Middle school students who need help understanding how to manipulate math expressions involving the negative sign have demonstrated difficulty learning pre-algebra content that prepares them for higher-level math courses. This study involved a multimedia intervention to improve student negative sign proficiency and math self-efficacy. The…

Reading comprehension seems to be a significant challenge for rising fifth graders with limited vocabulary knowledge. A possible solution is to provide them with explicit vocabulary instruction which may positively impact their reading comprehension. This action research aimed to evaluate the effect of implementing explicit vocabulary instruction…

This study aims to understand from literature and from teacher perspectives the features of an effective professional development program for teacher learning and the essential instructional elements and activities for teaching with conceptual understanding. The goal was to produce a set of professional development modules on linear functions that…

Saint Edmond's Academy is a small, independent, Catholic school in Wilmington, Delaware. Students in Grades 4 to 7 are falling below their peers in other independent schools on standardized tests in mathematics, specifically the Educational Advisory Company Comprehensive Testing Program assessment. Within the scope of this work, my goal was to…

While attempting to provide real world experiences in STEM, educators face numerous challenges including adhering to curriculum requirements and working with potentially limited resources. The purpose of this action research study was to examine how the addition of authentic learning modules to the existing University of Arizona Middle School…

The main purpose of this qualitative research was to discover the effects of problem-based learning on a fifth grade language arts classroom. The secondary purpose was to examine how receptive fifth grade students were to a new way of learning. In this descriptive study, a group of nine students created an alternate reality game as part of a…

Analogies are ubiquitous during instruction in science classrooms, yet research about the effectiveness of using analogies has produced mixed results. An aspect seldom studied is a model of instruction when using analogies. The few existing models for instruction with analogies have not often been examined quantitatively. The Teaching With…

The purposes of this study were to (1) investigate non-accelerated middle schools students' understanding of pre-algebraic concepts, in particular, addition and subtraction of integers and the notion of equality; (2) describe and analyze how non-accelerated middle school students interact with The Geometer's Sketchpad (GSP) applets depicting…