TOOLBOX is a school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program to teach and reinforce 12 tools (e.g., Breathing Tool, Courage Tool) for healthy youth development. Although TOOLBOX has been broadly adopted, it remains largely untested. This quasi-experimental study aims to examine the relationship between TOOLBOX implementation and the…

General pedagogical knowledge (GPK) is regarded as a central component of the competence that teachers acquire during university teacher education. However, existing research on GPK typically uses only one or two measurement points to assess development and identify influencing factors. The present study draws on an annual survey of pre-service…

Young children's development is a crucial period determining their adult outcomes. Through adversities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, preschool teachers play an essential role in nurturing children's development. This study has the objective to explore preschool teachers' perceptions of their students' development throughout the COVID-19…

Students' ability to operate with increasingly more complex units has been shown to be a key factor in their conceptual development. These abilities have been characterized as "stages of units coordination." This article focuses on the domain of composing and decomposing composite units. Using data from a teaching experiment with a…

Research Findings: The goal of this longitudinal study was to examine persistence development during the transition to school. The sample consisted of N = 88 children from Caucasian, middle-class families (51% female). Participants were recruited through advertisement in public kindergartens and were tested twice, in kindergarten (mean…

Research Findings: This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of Puhui kindergartens (PhKs), an innovative type of kindergarten proposed by the Chinese government as part of a 2010 national policy for the development of universal early childhood education, from the perspective of parents. Altogether, 28,732 Chinese parents, randomly sampled…

The quality of parental support is recognized as a crucial factor in the early stages of a student's development, and particularly in instrumental music education. At the start of 2020, the outbreak of a global pandemic crisis posed new and unprecedented challenges to education, forcing families to stay at home to prevent contagion. This…

This study examined the development of the evaluation of praise that differs in congruence between what the praiser is praising (i.e. effort or ability) and what led the recipient to succeed. Children aged 7 and 8 years (second graders) and 10 and 11 years (fifth graders), as well as adults, made emotional and motivational evaluations about…

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of multimedia integrated CIRC learning management plan on grade 2 students' spelling ability. The research employed a one-group experimental design in which a learning management plan based on CIRC principles, with the integration of multimedia, was used as the main intervention. The…

The aim of this longitudinal research is to examine the development process of scientific and consistent knowledge structures of first, second, and third-grade students in middle school within the concepts of melting and dissolution according to conceptual change theories at the end of the education and training processes carried out in…

Students' understanding of the meaning of the equal sign develops slowly over the primary grades. In addition to updating their representations of equations to recognize that the equal sign represents an equivalence relation rather than signaling an operation, students need to move beyond full computation to efficiently solve equivalence problems.…

Student engagement and well-being are critical for academic success and overall development. This Spotlight explores strategies to create supportive and engaging learning environments that foster student motivation and well-being. From re-emphasizing the importance of play in kindergarten to leveraging the power of outdoor learning, these articles…

This study aimed to examine how Finnish early childhood education (ECE) teachers use planning, assessment and development (PAD) hours across different areas of the national ECE curriculum. The PAD of pedagogy carried out by ECE teachers is an important quality factor in ECE. In Finland, the working hours reserved for planning, assessment and…

We evaluate the effects of grade retention on students' academic, attendance, and disciplinary outcomes in Indiana. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that third-grade retention increases achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) and math immediately and substantially, and the effects persist into middle school. We find no evidence…

The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomena of play by exploring kindergarten teachers' perceptions of play, specifically investigating teachers' perspectives on the importance of play, the role of the educator in play, and the changing face of play in response to evolving academic standards. This study utilized the qualitative approach…