. It is especially attention-grabbing in economically disadvantaged areas, as it may reinforce backwardness on top of economic vulnerability. Underpinned by the self-determination theory, this study examined the underlying mechanisms that gave rise to gender differences in the academic…

Although a number of social--cognitive and contextual correlates of defending against bullying have been identified, research on the personality traits associated with defending have yielded weak and inconsistent results. The current study provided a novel examination as to whether a tendency toward social withdrawal is associated with less…

The promotion of an adequate understanding of science is a central goal of science education, even in elementary school. In this study, we analyzed the effects of a recently developed science intervention program aimed at fostering the understanding of science as well as the motivation of elementary school--aged boys and girls. In prior research,…

Character education programs in elementary schools are believed to be important for fostering moral development and preparing children to thrive in civil society. Character develops through social relationships across contexts. However, transgressions, such as school bullying, threaten the relationships that foster character development.…

Research indicates that literature circles are an authentic means for literacy development that students typically enjoy. To better understand the potential value and to add to the research base regarding literature circles, this study, involving 17 fourth graders, explores factors that may influence the quality of literature discussions,…

Media play an important role in young people's lives as an agent of socialization, both generally and with regard to mathematics. To understand the mathematics-related messages disseminated to young people via popular media, we analyzed portrayals of mathematics and mathematicians in over 40 media examples (television shows, movies, websites,…

Background: Research on test anxiety of elementary school children has mainly focused on prevalence rates and gender differences. Less work has addressed predictors of test anxiety in elementary school children. According to the control-value theory developed by Pekrun ("Educ Psychol Rev" 18:315-341. doi: 10.1007/s10648-006-9029-9,…

The Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) focuses on person-environment interactions instead of on the personality traits associated with actions. Motivation is a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic forces that are fundamental to the production of actions. Therefore, the resources provided by the environment or person are important for the…

This research is conducted to examine novice ELT teachers' perspective on the possible motives behind young learners' problem behaviours in English classes. The gender of ELT teachers have been also considered in order to investigate whether there is a difference between the perception of male and female teachers on the leading causes of problem…

Gifted students' preference to work alone is widely espoused, but studies vary widely in their explanations. We re-examined this notion in terms of motivation and social constructivism among 247 school-identified gifted and high-achieving and regular-education students in Grades 4 through 12. Survey data assessed learning style, interests,…

The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of peer groups that pupils form, after selecting one another, during the various primary school classes. One hundred and fifty-nine 4th, 5th and 6th grade pupils, attending urban schools in the provinces, took part in the survey. Moreno's sociometric recommendation test was provided for…

This paper reports on two exploratory studies of situations that elicit shyness in Mainland Chinese children. In Study 1 (N = 100; M[subscript age] = 10.42) interviews with Chinese children identified three kinds of shyness-eliciting situations: social novelty; negative social evaluation; and public attention. In Study 2 (N = 162, M[subscript age]…

In this study, we investigate whether changes in child social cognitive functioning and parenting are the mechanisms through which an individually delivered real-world child intervention, Stay Cool Kids, aimed at preventing externalizing problem behavior in high-risk elementary school children, induces changes in child behavior. Moreover, we…

Working Memory (WM) has a central role in learning. It is suggested to be malleable and is considered necessary for several aspects of mathematical functioning. This study investigated whether work with an interactive computerised working memory training programme at school could affect the mathematical performance of young children. Fifty-seven…