Students in Mrs. Wilson's fourth-grade classroom watch in anticipation as the guest teacher, Ms. Davis, demonstrates binary signaling using a lightbulb that flashes when she holds it in her hands. She challenges them to guess what she is trying to "say" while making the lightbulb flash on and off, explaining that the lightbulb stands for…

Background: Students who do not acquire social and emotional skills are at risk for a range of negative outcomes that include emotional and behavioral disabilities, lower school achievement and school failure, peer rejection, substance abuse, and school dropout (Downer & Pianta, 2006; Riggs et al., 2006 Quinn & Poirier, 2004). Tools for…

Dyslexia is a neurologically-based, lifelong condition that affects a person's ability to process language, which in turn can make reading and writing more difficult. Between 10 and 20 percent of all people are dyslexic. Providing appropriate reading instruction and intervention for young children by second grade could reduce the percentage of…

Students (n = 1,069) from 60 4th-grade classrooms were taught the control of variables strategy (CVS) for designing experiments. Half of the classrooms were in schools that performed well on a state-mandated test of science achievement, and half were in schools that performed relatively poorly. Three teaching interventions were compared: an…

The study reviewed in this paper examined three separate methods for teaching the "control of variables strategy" ("CVS"), a procedure for conducting a science experiment so that only one variable is tested and all others are held constant, or "controlled." The study analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial of…

Elementary science is chock-full of wonderful experiences for students. Do children see iPads as a tool for learning about science? Using Prensky (2010) as a guide, the researchers decided to see if "assessing students with their own" tools (p.178) using iPad apps would support learning discrete knowledge for electricity and light…

Students (n = 797) from 36 4th-grade classrooms were taught the control of variables strategy for designing experiments. In the instruct condition, classes were taught in an interactive lecture format. In the manipulate condition, students worked in groups to design and run experiments to determine the effects of four variables. In the both…

Data on the implementation of state-mandated portfolio assessment guidelines were collected in a class of 25 fourth-grade students in a Kentucky urban school, using participant observation, interviews, and document analysis. The use of computers as word processors was found to facilitate students' ability to read their work aloud to their class,…

The attitudes of students in ungraded primary and fourth grade classes toward educational-reform changes implemented in their classrooms were studied in Kentucky, using a sample of 53 students from the primary grades and 47 students from the fourth grade. Multi-age, multi-ability grouping, as experienced by these primary students, is a feature of…