One of the fifth-grade art-curriculum objectives is to create a relief print. In this era of budget cuts, the author was looking for a way for her students to meet this objective by making colorful prints without using a lot of expensive printing ink. She knew she wanted to use a rainforest animal theme, as well as share the colorful art of Henri…

The purpose of this study was to assess children's images of scientists by using the Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST) and to determine if differences in these images exist between grade levels. The DAST was administered to 243 children who were enrolled in kindergarten (aged 6) and grade 3 and 5 (aged 9 and 11). Findings obtained from the study…

A notable feature of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts is the attention given to the teaching of reading and writing in history/social studies, science and technical subjects. The Standards for Reading Informational Text that are included in the Common Core State Standards require students to read texts in depth, understand…

Background: The after-school period is potentially an important venue for increasing physical activity for youth. We sought to assess the effectiveness of the Sports, Play, and Recreation for Youth (SPARK) program to increase physical activity and improve cardiorespiratory fitness and weight status among elementary students after school. Methods:…

The purpose of this study was to explore the development of students' understanding through writing while immersed in an environment where there was a strong emphasis on a language-based argument inquiry approach. Additionally, this study explored students' spoken discourse to gain a better understanding of what role(s) talking plays in…

During the 2011-12 school year, a fifth grade class in a diverse San Francisco public elementary school collaborated with the Arts Resources In Action (ARIA) program of the San Francisco Opera's Education Department to create a teacher-guided opera. The students wrote the story, music and lyrics as well as designed and built the sets, props and…

Research has shown that the average values for academic interest decrease during adolescence. Looking beyond such quantitative decline, we explored qualitative change of interest in the domain of mathematics across adolescence. Study 1 was based on a longitudinal data set (annual assessments from Grade 5 to Grade 9; N = 3,193). Latent variable…

To improve science learning under demanding conditions, we designed an out-of-school lesson in compliance with cognitive load theory (CLT). We extracted student clusters based on individual effectiveness, and compared instructional efficiency, mental effort, and persistence of learning. The present study analyses students' engagement. 50.0% of our…

Exploring children's image of God and parents has invited interest among program preparers for children's spirituality in the Philippines. This research seeks to find out the fundamental orientation of children's image of God as well as their perceptions of father and mother from 241 fifth graders in three selected government primary schools in…

Science performance assessments (SPAs) are designed to elicit a wider range of scientific knowledge and abilities than ordinarily measured by more traditional paper-and-pencil tests. To engage in SPAs and thus demonstrate abilities such as scientific inquiry, students must interact with various participants and communicate in a variety of ways.…

Fractions constitute a stumbling block in mathematics education. To improve children's understanding of fractions, we designed an intervention based on learning-by-doing activities, which focused on the representation of the magnitude of fractions. Participants were 292 Grade 4 and 5 children. Half of the classes received experimental instruction,…

Statisticians have shown the theoretical extent of parameter distortion when the classroom level is ignored in multilevel analyses of schooling. This article illustrates the practical consequences of omitting the classroom for inferences drawn about the extent and mechanisms of schooling effects, using the relationship between reading achievement,…

Bullying involvement status (i.e., bully, victim, bully-victim) and school adjustment were examined in a sample of 1,389 fifth graders (745 female, 644 male) including 145 special education students who were served in general education classrooms for at least 50% of the day. The sample was drawn from 35 rural schools in seven states across all…

Based on Piaget's theory of logico-mathematical knowledge, 126 students in grades 2-5 were asked 6 questions about elapsed time. The main reason found for difficulty with elapsed time is children's inability to coordinate hierarchical units (hours and minutes). The educational implications drawn are that students must be encouraged to think about…

The aim of this study was to analyze the consequences of emotion during narrative writing in accordance with Hayes's model. In this model, motivation and affect have an important role during the writing process. Moreover, according to the emotion-cognition literature, emotions are thought to create interferences in working memory, resulting in an…