The study (N = 92) piloted an inclusive programme taking advantage of linguistic diversity in regular primary classrooms in Geneva (Switzerland) to reinforce classroom social climate. The same three-stages programme (activities for opening to others, activities for opening to linguistic diversity, and multilingual cooperative activities) was…

This action learning study in a year three classroom explored the implementation of five formative assessment principles to assist students' understandings of the scientific topic of liquids and solids. These principles were employed to give students a greater opportunity to express their understanding of the concepts. The study found that the…

Harnessing insights from Brophy's (1999, 2008, 2010) notion of scaffolding students' appreciation of learning, this article tackles challenges to student engagement, especially among reluctant students, by exploring two classroom settings in which students' valuing of school content and activities supported their engagement and achievement. The…

Get your students motivated! As a teacher, you know how essential student buy-in is to instructional effectiveness: It is not enough to merely have students participate in the classroom activities you select--you need to get them to want to participate. In "Fun-tastic Activities for Differentiating Comprehension Instruction, Grades 2-6", you will…

Through an analysis of activities called for in social studies texts at three grade levels, the author critically examines the links between children's improvisational performance and social studies curricula. He asks: What is unique about the process of embodying a historical or contemporary character as part of the learning process (such as a…

This qualitative case study reports on a three-year writing enrichment program among second, third, and fourth graders at a public urban elementary school in a medium-sized midwestern city. Designed as teacher research, the inquiry is a phenomenological examination of the experience of the workshop for its participants, including more than one…

This research investigated the effects of two contrasting pre-k curricula, relative to practice as usual, on subsequent academic achievement. One curriculum had a strong literacy focus, the other was a less didactic "developmentally appropriate" curriculum that allowed children to have more influence on classroom activities. The purpose…

Observations of 780 third-grade classrooms described classroom activities, child-teacher interactions, and dimensions of the global classroom environment, which were examined in relation to structural aspects of the classroom and child behavior. 1 child per classroom was targeted for observation in relation to classroom quality and teacher and…

In this report we present preliminary results of a study on the relationship between informal out-of-school and formal in-school mathematics and the ways each can inform the other in the development of new mathematical knowledge, in this case concerning computation in base 12, 24 or 60. This study is based on a teaching experiment involving a…

Over the last few decades, inclusive educational practice has developed into a guiding political vision in Norway, as it has in several other western countries. This article, and the larger study it is part of, takes a narrative approach to the study of how one particular Norwegian primary school teacher deals with realizing the ideology of…

This is an abstract for an action research project report on improving student motivation. Students struggle with motivation to perform well in school. This study was designed to increase student motivation in the classroom setting. The targeted population consisted of one third grade classroom, one fourth grade classroom, and three periods of…