Background: This paper estimates the causal effects of an intervention under the UK-funded Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE). PLANE is a seven-year (2021-2028) early literacy and numeracy program that aims to improve student outcomes in Northwest Nigeria. In this region, fewer than 28% of children and youth. Numerous factors…

Abstract Lego construction ability is associated with a variety of spatial skills and mathematical outcomes. However, it is unknown whether these relations are causal. We aimed to establish the causal impact of Lego construction training on: Lego construction ability; a broad range of spatial skills; and on mathematical outcomes in 7-9-year-olds.…

From the beginning of the September 2020 school year, in an effort to engage children in school life again after a lengthy absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rebecca Towner-Yates' school has adopted a 'quest' approach to learning. The concept has its roots firmly embedded in Dorothy Heathcote's 'Mantle of the Expert' (MoE) (Heathcote and…

Following a learning experience with one of her Year 2 students, whose extreme and challenging behavior required extra support from a teaching assistant (TA) but who loved practical hands-on science days and investigations, it occurred to the author that there must be hundreds of children and TAs all over the UK facing challenging dilemmas every…

Rocks and fossils appear in the National Curriculum of England science programmes of study for children in year 3 (ages 7-8). A frequently asked question is "How do you make the classification of rocks engaging?" In response to this request from a school, a set of interactive activities was designed and organised by tutors and students…

The learning and teaching of mathematics are key elements for primary school teachers, and various approaches for teaching mathematics to pre-service teachers are evident in mathematics education. This paper reports on a project to develop a critical approach to using mathematical subject knowledge in choosing learning examples and examines data…

We report an empirical comparison of the effectiveness of two theoretically motivated computer-assisted reading interventions (CARI) based on the Finnish GraphoGame CARI: English GraphoGame Rime (GG Rime) and English GraphoGame Phoneme (GG Phoneme). Participants were 6-7-year-old students who had been identified by their teachers as being…

For years this author has been a keen advocate of co-operative talk as a way of learning and has felt confident that her pupils are learning from each other. She creates opportunities for her Year two class to talk and work in pairs and groups across the curriculum, with many such interactions occurring each day. As part of an action research…

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is popularly understood to be a condition which resides in the person. In this scenario, the school is an innocent bystander, a container for the "maladjusted child". Drawing on an ethnographic case study of one classroom, the first stage of doctoral research into the production of the…