Direct vocabulary instruction of Tier 2 and Tier 3 words in intermediate-grade curricula is an important tool of literacy instruction because English is a language grafted from many roots and has not developed a one-to-one phoneme-grapheme correspondence. In addition to knowing graphemes and phonemes, students must formally learn words that cross…

We report results from two studies on the underlying dimensions of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in elementary-aged children. In Study 1, 99 fourth-grade students were given multiple measures of morphological awareness and vocabulary. A single factor accounted for individual differences in all morphology and vocabulary…

Most accounts of affect and motivation in the science education literature have discussed them as relevant to, but distinct from, disciplinary pursuits. These include Pintrich's seminal work on affective and motivational factors in learning science (P. R. Pintrich, 1999, 2003; P. R. Pintrich & E. De Groot, 1990; P. R. Pintrich, R. W. Marx,…

The revised New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) was introduced in 2007 and seen as an opportunity for schools and communities to work together to provide a curriculum that reflected local needs. The NZC identifies learning areas providing students with the foundation on which they can develop and later specialise. It would be expected that this broad…

Despite the social turn in views of language and the increasing attention to an application of genre theory in teaching languages, the field of Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language (JFL) has not yet found genre a valuable resource for approaching learners' writing ability. Writing is still practiced as a psycholinguistic space to check learners'…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are being recognized as effective in improving teacher collaboration and student achievement. Trust is critical in effectively implementing the PLC model, and the school principal is best positioned to influence school trust levels. Using five facets of trust, this research sought to clarify the impact of…

The Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010) highlight the mathematical habits that educators should be fostering in mathematics classrooms throughout K-grade 12 education. That argumentation and discourse are important components of developing mathematically proficient…

As part of a 3-year longitudinal study, 136 sixth-grade students completed an engineering-based problem on earthquakes involving integrated STEM learning. Students employed engineering design processes and STEM disciplinary knowledge to plan, sketch, then construct a building designed to withstand earthquake damage, taking into account a number of…

This report provides a snapshot of information from the 2016 New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) national survey regarding the role and impact of digital technologies for learning in New Zealand primary and intermediate schools. We asked teachers and principals how students were using digital technology in the classroom, and how…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how sixth grade children planned, translated, and revised written narrative stories using a task reflecting current instructional and assessment practices. A modified version of the Hayes and Flower (1980) writing process model was used as the theoretical framework for the study. Two hundred one…

An after-school enrichment activity offered to sixth-grade students gave a group of 10 students an opportunity to explore the effects of the California drought in their community using an engaging scientific device: the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Although this activity was specifically designed for a small after-school enrichment group, it…

While studies have shown that mentoring is essential to the development of new teachers, fewer investigations have examined what mentors learn about themselves and about mentoring through this role. In this study, the conversations between 13 mentors and their mentees were analysed, along with mentor self-evaluations and focus group data, over two…

The math achievement of students is low in a small rural district in Colorado. The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of a summer third through fifth grade math program in improving math scores. Piaget's theory of cognitive development was used as the theoretical foundation for the math instructional resource delivered to the…

Early detection of loneliness in children, especially children with special needs who are at greater risk for loneliness, is crucial for planning appropriate interventions. A review of studies regarding the assessment of loneliness in children reveals the Children's Loneliness Scale (CLS) is commonly used in other cultures whereas information…

Research has shown students can identify practices considered appropriate for achieving when learning mathematics (Kershner & Pointon, 2000; McCullum, Hargreaves & Gripps, 2000). Yet, if you listen to students talking about the practices they consider important to succeed, and then observe the same students working in their mathematics…