Background: Over the past three decades, researchers have increasingly advocated for pedagogical practices that privilege exploration, collaboration, problem-solving, and hands-on projects in K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S.T.E.M.). Many researchers have studied the efficacy of these instructional practices, but there has…

Previous research has demonstrated a link between children's ability to name canonical finger configurations and their mathematical abilities. This study aimed to investigate the nature of this association, specifically exploring whether the relationship is skill and handshape specific and identifying the underlying mechanisms involved.…

Questions regarding the construction of mathematical authority have implications for learning, specifically for students' views of themselves as mathematics learners and doers with valuable contributions. We consider the ideas proposed by eight first-grade students who had the most airtime during 12 lessons of a classroom teaching experiment. We…

Science education is an important component of a full education beginning in primary grades. In recent decades, research has identified young learners' rich knowledge of the natural world and their potential to connect with sophisticated science ideas. Elementary teachers face many challenges to implementing reform-based science instruction in…

The teaching competencies of science teachers significantly influence students' science academic achievement. It shapes the students' understanding of complex science concepts and their ability to excel in scientific exploration, ultimately nurturing their scientific literacy. This study assessed the teaching competencies influencing the teaching…

In March 2018, metal construction kits were distributed to all elementary schools in Rhineland-Palatinate as part of the project called "Technikkiste" [translation from German: technology box] to promote STEM education. At the end of the year 2018, three more expansion sets followed. So far, no requests have been made to schools, even…

This paper explores the use of comics as an integrated tool for introducing socioscientific issues (SSI) in elementary school classrooms. To illustrate this, we provide implementation examples from two teachers who facilitated introducing SSI to students using comics. These case studies depict how teachers integrated comics into their classroom…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how principles from variation theory can contribute to the planning of teaching and learning beyond learning study. Design/methodology/approach: We study whether and how principles from variation theory contributed to a group of teachers' planning of teaching and learning about decimal…

The importance of mathematics in early grades has been well established. Two variables that are associated with mathematics achievement are student-teacher relationships (STR) and student type (students identified with a disability and students not identified with a disability). The current study investigated the interaction between perceived STR…

This article explores the integration of the art studio framework developed by Harvard University's Project Zero into science education and investigates its influence on the academic achievements of third-grade students. This study involved a cohort of 140 third-grade students from a primary school in Iran, 70 of whom were students assigned to an…

Teacher noticing of student thinking represents a key aspect of teacher expertise as it informs teachers' actions 'on the fly' during a lesson. In science and mathematics education, teacher noticing has been conceptualised as being driven by attending to and making sense of student thinking. A range of models of noticing developed in professional…

Background: Dealing with errors in the classroom is a crucial aspect of instructional quality and has multiple consequences for students' own dealing with errors, their learning and their achievement. The available literature on error climate indicates a paucity of research on the effects of perceived error climate on social aspects such as…

Elementary engineering, as an emergent or "contentious" practice, is fertile ground for cultural analysis. Contentious practice (Holland, D., & Lave, J. (2001). "History in person: Enduring struggles, contentious practice, intimate identities." School of American Research Press) highlights how historically enduring…

Learning fractions is essential for academic and daily life success. A critical first step in acquiring fractions is learning to transcode them (e.g., writing ½ when hearing "one half"). However, little is known about how students master fraction transcoding. We addressed this gap by assessing fraction writing in two groups of Brazilian…

Statistics need data and data need context. Contexts from across the curriculum can be the most powerful in creating interest, reward, and enthusiasm for both teachers and students. The activity described here is based in STEM, employing aspects of each field to create and solve a hypothetical problem of escaping from an erupting volcano (Science)…