The goal of this quasi-experimental study was to assess the effects of Dual-Coding Theory on domain-specific vocabulary and comprehension in a 5th grade social studies classroom. The pretest/posttest design research was conducted in a rural elementary school (N = 49). Twenty-three students participated in an intervention of dual-coding based…

Goal setting is utilized by adults regularly to foster success. It has also been shown to benefit academic achievement. This 8-week study sought to determine the effects of goal setting on motivation, self-efficacy, and math achievement in elementary students. The quasi-experimental study included 70 students in 3rd and 4th grade math classes.…

Writing and photography are composition processes that help develop children's linguistic and visual competencies, respectively. Using photography in teaching writing has been found to enhance students' literacy skills by naturally invoking their interest and motivation, and eventually strengthening the reading-writing relationship. Children can…

The aim of this study is to determine if approaches to learning and academic motivation together predict grade point averages (GPAs) of students who study at Primary School Education and Preschool Education in Turkey and of students who study at Early Childhood Education in the US. The first group of participants included 166 third- and…

This action research study evaluated the effects of literacy strategies on academic achievement, motivation, and engagement of eighth-grade social studies students. Incorporating literacy strategies included teaching students to construct meaning, think critically, and build content knowledge, while stimulating their interests, using multiple…

Hip-Hop-Based Education (HHBE) has resulted in many positive educational outcomes, ranging from teaching academic skills to teaching critical reflection at secondary levels. Given what HHBE initiatives have accomplished, it is troubling that there is an absence of attention to these methods in education programs for elementary and early childhood…

Georgia Computes! ("GaComputes") was a six-year (2006-2012) project to improve computing education across the state of Georgia in the United States, funded by the National Science Foundation. The goal of GaComputes was to broaden participation in computing and especially to engage more members of underrepresented groups which includes…

This action research is a quantitative study of personal goal setting and how it affects the academic performance of third grade students on weekly Math, Reading, and Language Arts assessments in a proactive effort to increase individual performance on standardized tests. The students' weekly performance was indicative of their expected…

This paper describes a school-based professional development project for elementary teachers where all teachers from the school and university mathematics educators regularly met to share and plan mathematics teaching strategies for the school's diverse student body. Analysis of data from focus group interviews with participating teachers revealed…

As a part of the teacher licensure program at the graduate level at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the M.Ed. Licensure candidate is required to complete an action research project during a 3-semester-hour course that coincides with the 9-semester-hour student teaching experience. This course, Education 590 Culminating…