In this mixed-methods convergent parallel database design study on the roles of the model professional learning communities (PLC), I explored the teacher's perceptions of the PLC process on teacher enhanced instruction and elementary student academic outcomes through interviews. I also examined archrival Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR)…

Computational technology is prevalent in K-12 education. Understanding computational technology from the viewpoint of teachers is important for informing teaching methods and determining the appropriate timing of instructional support. This dissertation examined educators' perspectives on the relationship between computational technology in the…

This study investigated the developing ability of children to identify emotional facial expressions in terms of the contexts in which they generally occur. We presented Dutch 6- to 9-year-old primary school children (N = 164, 98 girls) prototypical contexts for different emotion categories and asked them whether different kinds of facial…

The Early Childhood Education Quality (ECEQ) initiative is a pioneering approach toward supporting ongoing, self-organized professional development in the private kindergarten sector in Japan. The purpose of this study is to examine how kindergarten teachers and ECEQ coordinators experience this approach and view the ECEQ process. Online…

As mindfulness practices become more widely implemented in schools, they are attracting both keen interest and strong criticism. It is important that mindfulness-based programs adhere to sound child development principles, be aligned with the neuroscience of stress, be integrated in a holistic manner by teachers throughout the school day, and…

The relationship between mindfulness, attention, and well-being is well established. In the field of education, mindfulness programs often focus on teaching children ways of coping with attentional and emotional difficulties. Mindfulness practices are also valued for teachers, and being a mindful teacher impacts the classroom environment. The…

The unintended academic and social consequences for students experiencing the transition from elementary to middle school have been well documented. A mixed method study was conducted to examine the perceptions and attitudes of 6th grade students, parents, and teachers from four middle schools in a large suburban school district in Southeastern…

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in schools have positive effects on cognitive and socio-emotional processes, but do not improve behavior and academic achievement. The use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in schools has been on the rise. Schools are using MBI's to reduce student stress and anxiety and improve socio-emotional…

This article explores the Art and Science of Mindfulness from the perspective of a Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, an author of five books in the Mindfulness Essentials series and that of an American medical doctor, Jon Kabat Zinn, who founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) clinic at the University of Massachusetts. Mindfulness…

This article discusses giftedness from the inside out, focusing on what the differences mean to the gifted child's experience of life--the effects both their intensity and their cognitive abilities have on their inner experience and awareness. Mindfulness is especially valuable and important for the profoundly gifted child. Two programs that use…

This study compared cortisol concentrations yielded using three saliva collection methods (passive drool, salivette, and sorbette) in both in vitro and in vivo conditions, as well as method acceptability for a sample of children (n = 39) with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders. No cortisol concentration differences were observed between…

In this article, I focus on what can be termed "the domestication of the eye"--that is to say, the lengthy process during which we come to see and recognize things according to "efficient" cultural means. This is the process that converts the eye into a sophisticated intellectual organ--a "theoretician" as Marx put it. In particular, I focus on…

Two studies examined developmental differences in how children weigh capability and objectivity when evaluating potential judges. In Study 1, 84 6- to 12-year-olds and adults were told stories about pairs of judges that varied in capability (i.e., perceptual capacity) and objectivity (i.e., the relationship to a contestant) and were asked to…

Adults preferentially use information from the left side of face images to judge gender, emotion, and identity. In this study, we examined the development of this visual-field bias over middle childhood (5-10 years). Our goal was to both characterize the developmental trajectory of the left-side bias (should one exist) and examine the selectivity…

Despite its importance in social development, social understanding has hardly been studied in high-ability children. This study explores differences in social understanding between children in high-ability and regular classrooms, specifically theory of mind (ToM) and perception accuracy, as well as associations between individual characteristics…