The contributions of academic achievement motivation and social status to peer-reported academic influence were explored in a sample of 322 children in grades three through five. Latent moderated structural equation modeling indicated that children who value academics are more likely to be rated by peers as academically influential. Social status…

The NCAA Read to the Final Four Literacy competition was initiated in a partnership between the Houston Independent School District (HISD), NCAA Team Works®, Houston NCAA Final Four Local Organizing Committee, Houston Public Library, the University of Houston, and CYCLE (Changing Young Children's Lives through Education). The competition was…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of self-monitoring training on the motivation of elementary school students with dyslexia. This quasi-experimental study was conducted along with a pre-test, post-test, with a control group and a follow-up test. 32 students with dyslexia (2nd to 5th grades) were chosen and divided into two…

Mathematics discourse is a teaching approach that encourages student discussion and reveals an understanding of concepts as students engage in mathematical reasoning and debate (Cobb 2006). Grabowski and Ke (2007) posit that students have significantly higher achievement and positive attitudes toward mathematics after participating in gaming…

This article reports on a study investigating young children's views about learning. The researchers engaged 200 Australian children from 3 to 8 years of age in conversations about how they liked to learn. In an attempt to privilege children's voices, the direct words of the participating children are used in the reporting of results. The children…

Instructional choice is a low-intensity strategy that can improve academic engagement. In this study, we investigated the effects of within-activity choices offered during math by third-grade teachers to participating students with behavioral and academic needs. We utilized a professional development model to train teachers to implement…

During inquiry investigations with third graders, the authors urge their students not to just make observations but also to record them. Inspired by Joel Fleishman's "A Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices" (1988), the authors developed an activity that increases students' motivation to record accurate and detailed observations. This…

Instructional choice is a low-intensity strategy that can improve academic engagement. In this study, we investigated the effects of within-activity choices offered during math by third-grade teachers to participating students with behavioral and academic needs. We utilized a professional development model to train teachers to implement…

Providing students with an opportunity to explore mathematical content through games allows teachers to include tasks that: (1) present alternative representations of the content; (2) welcome various expressions of mathematical reasoning; and (3) incorporate variations that empower all students to engage in the problem solving process. Games not…

This research is based on interviews that explore the reflections of 10 Norwegian kindergarten practitioners with regard to the importance of their involvement in children's physically active outdoor playtime. The data were analysed from a qualitative phenomenological perspective and resulted in basic themes that describe the practitioners'…

The Motivation for Educational Attainment (MEA) questionnaire, developed to assess facets related to early adolescents' motivation to complete high school, has a bifactor structure with a large general factor and three smaller orthogonal specific factors (teacher expectations, peer aspirations, value of education). This prospective validity study…

The main objective of this research is to determine the feasibility of using a multi touch tabletop system for applied mathematics learning in primary education with students with special needs (SEN). The instructional content designed on the tabletop focuses on understanding and managing money, coins, and banknotes. The study also analyzes the…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a universal social skills program, the Social Skills Improvement System Classwide Intervention Program (SSIS-CIP; Elliott & Gresham, 2007), for students in first grade. Classrooms from 6 elementary schools were randomly assigned to treatment or business-as-usual control conditions.…

Writing and photography are composition processes that help develop children's linguistic and visual competencies, respectively. Using photography in teaching writing has been found to enhance students' literacy skills by naturally invoking their interest and motivation, and eventually strengthening the reading-writing relationship. Children can…

Research indicates that motivation plays a central role in literacy development. Recent investigations have revealed that reading motivation begins to erode as early as second grade. Therefore, it can be suggested that motivation must be carefully considered during early literacy instruction. However, such motivating instruction can be effectively…