This study explores the importance of scientific observation in primary education, highlighting how the use of observation sheets can facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and the development of students' observation skills. In the research, 153 second-grade students were divided into three experimental groups, each group observing a woody plant…

Working with second-grade teachers, the authors designed a six-day integrated science and language arts unit to investigate the structures that insects use to make their sound vibrations. They were inspired by "The Very Quiet Cricket" (Carle 1990), which was used as the focus text for the unit, as well as "Bug Music"…

Collaborative-metacognitive use of science literature teaching approach (CMSLTA) refers to a researcher-made teaching approach from the Philippines that comprises four components, namely (a) formation of groups with three to four members who have varied reading comprehension ability and assigned rotating roles; (b) use of Scientific Method…

The aim of our research was analysing the animated interactive multimedia learning activities (IMLA) with a Geography/Sciences contents, within the Mathematics and Environmental Exploration digital textbooks for the 2nd grade, edited by the CD PRESS Publishing House in 2014. We conceived an assessment grid focusing a series of features of the…

The reluctance of children to revise their prior beliefs is a prominent phenomenon in the reasoning literature. One way to facilitate belief change is offering explanations, and this study examined whether highlighting (counter) evidence with diagrams leads to belief revision to the same extent. Altogether 134 preschoolers and second-graders (5-…

This article encourages approaches that develop children's understandings of data representations. In particular, when children develope flexibility in their approaches to data representation and understanding, the same data can be represented in different ways. Flexible and adaptive use of representations is part of mathematics competence which…

Tape diagrams, also known as strip diagrams, bar models, fraction strips, or length models, are linear representations that can be used to effectively model quantitative relationships during problem solving. Tape diagrams are a powerful model recommended by the Common Core, but they are relatively new to teachers and students in the United States.…

In the present study, 144 second- and 150 fourth-grade Chinese students were recruited to complete a Chinese character learning task to explore the specific contributions of sensory-motor components (i.e., visual, motor, and haptic systems) of handwriting to Chinese character learning. After matching for age, nonverbal IQ, and a series of…

This action research study primarily examined how educative curriculum materials (i.e., curriculum materials that include supports for teacher learning) can improve a teacher's knowledge base and ability to succeed in the classroom. The focus was on the impact of one type of educative curriculum material: PowerPoint presentations. Specifically,…

Many elementary schools across the nation are scaling back or cutting arts curriculum altogether. This article presents classroom teachers with an activity for integrating art with mathematics. Through a three-phase exploration of reasoning with shapes and their attributes, students will get to know a classmate better, work with defining and…

Traditional drill and practice (TDP) and incremental rehearsal (IR) are flashcard drill techniques for teaching sight words to students. Although both have extensive research support, no study to date has compared these methods with children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Utilizing an adaptive alternating treatments design, the present…

This paper illustrates how young children (ages 7-8, grade 2/3) can use the potential of dynamic geometry environments to develop an understanding of, and reasoning about, the properties and behaviours of different triangles (scalene, isosceles, equilateral). It provides a detailed description of a geometry unit, during which children worked both…

Students with autism display challenges acquiring friendships and participating in relationships with typical peers. Social interaction is further impacted in students with low-functioning autism, necessitating consideration of their unique characteristics when designing and implementing interventions. This single-subject study examined the…

All writing begins with ideas, but young students often need visual cues to help them organize their thoughts before beginning to write. For this reason, many elementary teachers use graphic organizers or thinking maps to help students visualize patterns and organize their ideas within the different genres of writing. Graphic organizers such as…

Educational robotics has been regarded as an effective instructional tool over the past decade. Many studies have tested the role of robots in supporting educational classroom activities. However, reliable empirical evidence confirming the effectiveness of educational robots remains limited. Therefore, this study developed an educational…