In-service teachers implementing a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum centered on computational thinking (CT) work with unique content and pedagogical experiences. Understanding how curriculum design and teacher professional development affect curriculum implementation can help researchers understand the critical aspects…

Students with disabilities (SWD) have consistently been excluded in science in science classrooms. As inquiry-based instruction is the preferred method of science instruction, finding the best ways to teach using inquiry as an inclusive methodology is essential. The Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) is an argument-based inquiry approach that has…

This study used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine the relationship of student, teacher, school, and district-level variables on students' mathematics achievement as measured on the Grade 5 end of year assessment in North Carolina. Analyses indicated that there were statistically significant relationships between gains in student…

Disparities in Mathematics performance have been shown across race and gender for decades, although little research has reported the race by gender nexus in terms of disparity. In turn, research done to ameliorate these disparities have assumed that these differences are primarily among student populations who need remedial learning improvement.…

Elementary teachers likely have many opportunities to improve their science subject matter knowledge in the context of their everyday work. However, this has not been sufficiently explored in the literature. The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate teachers' self-regulated learning of science subject matter knowledge as a result of…

In this article, we describe the case of "Keri," a fifth-grade teacher who had completed an Elementary Mathematics Specialist (EMS) certification program. Drawn from a larger study investigating the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of EMSs, Keri's case was unique in that she was teaching mathematics to four classes in a departmentalized…

This study describes the design and implementation of a science outreach program (elementary; 2nd-5th) and its associated student outcomes. Key features of the program include: (a) phenomenon-based, NGSS-aligned curriculum designed by science education experts and influenced by educational, sociocultural, and cognitive science theories, (b) active…

Solving word problems is challenging for many children, but particularly for those with language difficulties. The objective was to examine the nature of the challenges experienced by children with language difficulties as they solved word problems in the context of a developmental-trajectory instructional sequence. We recruited 45 third graders…

Quantitative measures in mathematics education have informed policies and practices for over a century. Thus, it is critical that such measures in mathematics education have sufficient validity evidence to improve mathematics experiences for students. This article provides a systematic review of the validity evidence related to measures used in…

This study explored children's area estimation performance. Two groups of fourth grade children completed area estimation tasks with rectangles ranging from 5 to 200 square units. A randomly assigned treatment group completed instructional sessions that involved a conceptual area measurement strategy along with numerical feedback. Children tended…

Insights on students' own authentic design practices--nascent design practices without much adult guidance--are crucial to informing responsive facilitation of engineering design tasks. This study unpacks how elementary students interpret teacher given information about a design task, and interact with each other and given resources, to traverse a…

We conducted a multi-year study of specialization in elementary mathematics and/or science, using data drawn from a local sample of teachers and a nationwide sample of principals. Using the theory of planned behavior, we compare and contrast teacher and principal views and decision-making processes related to elementary content specialization…

This paper details a literature review of mathematics vocabulary intervention studies for students with mathematics difficulty. The primary aim was to identify instructional practices that support mathematics vocabulary development. We conducted a database search to identify mathematics intervention studies either focused exclusively on vocabulary…

The purpose of this study was to review the existing research on affect (beliefs, attitudes, and emotions) of elementary prospective teachers (EPTs) in university mathematics content courses. We use as our time period from publication in the United States of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for Schools Mathematics through 2016. A search of…

Model-eliciting activities (MEAs) challenge students to interpret a problem and collaboratively create solutions using the engineering design process. This Innovation to Practice article describes how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teacher educators can use MEAs to build elementary teachers' understanding of computational…