It is widely accepted that concept maps are a meaningful learning tool. Even so, the use of concept mapping as a meaningful learning tool is probably less common than the use of concept mapping as an assessment tool. In first place, the easiest thing to with a student's concept map is to apply a rubric and give it a grade. And second, teachers…

The purpose of this longitudinal, mixed methods quasi-experimental study was to investigate the impact of balanced literacy coaching on teacher efficacy, practices, beliefs, and student achievement. The participants were third- through sixth-grade teachers from five elementary schools within the same south suburban Chicago public school district.…

Research suggests that translanguaging can be transformative for teaching and learning by making students' diverse linguistic resources a meaningful part of classroom discourse. Building on this study, researchers have explored how translanguaging practices can support learning in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), primarily…

This article explores examples of student-initiated inquiries (in Grades 1 and 5) and the opportunities and challenges with engaging in them. To explore these student-initiated inquiries, we use the "C3 Framework" Inquiry Arc (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013) and Harvey and Daniels's (2009) Small-Group Inquiry Model to…

Purpose: The goal to stimulate perspective taking and inference making on social phenomena, such as gender roles in society, has proven to be difficult to achieve in general and in particular for primary school students. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to develop creative models and concepts for learning that provide guidance addressing these…

This case study reports the results of a genre-based approach, which was used to explicitly teach the touristic landmark description to fourth-grade students of Spanish as a foreign language. The instructional model and unit of instruction were informed by the pedagogies of the Sydney School of Linguistics and an instructional model for…

In this mixed methods study, qualitative, quantitative, and single-case methods were combined to provide a comprehensive investigation of teacher and student outcomes following practice-based professional development (PBPD) for self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) in writing. Qualitative observations were used to determine outcomes among the…

Guiding students to generate testable scientific questions is essential in the inquiry classroom, but it is not easy. The purpose of the BDC ("Big Idea, Divergent Thinking, and Convergent Thinking") instructional model is to to scaffold students' inquiry learning. We illustrate the use of this model with an example lesson, designed…

The purpose of this study was to compare elementary classroom teachers' actual practice and perceived importance of English Language Arts professional development in five professional development dimensions: alignment, content and modeling, active learning, collaboration, and follow-up, in high and low mastery, low needs schools. The schools…

Students may excel in computation, but their ability to apply their skills will suffer if they do not understand the math vocabulary used in instructions and story problems. This action research project examines two methods for strengthening students' ability to communicate mathematically: (1) Journal writing and peer discussion; and (2) The…

This randomized controlled field trial examined the efficacy of the Responsive Classroom (RC) approach on student achievement. Schools (n = 24) were randomized into intervention and control conditions; 2,904 children were studied from end of second to fifth grade. Students at schools assigned to the RC condition did not outperform students at…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of an Australian health promoting schools (HPS) project to identify key features of the concept of resilience and how it can be used in a school setting to develop and strengthen protective factors in young people, as a mechanism for improving social functioning and reducing involvement in…