Gifted students' often go unchallenged in the classroom, and this lack of tailored instruction can lead to decreased motivation, which, in turn, influences underachievement, which is a significant concern since these children, theoretically, should be our highest achievers. This 4-week (i.e., eight instructional days) semi-randomized,…

This study examines the effects of self-efficacy, students' effort and access to educational resources, and teachers' development on the achievement of elementary school students in mathematics. Using the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) restricted data set, this study determined if and how these three aspects individually…

Dyslexia is a reading disability that interferes with accurate and fluent word reading. Deficits in word reading may cause secondary consequences, including reading comprehension difficulties. However, despite inherent word reading problems, there are students with dyslexia who exhibit resiliency that manifests as better than expected educational…

Intrinsic motivation is a crucial factor for students' learning and academic achievement and the initial drive for capturing students' interest in learning and engagement in a particular subject. There is a relationship between motivation and learning in traditional schools (Brophy, 2010; Schunk et al., 2014); however, despite the fact that…

The current study aimed to assess whether a single-session growth mindset intervention was effective in increasing beliefs in a growth mindset and academic motivation among fifth-grade students. Academic motivation and subsequent achievement tend to show declines with age and increasing difficulty in classes, and this was exacerbated during the…

Academic self-efficacy is an essential role in student's academic success. There are several factors that can contribute to student academic self-efficacy. Identifying student's self-efficacy can help their experiences in school. Understanding factors that can contribute to student's self-efficacy can better prepare them for academic success. The…

This qualitative study focuses on the importance of reading picture books aloud to improve students' social skills capacity by utilizing literacy and social skills in a rural setting. It is designed to address a problem of practice: the need for striving third, fourth, and fifth-grade students to gain and maintain motivation and positive attitudes…

The construct of growth mindset has become an increasing focus of educators as they seek ways to promote goal attainment among students. The growth mindset framework suggests that attributes such as high performance, skill development, and ability can be developed through motivation, sustained effort, and grit. Allowing for the possibility of…

My dissertation is a qualitative design-based research study that explores Singaporean elementary school students' documentation and reflection practices in a maker learning environment. In this work, I build upon literature from Constructionism, Metacognition, and formative assessment methods. I investigate the following research questions…

Relatively little research has considered how tasks are performed and experienced by students in different types of classrooms. Research shows that innovative classroom designs can lead to higher levels of cognitive engagement, connections between form and meaning, and more diverse forms of input (Schmidt, 1990; Svalberg, 2012) and are…

The problem was the decline in executive functioning skills of Grade 5 students in a consolidated independent school district in suburban Austin, Texas since the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this qualitative critical instance case study was to better understand the perceptions of teachers regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the executive…

Recent education-based challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a growing need to read and understand multiple internet-based sources in both academic and daily life, have highlighted the importance of better understanding how children read and learn both online and in traditional print-based environments. Previous research suggests…

School climate is one of the most important school level factors shaping children's developmental outcomes. More specifically, school climate has been found to contribute to school practices that promote or hinder students' academic achievement, academic engagement, and academic motivation with more positive reports of school climate improving…

The current study aimed to contribute to the literature by implementing an intervention that examines the effects of explicit metacognitive strategy training and prompts embedded within a Game-Based Learning Environment (GBLE), "Missions with Monty," on metacognitive monitoring accuracy, game performance, and science knowledge of…

The research design for this study was grounded in descriptive research to explore participants' experiences and perceptions of using evidence-based reading strategies to motivate, engage, and advance student learning in the primary grades. Primary teachers' strategies show encouraging impacts on students' learning, specifically in reading,…