Despite a long-standing concern within the sociology of education for ameliorating educational inequality, the challenge of improving educational opportunities for disadvantaged students remains deeply entrenched. While 'macro' issues such as segregation and systemic inequalities in school funding and access to qualified teachers must be addressed…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the types, sources, and cognitive levels of tasks that included real-life situations used in science and mathematics lessons in the classrooms of two 5th-grade teachers at an urban elementary school in Turkey. A qualitative approach was used to analyze data that included classroom observations, teacher…

Over the past several years, research teams have developed observational instruments to measure the quality of teachers' instructional practices. Instruments such as Framework for Teaching (FFT) and the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) assess general teaching practices, including student-teacher interactions, behavior management, and…

Curriculum materials and knowledge about curricular purposes and structures are valuable tools that teachers often draw upon to organize instruction and facilitate student learning. Careful analysis of teachers' curriculum implementation and the decision-making that undergirds their curriculum use is critical for fully understanding enactment.…

Since the late 1990s, there has been consensus among educational researchers that argumentation should play a central role in science education. Although there has been extensive relevant research, it is not clear enough how oral argumentation spontaneously occurs in science teaching. This is particularly important with regard to the empirical…

Research on problem-based learning (PBL) has tended to focus on the graduate level of education, paying less attention to the primary school level and to what is involved for students during the implementation of PBL. In this paper we take a step towards addressing this need for research by reporting findings from a descriptive, explanatory case…

This study examined how evidence of students' mathematical understanding was influenced by elementary schoolteachers' enactment of instructional practices emphasized during a mathematics professional development program. Videos and field notes were collected during lessons for two teachers from the program and two matched comparison teachers.…

This study investigated four elementary-level English language learners' (ELLs') use of strategies for reading computer-based texts at home and in school. The ELLs in this study were in the fourth and fifth grades in a public elementary school. We identify the ELLs' strategies for reading computer-based texts in home and school environments. We…

Unlike most research, which has primarily examined the players' interest in or attitude toward game-based learning through questionnaires, the purpose of this empirical study is to explore students' engagement patterns by qualitative observation and sequential analysis to visualize and better understand their game-based learning process. We…

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of Quick Response (QR) codes and mobile devices in the context of Finnish basic education. The feasibility was analyzed through a mobile learning framework, which includes the core characteristics of mobile learning. The study is part of a larger research where the aim is to develop a…

Today's mathematics standards require teachers to use concrete math manipulatives (CMM) to increase the proficiency of students, but many upper elementary teachers fail to use these resources. The effects of this resource disuse may decrease student learning potential and impede successful standardized test results. This case study allows leaders…

Reading comprehension instruction has been recognized as a key factor in developing any reading and literacy program. Therefore, many attempts were devoted to improve explicit comprehension strategy instruction at different school levels and fields including EFL and ESL. Despite these efforts, explicit comprehension instruction is still drought…

The purpose of this study was to examine adolescent's hostile attributions of mother's intent and emotional self-expectancies as contributors to expression of emotion between mothers and adolescents. Data were collected from 268 10- to 12-year-olds (133 girls, 135 boys) and their mothers. Each dyad was observed in a conversational activity that…

Purpose: In this study, the authors examined how variability in classroom social communication performance differed between children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and pair-matched, typically developing peers. Method: Twelve pairs of children were observed in their classrooms, 40 min per day (20 min per child) for 4 days over a…

Consistent with a Diathesis × Stress model, it was hypothesized that anxious solitude (individual vulnerability) and the middle school transition (environmental stress) would jointly predict peer exclusion and victimization trajectories. Youth (N = 688) were followed from 3rd through 7th grade, with the middle school transition in 6th grade.…