This dissertation investigates how embodied learning within a Mixed Reality (MR) environment supports young children's science learning, focusing on a honeybee system. To do so, I designed three types of activities within an MR environment to enable young children to assume different perspectives as they create embodied models of honeybees as…

Narrative is an important part of how humans make sense of the world and express their thoughts and feelings. For children, stories are the predominant way in which they organize and express ideas and imagination. Hence, stories have a significant role in children's various play activities, especially pretend-play. At around the third to fifth…

The problem addressed by this study is an increasing deficit in unstructured play in education due to the intensification of academics in younger grades, leading to immature social-emotional skills. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine teacher perceptions of benefits of unstructured classroom play on the impulse control of…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of increasing the time and frequency of recess opportunities when offered to elementary school students on student academic performance and to examine teachers' perceptions regarding recess. The opportunity to participate in unstructured play during a period of the school day called recess had…

This study examines how teachers can structure and use pretend play for teaching science, as well as the impact it has on students' agency, engagement, and discussion. Using interaction analysis, I examine two teachers in two classrooms (n=52) of first and second grade students (6-8 years) at a progressive elementary school. To shed light on how…

Children spend at least seven and a half hours or 46.9% of their waking hours in the school setting, which brings a unique responsibility to schools (Beighle, Erwin, Morgan, & Alderman, 2012). School systems are expected to educate children according to adopted state standards and encourage a healthy, active lifestyle. The concept then is to…

Improving students' achievement scores has been a critical issue for both educators and legislators. Eliminating or reducing recess to increase instructional time has become a common practice. The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of recess on the academic achievement in reading and mathematics among third and fourth grade students.…

This study examines the differences in play behaviors demonstrated by children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when they engage in play with typically developing (TD) peers. Pairs of elementary school students, ages eight to 11, engaged in play in three settings: typical school recess, facilitated play led by adults, and kinetic technology…

Despite a 100-year-old history and the existence of schools in nearly every country in the world, Waldorf education is a little known and poorly understood educational model that was developed in Europe by Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner. For many years it existed in the United States in the form of private schools. Few of their teachers or…

Educational reforms have created a climate of accountability and high academic pressure that has resulted in a pushing down of the curriculum into early childhood education. Once a prominent pedagogical feature, play is disappearing from kindergarten. The following is a doctoral dissertation that studied administrator, teacher, and parent…

This dissertation revealed two distinct types of castles which are marketed to boys and girls: Fortresses for boys are embedded with the masculine stereotypes of violence and active agents, and Palaces for girls imply domesticity, passivity, and a need for protection. Applying a feminist poststructuralist lens, this qualitative study aimed to…

Play in the school setting is a highly contested issue in today's restrictive academic environment. Although many early childhood educators advocate the use of play in their classrooms and emphasize the importance of play for children's learning and development, children beyond the preschool and kindergarten years are not often afforded…

For over a decade, America's educational policymakers have devalued the role of literature in K-12 classrooms. By welding federal funding to initiatives such as Reading First, government officials have downplayed the importance of reading literature and have argued against giving children voluntary, free reading time in which students can select…

The purpose of this case study is to explore effects of digital gamification on engagement and achievement in a third-grade social studies course for students of multiple nationalities and with varied native languages attending the English language international branch of a private, affluent school in eastern China. The case study is framed by…

This dissertation looks at the nature of creativity and what it takes to create a creative environment between the home environment and the elementary classrooms. Children make meaning best through play, creativity and problem-solving; this theory is built on Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (1978) alongside schema theory and Sternberg…