Open inquiry offers students the opportunity to gain 21st century skills and expose them to science practices advocated by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). While this raises the bar from lower-level inquiry classes, students initially struggle with open inquiry, because they do not know what to expect as they shift from a teacher-directed…

In this paper, we exemplify the resourcefulness of using non-sanctioned ways of speaking in classroom communication within a cross-age literacy collaboration between elementary-level grade 5 and high-school level grade 9 students in Nairobi, Kenya. Our goal is two-fold: to contribute to scholarship that affirms this resourcefulness, and to respond…

This article explores the relationship between cross-age peer mentoring and positive life outcomes as defined by the Five Cs: competence, character, confidence, connection, and compassion. Qualified high school juniors and seniors were randomly assigned groups of 4-5 freshmen to mentor through the challenges of transitioning to secondary school.…

As schools around the world increasingly use digital text, research is needed to understand the impact different media may have on opportunities for language and literacy development. Using mixed methods to analyze students' collaborative interactions across different media, this study examined how linguistically diverse students engaged with…

Cross-age tutoring is characterised by status and age differences between tutors and tutees. Tutees are often inactive in this setting, because responsibility for effective learning is transferred to the more experienced tutors. This study focused on improving the outcomes of cross-age tutoring for tutees by providing tutors with a tutor training…

This article reports the results of an evaluation of the YA4-H! Youth Advocates for Health--Teens as Teachers program. Consistent with previous research on the impact of teen teaching, the teens participating in the program gained confidence and skill with regard to teaching younger youths. The program also affected the teens' understanding that…

Mentoring programs are an effective way to offer gifted students authentic learning opportunities. Although there are many mentoring models, the fundamental relationship between mentor and mentee has remained consistent throughout the ages. One mentoring model that has recently grown in popularity is the cross-age mentoring model. In this model,…

Peer tutoring is a structured process of co-operative learning, supported by social interdependence theory shown to have cognitive and affective level benefits. During a RCT, this study explores teacher perceptions (n=62) of effects of co-operative learning, including implementation issues, using a mixed methods approach during a 16-week peer…

This study seeks to recognize teachers' lived experiences about teaching-learning process in multi-grade classes. The approach of the study is qualitative under the rubric of phenomenological studies. The statistical population consisted of the teachers of multi-grade classes in a non-prosperous province and a prosperous one. 14 teachers were…

A quasi-experimental study examined some effects of cross-age tutoring on fourth grade tutors' and second grade tutees' ability to spell accurately and correct errors on their own rough drafts. Half of the participating tutors were trained in tutoring skills; half were not. All participants were given pre- and post-assessments. On dictated writing…

This paper adds to the limited body of literature and concentrates on investigating the impact of a new peer tutoring framework, 'Interdependent Cross Age-Peer Tutoring' (ICAT), on the socioacademic process of learning of self-concepts. ICAT is informed by Social Interdependence Theory, a socio-psychological perspective which aims to make…