Fifth graders in Mrs. Caldwell's class would soon experience a "change" as they made the transition from elementary to middle school. Participation in classroom inquiry investigations and schoolwide science enrichment events had already developed students' enthusiasm for science; here was an opportunity to solidify that enthusiasm. Guest science…

The ability to question lies at the heart of human curiosity and is a necessary component of cognition. The author stresses that forming questions is essential to human thought and communication. As such, forming questions is a foundational process that cuts across curricular areas and is embedded in content standards across the nation, including…

A challenge for todays instructional leaders is identifying the most effective method of educating English Language Learners (ELLs) who participate in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. The primary purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of three programs used for ESL students in twelve elementary schools in a Urban…

This nonexperimental survey research investigated whether enrollment, location, expenditures, percentage of free and reduced lunch and percentage of minority students influenced Georgia's superintendent and board chairperson satisfaction. In addition, this study investigated whether respondents' satisfaction could predict student achievement.…

This study presents a mobile exploration activity that guides elementary students to learn during a social science activity with digital support from mobile devices and wireless communications. The students are situated in both the real world and the virtual world to extend their learning experiences. The learning activities between the field and…

As a still growing area, Language Learning Strategies (LLS) research needs to expand so that it covers different contexts and age groups. Previous research shows that most of LLS research is conducted in ESL contexts and the majority looked into strategies of adolescents and adults. Consequently, strategy taxonomies as well as the inventories…

Accompanying the rise in the number of working parents is a growing demand for after-school care schemes for children. After-school care schemes, in addition to school, provide pupils with more learning opportunities than the experiences that school provides. The hypothesis is that after-school care schemes offer a better knowledge-basis for…

This article begins to unravel the question, "What curricular materials work best under what kinds of conditions?" The authors address this question from the point of view of teachers and their ability to implement mathematics curricula that place varying demands and provide varying levels of support for their learning. Specifically, the…

The paper reports on a 3-year study of an experienced fifth grade teacher learning to integrate a Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) into his core science instruction. Data from this study included videotapes and transcripts of classroom instruction, and audiotapes and transcripts of professional development meetings and interviews…

In the town of Madison, Indiana, the Mayor's Office started an initiative in 2000 called the Mayor's Eagles in partnership with Edward Eagleston Elementary School, known locally as the Eagles, using the historical expertise of Historic Madison, Inc., and the resources of the Madison Public Library. Through this program staff of Historic Madison,…

David Schwartz's classic book "How Much Is a Million?" can be the catalyst for sparking many interesting mathematical investigations. This article describes five episodes in which children in grades 2-5 all heard this familiar story read aloud to them. At each grade level, they were encouraged to think of their own way to explore the concept of…

In this article, the authors describe a research project designed to explore the effects of science testing in Year 6 (age 11) in England and implications of the abolition of testing in Wales since 2004. The research was commissioned by the Welcome Trust in association with the ASE to inform representation to the House of Commons Select Committee…

This article describes an extracurricular social studies enrichment program called the Clio Club. "Clio" is derived from the Greek muse of history, and the club offers a variety of activities to help students discover and interpret social studies beyond the traditional school hours. They meet after school and on weekends both at their…

The research involved examining the nature of the transition that students experienced in progressing to junior high school from primary school. Students' experiences were chosen as the focus of the research because the issue of substance being investigated was that of alienation. The main methodology that was used was the qualitative procedure of…

Students get excited about science when they investigate real scientific problems in the classroom, especially when the investigation extends over several weeks. This article describes a health-science problem-based learning (PBL) investigation that a group of teachers and teacher educators devised together for a group of fourth- to sixth-grade…