The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among students' conceptions of knowledge building, approaches to knowledge building, knowledge-building behaviors and learning outcomes. A total of 48 primary school students (from grades 3 and 4) who had experienced knowledge-building activities participated in the present study. After…

Students in the United States continue to struggle with fraction mastery despite the fact that understanding fractions is essential for further progress in mathematics (NAEP, 2008). This research project investigated the potential of using high-press mathematical discourse (Kazemi & Stipek, 2008) to investigate fourth graders' emerging…

This study has two primary objectives. The first one is preparation of an efficient review book including a series of activities, which will help fourth grade students exercise what they learned in the elementary science course in a year. The second objective is examination of the prepared book in the framework of student and teacher opinions. In…

The public school system in the United States is facing severe criticism. There exists today, a constant stream of negative messages through media coverage, news articles and charter school marketing campaigns claiming the failing of the public school system specifically in the content area of mathematics. Current research exposes alarming…

Victimization resulting from bullying affects millions of school children worldwide each year (e.g. Nansel et al., 2001; Sapouna, 2008; Smokowski & Kopasz, 2005). These children face the fear and humiliation of verbal, physical, and relational aggression and as a result, often suffer psychological ill effects (e.g. Kochenderfer-Ladd, & Skinner,…

In order to unify two major theories of moral judgment, a novel task is employed which combines elements of Kohlberg's stage theory and of the theory of information integration. In contrast to the format of Kohlberg's moral judgment interview, a nonverbal and quantitative response which makes low demands on verbal facility was used. Moral…

This research described the retrospective formation of identity and manifestation of responsibility of four African-American female leaders who served as urban school principals. Cross (1971, 1991) determined that African-Americans undergo a four step process of identity development that he coined Nigrescence. Within these four stages of identity…

This report describes efforts by five states (Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) to improve adolescent literacy. Highlighting common challenges and lessons, the report examines how each state has engaged key stakeholders, set rigorous goals and standards, aligned resources to support adolescent literacy goals, built…

This study examined the writing development of English language learners (ELLs) in a fourth-grade bilingual classroom in Northern California. The purpose of this study was to explore the linguistic and cultural resources the students used to inform their writing and determine to what extent, if any, these resources influenced their writing. The…

Using a qualitative approach, this study investigated how the use of GIS technology affected fourth graders' geography learning and understanding of place. For this study, a GIS module was developed and implemented. The data gathering included transcripts from video and audio recordings of classroom instructions, interviews with the students and…

There is a very limited body of research on how teachers use materials from local history sites in their teaching. This paper reports on a descriptive study that progressed in two phases. In phase one, we surveyed all fourth grade teachers in one county's public schools regarding their use of curriculum materials provided by local history sites,…

Background/Context: Technological and economic changes have put a high premium on developing students' information literacy and research skills. Previous attempts to deploy educational technology toward these ends have proved disappointing because K-12 teachers have difficulty integrating shared computers into instruction. In response, numerous…