Critical thinking--evaluating and analyzing data to make informed judgments--is essential in both the classroom and everyday life. Teaching critical thinking skills in the elementary grades is often an afterthought--if it's a thought at all. Veteran primary teacher and instructional leader Erin Shadowens proposes that students of all ages benefit…

Teacher expectations not only relate positively to student achievement, but also to student beliefs such as their self-concept. Nevertheless, most studies focus on the relations with student achievement, followed by studies on beliefs. Beliefs are a significant determinant of academic success and can include student self-concept or emotions, such…

In-service teachers implementing a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum centered on computational thinking (CT) work with unique content and pedagogical experiences. Understanding how curriculum design and teacher professional development affect curriculum implementation can help researchers understand the critical aspects…

Currently, primary and secondary school education quality is a major source of concern for educators. A significant number of factors, such as the development of scientific and technological progress, technological innovations, and digitalization, affect the quality of education. In recent years, teachers have come to believe that the textbook…

Background: In the field of science education, adults often set up practical-based activities with the idea of stimulating children's reasoning and approaching science in a playful way. Although the potential role of objects in stimulating social practices has been considered in the literature, how teachers work on semiotic aspects of…

Teachers' lack of knowledge abound computational thinking (CT) and limited opportunities to incorporate CT in existing curricula pose unique challenges at the elementary level. Despite the crucial role of professional development (PD) in preparing elementary school teachers to integrate CT in classroom instruction, there is little research…

Due to low levels of student engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, elementary school students suffered significant learning losses, which served as the driving force behind this research. Teachers should be the key to solving problems. This research aims to measure how much influence the competence of professional elementary school teachers has…

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to gather data to determine whether instructional coaching partnerships can improve teachers' implementation of learned mathematics instructional strategies. Teachers are willing to learn and implement new mathematics strategies after professional development sessions to see better student learning results.…

For students to engage in mathematical thinking, a greater emphasis is needed on the expectations of students, by themselves and others, as active listeners and explainers. As student responsibility for mathematical thinking and participation increases, the roles of the teacher and learner change. A qualitative study of changing classroom…

Background: This dissertation examines the pervasive influence of the white and colonial imaginary in shaping educational narratives that promote neoliberal success and capitalism, impacting the minds of successive generations. Contemporary youth perceive these narratives as detrimental, contributing to racial violence, climate-induced…

This study continues an investigation of how spherical units, compared to cubical units, can facilitate students' units-locating and organizing units in composites. We analyze how Norwegian grade 3 students enumerate 3D arrays with cubical and spherical units. Our results show how spherical units can act as perceptual clues that facilitate…

Early intervention and identity-building can promote the idea among students that everyone is a math person. Natalie Parker-Holliman and Tenisha Marcel-Herbert share practical tools and strategies that schools and teachers can use to build students' confidence and strengthen their mathematical foundation. They highlight the significance of culture…

Elementary social studies resources have faced criticism for well over 30 years. Text that is too complex (Beck et al., 1989; Beck & McKeown, 1991), contains questionable content (Chu, 2017; Wade, 2012), and is boring to students (Kelley, 2021; Schug, 1982) and teachers (Zhao & Hoge, 2010). More recent studies have found that teachers are…

The purpose of the study is to investigate pre-service elementary teachers' noticing expertise of students' mathematical thinking within the context of fractions. For this purpose, 32 pre-service elementary teachers were asked to examine students' answers and ways of thinking given in written excerpts related to fractions. The data was mainly…

Adults shift their attention to the right or to the left along a spatial continuum when solving additions and subtractions, respectively. Studies suggest that these shifts not only support the exact computation of the results but also anticipatively narrow down the range of plausible answers when processing the operands. However, little is known…