This applied dissertation was designed to determine if cooperative learning strategies increased student engagement in a virtual elementary classroom. The purposes of this study were (a) to determine whether the implementation of cooperative learning strategies increased student engagement and (b) to explore student perceptions of engagement. In…

This study proposed a low-cost, easy to set up and easy to modify virtual classroom simulation environment, "CartoonClass," and tested its impact on 27 pre-service primary school teachers' noticing development during a semester-long mathematics methods course. The participants' perceptions of using CartoonClass were also examined. A…

The purpose of this study was to compare two simulated classrooms (virtual vs physical) in terms of how they affect pre-service teachers' perceptions and noticing ability. A total of 57 pre-service elementary school teachers participated in this study (28 in virtual Cartoon Classroom and 29 in physical Bear Classroom). The results were mixed. In…

Critical consciousness (CC) is the ability to understand, critique, and act against oppressive social structures and systemic forces. To assist educators in understanding and enacting strategies that foster CC, the authors identified examples of CC in third through fifth grade virtual classes of a 2020 "Children's Defense Fund's" Freedom…

The COVID-19 pandemic process brought along compulsory changes in the field of education in our country as in the whole world. Traditional face-to-face education was replaced by virtual classroom implementations. Effective management of these implementations has therefore gained particular importance. This study was conducted to determine virtual…

Kindergarten students commonly receive a limited amount of exposure to scientific concepts and informational texts. The present study used a multiple probe design across participants to determine the effects of shared reading instruction on three kindergarten students' science-related vocabulary acquisition in a virtual classroom during the…

The problem addressed in this qualitative descriptive design was many K-12 teachers did not have adequate training necessary for effective instruction in online learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the types of training in online instruction for K-12 teachers provided by school districts. The Technological Pedagogical Content…

Academic self-concept plays a central role in successful learning and is substantially shaped by social comparisons. Research on the so-called Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect (BFLPE) has yielded a highly robust and generalizable pattern of negative effects of higher class/school average achievement on students' self-concept when controlling for…

This study aimed to investigate Iranian pre-service primary teachers' self-efficacy and attitudes toward teaching science during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected through surveys with 360 pre-service primary teachers who completed their Science Education courses through virtual learning platforms. Results showed that the participants had…

Globally, schools were faced with mandatory shutdowns in the wake of the recent COVID-19 outbreak. To avoid disruption in the education process, teachers and students used alternative education strategies and solutions, switching to emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL). This change was completely unanticipated, and thus can only be…

The purpose of this mixed methods, multi-year study was to explore aspects of a virtual international literacies project, the Global Read Aloud, that promoted students' multiple literacies. Guided by theories of critical, digital, and global literacies, we analyzed survey (N = 436) and interview (N = 21) data from K-12 literacy educators. Data…

Civic purpose involves both students' attitudinal and behavioral commitments to social causes and is critical for our young generation to flourish as human beings and to withhold a healthy democracy in the current social climate. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relations among elementary students' social-, moral-…

Girls between the ages of 9 and 10 begin to experience physical, physiological, and hormonal changes that may lead to internal stress. At this age, children are struggling for autonomy; on the other hand, they may experience emotional instability, and for these reasons, they may be vulnerable in many ways. This experimental study aimed to…

Virtual education has been steadily growing since the late 1990s. Early research was primarily focused on the comparative studies between brick-and-mortar schools and virtual or hybrid schools. While the research over the past two decades has grown substantially and now includes broader topics such as for whom virtual education seems to work well…

This study examines Malay language teachers' perceptions of using Google tools in their online teaching in primary schools. It uses a basic interpretative research methodology to investigate the perspectives of six primary school Malay language teachers from Terengganu, Malaysia. Interviews with semi-structured questions were used to collect data…