The purpose of this study was to explore kindergarten teachers' views and roles regarding outdoor play environments in Omani kindergartens. Thirty kindergarten teachers from 15 private kindergartens were observed and interviewed. The results indicated that teachers recognize the importance of outdoor play in children's development and learning.…

The purpose of this research was to determine the opinions of the students about 7th grade science courses carried out with enriched educational practices. The research was conducted throughout fall semester of 2014-2015 academic year in the scope of Systems within our Body Unit (SBU), Force and Motion Unit (FMU), and Electric within our Lives…

A large study of classrooms in the Caribbean context necessitated the use of a validated classroom observation tool. In practice, the paper-version Stalling's instrument (Stallings & Kaskowitz 1974) presented specific challenges with respect to (a) facile data collection and (b) qualitative observations of classrooms. In response to these…

Located in the heart of Charlestown [Boston, MA], Harvard-Kent Elementary School serves 365 students in grades Pre-K to 5. The school serves the highest percentage of children living in public housing of any Boston school. It is home to a specialized program for students learning English as well as a therapeutic program for children with emotional…

Researchers often use generalizability theory to estimate relative error variance and reliability in teaching observation measures. They also use it to plan future studies and design the best possible measurement procedures. However, designing the best possible measurement procedure comes at a cost, and researchers must stay within their budget…

The purpose of this paper is to provide states and school districts with processes they can use to help ensure high-quality data collection during teacher observations. Educational Testing Service's (ETS's) goal in writing it is to share the knowledge and expertise they gained: (1) from designing and implementing scoring processes for the Measures…

The development of students' reasoning and argumentation skills in school science is currently attracting strong research interest. In this paper we report on a study where we aimed to investigate student learning on the topic of motion when students, guided by their teacher, responded to a sequence of representational challenges in which their…

The impact of teacher observations in alignment with professional development (PD) on teacher efficacy was quantified for 292 schools in 110 districts within 27 U.S. States. Teacher observations conducted by school leaders or designated internal coaches were coordinated with PD offerings aligned with intended teacher improvements. The PD involved…

We employed data from a longitudinal investigation of over 1,000 children who participated in Tulsa's universal school-based pre-K program in 2005, and path modeling techniques, to examine the contribution of pre-K classroom quality to both kindergarten- and middle-school academic skills. We also examined gender and income-related differences in…

Given the increased emphasis on science in early learning standards, two studies were conducted to investigate preschool teachers' efficacy for teaching science and their inquiry-based teaching practices. Fifty-one teachers completed a survey of their efficacy for teaching science and understanding of inquiry methods. Teachers reported moderate…

Commonly defined as L2 teachers' responses to learners' erroneous utterances, oral corrective feedback (OCF) is an interactional classroom phenomenon which frequently occurs in foreign language classes and has gained growing momentum in SLA research in recent years. However, how OCF preferences of English teachers vary in terms of their…

In the My Teaching Partner (MTP) program, coaches engage teachers in 6 to 9 coaching cycles across a school year. Guided by the program's theory, coaches help teachers reflect on the emotional, organizational, and instructional features of classrooms. MTP was originally developed for pre-K and early elementary classrooms (MTP Pre-K), but this…

Research Findings: The present study examined associations between children's classroom interactions and teachers' perceptions of teacher-child relationships during 1 year of preschool. Teachers (n = 223) reported their perceptions of closeness and conflict in their teacher-child relationships in the fall and spring. Children's (n = 895) positive…

This sequential exploratory mixed methods study addressed the problem of low academic achievement in mathematics, specifically for African American middle school students who historically score below proficient levels on standardized mathematics assessments. The purpose was to investigate the effectiveness of the Project-Based Learning (PBL)…

Historically, handwriting is a skill acquired by children in the classroom. The relevance of this skill today is currently debated due to advances in technology. A nonexperimental time-series design investigated how much time Australian primary school children spend on handwriting in the classroom. A second aim investigated how much time was spent…