The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of teachers in kindergarten through first grade utilizing digital technologies to engage elementary students during mathematics instruction. This phenomenological study was guided by the following research questions. (1) How do elementary…

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between participating in an online software application focused on phonological processing and working memory and outcomes on foundational reading assessment measures. The online software application utilized was the Sound Reading Program. Students began the intervention working in…

The purpose of this study was to determine any differences between factors that may influence a teacher's self-efficacy regarding the implementation of technologies in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. Specifically, this study analyzed the independent variables: age, number of years teaching, attitude toward technology, teachers'…

This action research study primarily examined how educative curriculum materials (i.e., curriculum materials that include supports for teacher learning) can improve a teacher's knowledge base and ability to succeed in the classroom. The focus was on the impact of one type of educative curriculum material: PowerPoint presentations. Specifically,…

This paper reports on the results of several geotechnical engineering-related science activities conducted with elementary-school students. Activities presented include soil permeability, contact stress, soil stratigraphy, shallow and deep foundations, and erosion in rivers. The permeability activity employed the LEGO NXT platform for data…

This study examines student reading engagement with children's science books in elementary classrooms. "Reading engagement" in science is conceived in terms of a Transmission-Transaction continuum. When centered on transmission, science reading entails passive reception of a textually encoded scientific message. By contrast, when science…

Reading projects that integrate technology engage today's students and prepare them to be literate in the 21st century. In this article, we describe in detail successful podcasting and wiki projects conducted with NYSRA Charlotte Award nominated books. We also explore additional digital literacy projects that teachers can use in their literature…

Under No Child Left Behind Act 2001, the Reading First initiative was a component geared toward strengthening literacy skills in schools that were in need of improvement. Despite the intervention attempts through this initiative, research shows that students continue to struggle in literacy, which widens the achievement gap in urban school…

This researcher examined the effects of Traditional versus Tactual/Kinesthetic versus Interactive Whiteboard instruction on short- and long-term word-recall and attitude-test scores of primary students. The sample included 87 children, 45 kindergarten and 42 first-grade students. Participants were 41 males and 46 females from a suburban elementary…

Despite the long history of the study of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), two facts remain obvious. First, there are almost as many conceptions regarding the definition of PCK as there are researchers interested in it. Second, it is largely unclear which methods enable teacher educators to best prepare teacher candidates to use PCK. Recently,…