The focus of this paper is a case study of a Texas-based school that implemented global projects to connect their students with many states and countries as a platform for integrating collaboration and communication skills, technology tools, and cultural diversity into an existing curriculum. The school introduced videoconferencing at every grade…

A growing body of literature indicates that childhood emotion regulation predicts later success with peers, yet little is known about the processes through which this association occurs. The current study examined mechanisms through which emotion regulation was associated with later peer acceptance and peer rejection, controlling for earlier…

Many schools identified by states as needing improvement through their Elementary and Secondary Education Act waivers have selected Response to Intervention (RTI), a three-tiered instruction program sometimes referred to as tiered levels of instruction, as one of their main strategies for improving school performance and closing achievement gaps.…

Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest assisted Milwaukee Public Schools in developing a fidelity monitoring system for measuring schools' progress in implementing Response to Intervention (RTI). The study examined the ratings produced by that system to determine the system's reliability, schools' progress in implementing RTI, and whether ratings…

The chapter explores the relationships of the material and discursive in an afterschool arts space devoted to creating an "ideal city" out of recyclables. Intrigued by the making of a homeless shelter by a Grade 5 student and a teacher candidate, the author turns to intra-activity as a theory--and ethic-onto-epistemological…

Service learning is a method of instruction where the students in a course use the course's content in a service project. The service is included as a portion of the students' course grades. During the fall semester 2010, service learning was incorporated into the Introduction to Astronomy course at Misericordia University. The class had eight…

The objective of this study is to examine the teacher and parent views on the instruction of 5th grade students by branch teachers. This study is designed according to the phenomenology design and uses qualitative data. In order to collect data, open-ended questions were asked to 18 teachers and 16 parents of 5th grade students on the subject, and…

Interactive writing is an instructional practice widely considered effective and most appropriate for emergent writers. This article asserts that it is a valuable method for more fluent writers in grades 2-5. It outlines the basic lesson sequence and proposes four key shifts to adapt interactive writing for older, more fluent writers: 1) The…

This study of digital media engagement, through participation in a class blog, explored its impact on 5th grade students' communication and collaboration, and morality and ethics-based thinking, in regards to the socially significant topic of cyber bullying. The use of a classroom blog as a space to develop cyber citizenship skills was also…

STEM Pathways aims to increase youths' long-term interest, learning and achievement in STEM through a deliberate and interconnected system of STEM learning opportunities. STEM Pathways is a partnership of Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), The Bakken, The Bell Museum of Natural History, Minnesota Zoo,…

This article describes a two-day lesson in which fifth-grade students took on the role of marine biology scientists, using their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to explore human impact on the blue crab ecosystem. The purpose of "Crabby Interactions" was to help students understand the impact of human activities on the local…

The goal of this study was to examine whether a technological touch activated Collaborative Puzzle Game (CPG) increased positive social behaviors in children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). The CPG involved construction of a virtual puzzle by selecting and dragging pieces into the solution area on a touch screen table. The…

In this article, the author discusses how to publicize the art program while integrating art history, technology, art concepts, painting, drawing, and performance opportunities into one project. She suggests that hosting a living artist exhibition might be the answer. Each year, the author and the school librarian conduct a collaborative study of…

This article presents a theoretical model of the process by which students construct and elaborate explanations of scientific phenomena using visual representations. The model describes progress in the underlying conceptual processes in students' explanations as a reorganization of fine-grained knowledge elements based on the Knowledge in Pieces…

Research suggests that school climate can have a great impact on student, teacher, and school outcomes. However, it is often assessed as a summary measure, without taking into account multiple perspectives (student, teacher, parent) or examining subdimensions within the broader construct. In this study, we assessed school climate from the…