This study was situated at Mountain Middle School (Pseudonym). Students at Mountain Middle School often engage in collaborative compositions embedded within week-long multidisciplinary and multiage units of study called Odysseys. These units of study and the collaborative composition projects are classified as formal cooperative learning. Johnson…

Inclusive learning opportunities lead to better outcomes for students with extensive support needs (ESN). In the absence of targeted intervention, however, students with ESN are unlikely to interact meaningfully with their peers or the general education curriculum. The literature describes evidence-based strategies in support of the meaningful…

The underlying assumption of this study is that writing as a process has profound implications for success and fulfillment both in and beyond the classroom. A second assumption is that electronic portfolios provide students a space to write, revise, reflect, share, and explore themselves as writers. Students who engage with and embrace the writing…

As a tangible and motivating medium for students to engage in computational thinking, robotics has drawn interest from educators and researchers as K-12 schools continue to integrate STEM into curriculum. Through this mixed methods study, the researcher sought to explore the effects of robotics instructional methods (task-based and project-based)…

Over recent decades, the maker movement has expanded from the private sector, libraries, and higher education institutions to K-12 schools. While many studies provide implications of STEM and maker activities and their effects on learning in informal settings, few have framed such investigations within the context of a makerspace in K-12 schools.…

This study presents a collaborative learning experience design aimed to promote Algorithmic Literacy (AL) among middle school students. Developed in partnership with middle school teachers and students, the design addresses the need to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate an algorithm-driven digital landscape. The…

Despite high scores and abilities, girls lose interest in science and math throughout middle school. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in the computer science research field will grow 19% by 2026; however, only 18% of the bachelor's degrees in computer science are earned by women in the United States (ComputerScience.org, 2021).…

Adaptive reasoning is one of five components students use to develop mathematical expertise and become mathematically proficient. When students adapt their reasoning they are logically thinking about the mathematical relationships between concepts and adapting their thinking to solve problems. Three Act Math Tasks are popular math problems used in…

With the goal of investigating social construction of mathematics, analysis of classroom discourse is presented from the theoretical perspective of Distributed Cognition and the methodological perspective of cognitive micro-ethnography (Hutchins, 1995a, 2001). Twenty-nine students from two accelerated, sixth-grade mathematics classes were observed…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine any correlations between an increase in knowledge from activities which utilize self-paced learning, inquiry-guided learning, and collaborative learning pedagogical strategies and students' intentions to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and computer science…

In a local school district, sixth- through eighth-grade students were reading and performing on reading tests below grade level, and teachers started using strategies to promote self-regulated learning (SRL) in their classrooms. However, students continued to struggle with reading comprehension when asked to read independently. The purpose of this…

Adaptive collaborative learning support (ACLS) aims to facilitate collaborative activities by providing intelligent feedback and support based on students' collaboration. Existing ACLS systems have been applied in various collaborative environments, ranging from co-located collaboration in the classroom to online learning environments. While these…

Recognizing the prevalence of low literacy achievements of secondary students with disabilities despite numerous mainstream reading interventions' attempts to alleviate the issue, this dissertation considers an alternative path to literacy. To begin, this study theorizes knowledge, literacy, and learning as mutually constituted person-world…

The national K-12 science standards were reformed in April 2013. On March 8, 2017, the state of Louisiana's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the rewrite of the science standards to align with these national standards, and they were implemented in the middle school science classes. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began and…

This case study investigates the intricate landscape of K-8 education in Connecticut, particularly focusing on Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT). Drawing inspiration from theories of cultural intelligence and collaborative learning, the research sought to understand the experiences, perceptions, and practices of K-8 educators concerning CRT,…