Drawing on data generated following the 2016 United States presidential election, in this article the author considers how a classroom makerspace made Black girls' literacies visible in new ways. During a six-week integrated humanities unit in a third-grade public school classroom in the Midwestern U.S., four Black girls used making to create a…

We begin with the observation that some Korean elementary school children in English class, confined to a single situation and even a single language exponent in a role play, appear to produce far more coherent dialogue than the previous week when they were allowed completely free choices in language. We note that at the same time as their…

Not only is science perceived by some as a hard-to-teach subject, but there are certain topics that all teachers regard as notoriously hard to teach. While their natural inclination may be to eliminate some of the details, teachers have to be careful not to water down the curriculum. How do they share the complexity of the natural world without…

This paper reports a novel, mobile-assisted, game-based learning design for Chinese character learning. In playing the "Chinese-PP" game in a 1:1 (one-device-per-student) setting, each of the 31 target students in Primary 3 (9 years old) is assigned a Chinese character component. A student may make use of his/her own and peers' character…

This article used two studies to investigate sign and symbol mediation in children aged 8-11 years. In role play, children exist at one at the same time in objective reality and their representation of reality. We cannot observe their mental representation directly, but the issue of whether signs or symbols mediate early role play is an important…

Learning a FL [foreign language] may be frustrating for some young learners; however, integrating fun in learning would encourage them to develop positive attitudes towards learning a language (Ellis & Brewster, 1991). Stories are an effective and enthusiastic technique in teaching young learners; they inject lots of amusement and help…

Through an analysis of activities called for in social studies texts at three grade levels, the author critically examines the links between children's improvisational performance and social studies curricula. He asks: What is unique about the process of embodying a historical or contemporary character as part of the learning process (such as a…

Recent studies advocate careful selection of local historic sites and recommend collaboration between stakeholders to create meaningful learning experiences for students. The author describes the efforts of a historical society, a university professor, and a local school district to develop an integrative field trip to a one-room schoolhouse.…

This article begins by revisiting an old dispute between the children's writer Chukovsky and the child psychologist Vygotsky on whether and how child literature should mediate development. It then considers child language language lessons in South Korea for clues about how such mediation might happen, and finds the development of rote language,…

Learning about local government seems boring and irrelevant to most young people, particularly to students from high-poverty backgrounds. The authors explore a promising approach for solving this problem, Storypath, which engages students in authentic learning and active citizenship. The Storypath approach is based on a narrative in which students…

The purpose of the study was to examine whether teacher beliefs would play a role in their actual practices while teaching target language in early phases of primary education, principally, in kindergarten and first grades in a state school. As it is a very broad research area, the researchers exclusively analyzed teaching practices and teaching…

A posttest only control group design was used to investigate the effects of two programs to teach firearm injury prevention skills to second and third grade children. Children were taught the safety skills "Stop. Don't touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult." should they ever find a firearm. The effectiveness of the National Rifle Association's…

Guiding students through a dramatic exploration of an historical event can elicit strong emotional reactions that can deepen student understanding and interest in the subject matter. This article describes an integrated third grade lesson plan that focuses on Henry Hudson's voyages in the early 1600s. The students take on the roles of Hudson's…

A multicultural model for children in Grades K through 5 to foster skills needed for success is presented. The learning, living, and working (LLW) group work model focuses on three skill sets identified by multiple researchers over the past 30 years as necessary for success in school, relationships, and work. These three skill sets--learning…

Tree rings can be used not only to look at plant growth, but also to make connections between plant growth and resource availability. In this lesson, students in 2nd-4th grades use role-play to become familiar with basic requirements of trees and how availability of those resources is related to tree ring sizes and tree growth. These concepts can…