This study examined the impact of sense of belonging on student engagement in math and science classrooms at an all-girls middle school. The sample was comprised of 129 seventh and eighth-grade students in three math classrooms and three science classrooms in an independent, urban all-girls middle and high school. My research design applied…

This study seeks to identify the configurations of classroom teaching practices, defined based on the classroom goal structures (mastery-approach, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance) and social climate (academic support, emotional support, mutual respect, and task-related interactions) to which a sample of 1,453 seventh graders…

Within the secondary level of education covering students in grades 6-12, reading comprehension continues to be an area of concern for traditional public-school educators. Because students lack the foundations of reading upon entering middle and high school, on average across the United States, many students struggle to meet high school graduation…

Gamification is an increasingly popular approach to engage learners in educational contexts. Although many studies have examined the effects of gamification in comparison to a non-gamification approach, less attention has been paid to the impact of different ways of implementing gamification on students' learning and engagement. In this study, we…

E-learning platforms have become increasingly popular in K--8 education to promote student learning and enhance classroom teaching. Student interactions with these platforms produce trace data, which are digital records of learning processes. Although trace data have been effective in identifying learners' engagement profiles in higher education…

A growing number of studies have shown the benefits of K-12 integrated science and engineering education. With this study, we add to the literature by documenting the relationship between STEM learning and engagement, and the demographic characteristics that impact achievement in STEM. This longitudinal study followed a diverse group of 245 middle…

This paper introduces a system that supports student-centered online one-to-one tutoring and evaluates the practical value of the system by running an experiment with 64 experienced mathematics teachers and 810 students in Grade 7. The experiment lasted for 50 days. A comprehensive evaluation was performed using students' academic performance…

Recent policies and programs in science education underscore a need to address "opportunity gaps" for students who are parts of minoritized social, cultural, or racial/ethnic groups. In order to implement professional learning for teachers to assist them in effectively supporting all students, it is critical to understand the classroom…

This study investigates the association between classroom practices and individual social status outcomes in junior high. A nested design using 678 grade 7 and 8 students in 38 classrooms showed that classroom practices are associated with peer social status. Classrooms rated high on "instruction" were associated with a decreased…

The literature on school climate, albeit vast, is limited by a scarcity of longitudinal research. This two-wave longitudinal study aims to bridge this gap by (a) assessing, over two school years, the changes in students' perceptions of several dimensions of school climate and (b) exploring the reciprocal longitudinal effects of student perceptions…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has experienced increasing utilization and poses new challenges for schoolteachers to engage students. Project-based Learning (PBL) is widely acknowledged as an effective pedagogy for motivating and involving students. However, few studies have examined scaffolds that facilitate student engagement in…

Research supports the finding that middle school students prefer hands-on activities to reading and writing to learn new information. However, disciplinary literacy, the reading and writing in science class, is an integral part of inquiry-based science instruction and a necessary complement to hands-on instruction to build student understanding.…

Digital game-based learning (DGBL) has unique factors that can engage students in the learning process. It has been shown that incorporating DGBL into mathematics can help bridge the learning gap, differentiate instruction, and engage students (Yang et al., 2018; Hulse et al., 2019; Chen et al., 2012; Naik, 2017). This study examined how students'…

This paper describes an Online Teaching Lab model that incorporates elements of lesson study and studio model for teacher learning. We focus on changes in design and facilitation decisions of two specific Online Teaching Labs and study differences in teachers' verbal and written responses to better understand how the process supports teacher…

Sexual health education should meet the needs of all students. One strategy educators can use to ensure instruction meets students' needs is to encourage the submission of anonymous questions, allowing students to gain information without fear of instructor or peer reactions. We investigated anonymous questions submitted by middle school…