A design experiment where students in Grade 5 (11-12 years old) play the Color Run game constitutes the context for investigating how students can be introduced to informal hypothesis testing. The result outlines a three-step hypothetical learning trajectory on informal hypothesis testing. In the first step, students came to favor sample space…

Teacher accountability and test scores currently drive many practices within the field of education. At the same time, student populations have become increasingly diverse, causing classroom teachers to feel pressured to teach to the test. Differentiated instruction has emerged as a best practice to help maximize learning for all students.…

Third- to fifth-grade teachers are struggling to teach writing, and research had not addressed how their training to teach writing or their confidence in their ability to use effective strategies to teach writing influences their teaching. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore third- to fifth-grade teachers' training in…

The current study employs a qualitative, exploratory case study method examining the classroom practices of three 5th grade science teachers from two intermediate campuses within a school district in the Southwest. The study explores opportunities and barriers to high level questioning by teachers leading to critical thinking. Qualitative data…

This study investigated how three fifth-grade students' understanding of fraction and decimal magnitude evolved over the course of a five-week teaching experiment. Students participated in teaching and learning sessions focused on developing concepts of fraction and decimal magnitude. The following questions guided this study: (1) How do fifth…

The problem was that professional learning communities (PLCs) have not focused on topics relevant to teachers of students with developmental disabilities, limiting these teachers' professional development (PD) and their students' educational opportunities. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore whether fifth grade…

This action research study describes the impact of ability grouping on fifth-grade students' academic achievement in reading. The theoretical framework that supported this study is embedded in cooperative learning, social learning, social interdependence, and self-efficacy. This study used a mixed methods design to consider the following research…

This study examined the role of teacher self-efficacy and student-teacher relationships (i.e., closeness and conflict) in predicting teacher emotional exhaustion over one school year. Regression analyses conducted among a sample of 161 third- to sixth-grade teachers indicated that, for those who reported high levels of self-efficacy, the sharing…

Background: It is widely recommended for teachers to provide positive feedback to foster the development and maintenance of children's motivation and perseverance. However, not all positive feedback has positive consequences and an important differentiation can be made between positive person-oriented feedback (i.e. 'you are very talented') and…

As K-12 classrooms in the U.S. grow in linguistic diversity, there is a need to develop and evaluate the effects of instructional approaches that build knowledge of academic vocabulary for multilingual learners. While multimedia vocabulary instruction may represent a promising avenue for improving word learning for linguistically diverse…

In this study, we examine students' mathematical reasoning within a technological environment designed to support understanding of relationships between quantities with adjustable measuring units. In particular, we provide a cross-sectional snapshot of how 30 elementary students (Grades 3-5) engaged in a series of fraction-as-measurement tasks…

This study investigates the narrative development and main characteristics of primary school students in grades 2-5 in mainland China. Data from 120 primary school students were collected using indicators of narrative development and self-designed narrative ability tests. According to the findings from the analyses, primary school students of…

In this study, we investigated primary school children's perspectives on their hearing and listening in classrooms with different acoustic quality levels. The sample included 213 children. The children completed a self-report questionnaire rating how well they could hear and listen in various situations in classrooms with two different acoustic…

The present study presents an instructional procedure developed in an attempt to enhance incidental learning through graded readers in class, the Multiple Incidental Exposures (MIE) procedure, and compares it to a more common procedure involving reading and doing the exercises, which is referred to as Traditional Explicit Practice (TEP).…

Although parents have been shown to be key to children's motivation and learning, little is known regarding the specific ways in which parents might influence their children's academic outcomes. The present study aimed to explore the direct effect of parents' failure beliefs on children's math achievement as well as the mediating effects of…