This dissertation delves into the dynamic interaction between picturebooks, culture circles, and social justice discussions in a second-grade classroom. Rooted in Critical Pedagogy, Transactional Theory, and Indigenous Social Justice Pedagogy, this study investigates two pivotal aspects. Firstly, it explores the issues raised by students in…

Beginning in the 1950s, learning to read was a major focus in elementary schools. Children typically began their reading journey with listening skills. Hearing sounds for letters, then words, come to life from the pages of a book were engaging to children. One way teachers engaged students in learning to read was to read aloud to them in their…

Feedback does not always engage students. To better understand why this happens, the present study analysed Grade 2 (7- to 8-year-old) students' experiences of formative feedback in mathematics to identify aspects with potential importance for student engagement. The researcher processed the students' experiences with the help of stimulated recall…

Background: Self-regulation promotes engagement within the classroom. At a physiological level, a good indicator of the ability of the system to self-regulate is cardiac vagal tone (CVT). Aims: The present study aims to assess children's change over time (1 year) in their parasympathetic regulation (by way of CVT) in response to a social and…

This study examined the development of the evaluation of praise that differs in congruence between what the praiser is praising (i.e. effort or ability) and what led the recipient to succeed. Children aged 7 and 8 years (second graders) and 10 and 11 years (fifth graders), as well as adults, made emotional and motivational evaluations about…

Computer Science (CS) is a rapidly growing field that impacts almost every aspect of students' lives. From media consumption to future careers in medicine, agriculture, security, finance, and other areas, understanding computer programming is essential for 21st-century society and careers. Over the next decade, employment opportunities in computer…

There is a paucity of research that has effectively listened to children's voices on matters important to them and has asked them how they would like to be listened to. This study used a playful approach to listen to children's voices about play spaces in their primary school. The research questions were: How can a playful approach be used to…

Reading and music instruction can form a symbiotic relationship to positively impact lower-elementary literacy and increase student engagement. In this action research study, cross-curricular instruction between reading and music at the 2nd grade elementary level was taught by both the reading and music teacher. This study employed reading,…

This phenomenological study investigated elementary teachers' perspectives on student engagement in competency-based education (CBE) classrooms in an upper Midwestern rural school district. The study addressed the limited research on CBE implementation in elementary settings by exploring teachers' lived experiences related to learner engagement.…

This dissertation investigates the issue of gender stratification within engineering and other STEM-related fields. The dissertation is divided into three articles that address different aspects of the problem and propose potential solutions. Article 1 explores the persistent gender imbalance within STEM fields, particularly in engineering and…

The paper presents an experimental study aiming to explore primary school students' response to Mobile Seamless Learning activities. The educational intervention and the consequent investigation were conducted in a suburban primary school in Greece, with second grade pupils, in the context of a learning subject entitled "Studying our Living…

This article explores the potential for engaging 7 and 8-year-old school pupils in performative literature interpretation through process drama. Inspired by new materialism and affect theory, we focus on how literature interpretations come into being in dramatic fiction, and on how these becoming interpretations merge with the classroom. The study…

This article discusses findings from the qualitative research study which was conducted at a K-12 parochial school in Midwestern city. The study was conducted to understand how first and second graders who were located in one particular educational setting, with reading levels that ranged from low to high in a split classroom, made meanings from…

Inclusive education (IE) was introduced in 2001 in South African schools. Still, its implementation in mainstream classrooms has not attained optimum potential. To highlight the shortcomings, this study explores factors preventing teachers from effectively implementing IE in a combined school. Qualitative data were collected through interviews,…

This study investigated the role of tools in supporting students to reason about even and odd numbers. Participants included Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 students (ages 5-8) at two schools in the USA. Students took part in a cross-sectional early algebra intervention in which they were asked to generalize, represent, justify, and reason with…