Because reading is not a natural process like language, young learners must be taught to read. Knowledge about how the reading brain develops has critical implications for understanding which teaching methods to use and helps reconceptualize previous debates. In this excerpt from "Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World",…

Authentic, "messy data" contain variability that comes from many sources, such as natural variation in nature, chance occurrences during research, and human error. It is this messiness that both deters potential users of authentic data and gives data the power to create unique learning opportunities that reveal the nature of science…

In 2008, the research center "Individual Development and Adaptive Education" was constituted by the Goethe University, the German Institute for International Educational Research, and the Sigmund Freud Institute, all located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (http://www.idea-frankfurt.eu). The research of the center focuses on the…

Early elementary school students are expected to solve twelve distinct types of word problems. A math researcher and two teachers pose a structure for thinking about one problem type that has not been studied as closely as the other eleven. In this article, the authors share some of their discoveries with regard to the variety of…

This practice guide presents five recommendations intended to help educators improve students' understanding of, and problem-solving success with, fractions. Recommendations progress from proposals for how to build rudimentary understanding of fractions in young children; to ideas for helping older children understand the meaning of fractions and…

Comprehension strategy instruction has been widely studied in the past 10 years. We now know that students who actively engage and interact with text using particular cognitive strategies are more likely to understand and remember more of what they have read. Students who use these strategies are able to access knowledge that is outside the realm…

"The Wheel of Scientific Investigation and Reasoning" (Kramer 1987; Paul and Binker 1992) is a graphic representation of the scientific investigative process. The scientific process is depicted in a wheel rather than in a list because "the process of scientific inquiry can begin from any stage, and that stage may be revisited as often as the…

Teaching students the most frequent sounds of the alphabet letters is the first crucial step in good phonics instruction. But beginning letter and sound lessons, especially if poorly taught or too rapidly paced, can be overwhelming and confusing for some young children and struggling readers. How can we simplify the cognitive task for such…

In this "FastFacts," a state's Department of Education requests information from the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) on how the research defines skills in social-emotional development, approaches to learning, and executive function, to inform planned revisions to the early childhood indicators of progress for children…

Preschool and kindergarten are transition years in the U.S. educational system, and teaching four-, five- and six-year-olds means living on the margins of one educational community or another. But many preschool and kindergarten teachers like it that way. These teachers get to take ideas from the primary grades and combine them with the…

Information processing theory suggests that sublexical fluency skills are important to word reading development, but there are few supportive data. This study investigated if sublexical fluency (letter name fluency, letter sound fluency, and phoneme segmentation fluency) contributed to the development of word reading and spelling in 92…

The purpose of this article is to provide teachers with examples of how to perform effective think-alouds. Twelve think-alouds are described. A rationale for their use in kindergarten through grade 5 is also included. In addition, this article was designed to provide teachers with lessons and activities to assist students in developing the ability…