The purpose of this study was to examine the skills and types of instruction present within four commonly used writing textbooks at grades four and five via content and quantitative analyses. Determining the presence of standards-based skills and evidence-based practices may help shed light on the effectiveness and quality of these curricula. The…

Despite widespread remote psychological interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the difference between the effectiveness of remote digital and face-to-face methods in school-based intervention programs remains unclear. This study examined the difference between the effectiveness of video and face-to-face based problem-solving training on…

Educational robotics (ER) is a constructivist approach to education that promotes experiential learning through actual activities for teaching and learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Empirical findings have indicated that primary school students have limited interest in learning mathematics due to the…

The need to identify and recognize school going children with giftedness remains a concern of the Republic of Kazakhstan's government. This concern motivated this study to examine the internal structure of the giftedness characteristic identification scale (GCIS) for use by Kazakhstan's school children. Exploratory quantitative research approach,…

Motivation is known to fluctuate, often declining, over time. Research on how motivation changes across school years is ubiquitous, yet little research examines changes in motivation within one school year. In this study, we model how third- through fifth-grade students' mathematics motivation (i.e., expectancies and values) changes over two years…

This dissertation includes three individual articles that explore the relationship between witnessing bullying and defending behavior among students who are bystanders of bullying. Chapter One provides the rationale and purpose of this dissertation and an overview of the three articles that comprise it. Chapter Two employed a cross-sectional…

This study investigates the effect of a female STEM professional mentoring program on perceptions among K-12 female participants. Led by STEM professionals, the program aims to enhance understanding of STEM careers. The findings reveal significant changes in the K-12 females' attitude and career aspirations towards STEM following their involvement…

This study extends prior research by manipulating both intervention and skill difficulty using a multiple baseline across participants design with changing phases in a virtual tutoring environment. Participants were four U.S. students from third and fifth grades for whom appropriate and challenging instructional targets were selected following…

Abacus-based mental calculation (AMC) is a widely used educational tool for enhancing math learning, offering an accessible and cost-effective method for classroom implementation. Despite its universal appeal, the neurocognitive mechanisms that drive the efficacy of AMC training remain poorly understood. Notably, although abacus training relies…

Purpose: Syntax provides critical support for both academic success and linguistic growth, yet it has not been a focus of language research in school-age African American children. This study examines complex syntax performance of African American children in second through fifth grades. Method: The current study explores the syntactic…

Based on 1,364 children across Grades 1, 3, and 5, the present study explored the mutualism of (externalizing and internalizing) behavioral problems and language, and whether social skills explained such mutualism. The random intercept cross-lagged panel models were conducted to control for between-person level variance and to explore mutualism of…

The present study used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K:2011) to examine the bidirectionality and co-occurrence between math achievement and behavioral outcomes of upper elementary school students. We analyzed the cross-lagged relations across four groups of students who had different initiating statuses…

Collaborative problem-solving (CPS) includes multiple socio-cognitive processes that can be challenging to investigate. Constructing arguments is a key practice at the intersection of CPS and science learning. To understand how students construct arguments and develop science knowledge during CPS, we focus on team synchrony--the extent of…

Despite improvements in female science enrolment, the gender gap remains in some disciplines. This study examines whether elementary school students (N = 1012, third to sixth graders) display gender-stereotypical interest in learning biology and physics content and how this affects their attitudes towards school science. K-means cluster analysis…

Background/Context: Schools are spending more money than ever on a growing number of educational technology programs which are designed to boost student learning outcomes, especially after the integration of online learning that was necessitated by COVID-19 pandemic school closures and disruptions (Instructure, 2024; Teras et al., 2020). Rigorous…