The importance of STEM education has been broadly discussed in many countries around the world. Recent reforms in the U.S. have focused on the integration of STEM-related subjects as an effort to help students to make connections between STEM disciplines and increase their interest in pursuing STEM-related careers. This study reports the effects…

This study attempts to gain insight into whether and what types of gamification have the potential to contribute to students' learning performances while also remaining gender equality in science education. Two types of game elements including competition (gamified animation) and cooperation (social gamified animation) were integrated into an…

Fractions are a well-researched area; yet, student learning of fractions remains problematic. We outline a novel path to initial fraction learning and document its promise. Building on Freudenthal's analysis of the fraction concept, we regard "comparing," rather than "fracturing," as the primary activity from which students are…

In this case study with Devin (pseudonym), which was part of a larger, constructivist teaching experiment with students identified as having learning difficulties in mathematics, we examine how a fourth grader constructed a dual anticipation involved in monitoring when to start and when to stop the simultaneous count of composite units (numbers…

In this study, how fourth- to sixth-grade children perform measurement estimation was investigated. The data were collected by a measurement estimation task that contained linear and area estimations and interviews from 72 children, each in one fourth- (n = 21), fifth- (n = 32), or sixth-grade (n = 19) class at local public elementary schools in…

We present main effects of treatment and moderating effects of student background on science and engineering outcomes for grades 3-5 children participating in an engineering intervention. Data is from a large-scale randomized-controlled trial of two matched pairs (intervention and comparison) of engineering units. The intervention curriculum…

The effects of morphological instruction on reading and writing outcomes was investigated with 4th and 5th grade classrooms. Growing research supports the incorporation of morphologically-based instruction for vocabulary, reading, and spelling outcomes. However, little work has investigated writing outcomes. Classrooms were assigned to implement…

The language that students use with whole numbers can be insufficient when learning integers. This is often the case when children interpret addition as "getting more" or "going higher." In this study, we explore whether instruction on mapping directed magnitudes to operations helps 88 second graders and 70 fourth graders solve…

This paper addresses one of the foundational components of beginning interference, namely variation, with 5 classes of Year 4 students undertaking a measurement activity using scaled instruments in two contexts: all students measuring one person's arm span and recording the values obtained, and each student having his/her own arm span measured and…

A number of studies have demonstrated links between linguistic knowledge and performance in math. Studies examining these links in first language speakers of English have traditionally relied on correlational analyses between linguistic knowledge tests and standardized math tests. For second language (L2) speakers, the majority of studies have…

AERA's 2017 Call for Proposals asks us to consider pathways to achieving equal educational opportunity. This presentation argues that homelessness is one critical issue often overlooked when considering such pathways. Nationwide, over 1.3 million students experienced homelessness in 2013 (National Association for the Education of Homeless Children…

This case study examined how a teacher's choice of numbers used in tasks designed to foster students' construction of a scheme for reasoning in multiplicative situations may afford or constrain their progression. This scheme, multiplicative double counting (mDC) is considered a significant conceptual leap from reasoning additively with units of…

The racial and ethnic makeup of the United States is in constant flux and is expected to experience substantial increases over the next four decades. The problem the American educational system face is attempting to problematize race/racism in its educational system and creating a system to counteract that. The disparity we face grows as teacher…

This study examined different approaches to integrating engineering practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum units. These various approaches were correlated with student outcomes on engineering assessment items. There are numerous reform documents in the USA and around the world that emphasize the need to…

Hong Kong attained champion of the PIRLS 2011 that aroused keen interest in understanding the underlying reasons of a non-alphabetic language. The study aimed at unravelling various aspects of the student and home factors which contributed to remarkable Chinese reading performance. Totally 3,875 students from 132 primary schools completed the…