The aim of this study is to assess the impact that the current status of the country and of the education system has on the identity and place attachment of the students attending the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grades of the elementary school, in the context of the meanings these students attribute to the concept of homeland via the metaphors they have…

Based on the control-value theory of achievement emotions, the study examines elementary school students' science performance and control-value beliefs (self-concept, intrinsic and achievement value) as antecedents of their cognitive (worry) and affective (nervousness) science anxiety. Performance in the science topic "floating and…

As a result of COVID-19, various forms of education and teaching are moving online. However, the notion of an online STEM camp is still in its beginnings, and there is little relevant research and experience in this context. At the beginning of April 2021, the research team launched an online STEM charity camp with the theme of "Shen Nong…

This article reports the findings of a qualitative interpretive research study that explored the social representations children have about the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language in elementary schools in Medellín, Colombia. Sixty children in first, third, and fifth grades of public and private schools participated in the study.…

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,…

Spending more time teaching science and social studies in K-3 can have at least four potential benefits: (1) Increased learning in these subjects is likely to improve students' reading comprehension in later grades; (2) Introducing students to science and social studies in the early grades is likely to better prepare them for learning those…

Some approaches to teaching mathematics have led to decreased student motivation. Gamification is an application of game elements within nongame settings. While gamification may increase motivation in other contexts, its effective use in digital mathematics instruction to motivate elementary students is undetermined. Based on the constructs of…

The contributions of academic achievement motivation and social status to peer-reported academic influence were explored in a sample of 322 children in grades three through five. Latent moderated structural equation modeling indicated that children who value academics are more likely to be rated by peers as academically influential. Social status…

This paper presents the results of a multi-method study examining elementary students with high self-reported levels of mathematics motivation. Second- through fifth-grade students at a Title One school in the southeastern United States completed the Elementary Mathematics Motivation Instrument (EMMI), which examines levels of mathematics…

Last spring, the author's 2nd-grade daughter came home with an extra assignment--a worksheet she had not completed in class for a story called "The Selkie Girl." She brought the book home, too, and it was one the author had never seen before, a Junior Great Books anthology (Series 3, Book 1), published by the nonprofit Great Books…

Judgments about actual and hypothetical events were examined. The study, conducted in elementary (first, third, and fifth grades) and junior high (seventh grades) schools, included behavioral observations and assessments of judgments. Observations were conducted of 108 events classified as moral, as conventional, and as mixed type. Participants'…

Study 1 involved a standard interview of first- and third-graders, who consistently rated hypothetical conventional infractions as affectively neutral but tended to regard moral transgressions as affectively negative. Study 2 experimentally manipulated affect prior to a controlled recall task involving moral and conventional stories. (Author/KS)

A study was made of the effects of role perspective and gender on the moral judgments of children. Because they represent a transitional period in cognitive development from heteronomy to autonomy, a total of 25 male and 38 female third-grade students of approximately 9 years of age were selected for participation. The effect of perspective taking…

To determine children's perceptions of underlying morals or messages in television drama, a study was conducted in which four early prime time situation comedies were selected for viewing by 15 children per program in kindergarten/first grade, 15 children per program in third/fourth grade, and 8 children per program at the sixth grade level. The…

Research suggests that adolescents as young as 13 years old reason about such abstract rights as freedom of speech and religion. It is unclear whether such reasoning develops earlier. Also unclear is the role of adults as agents in inculating in children the adults' views on such rights. A study examined 184 Canadian students in the first, third,…