This lesson focuses specifically on teaching concepts of speed and its impact on energy, as well as providing a basic introduction to potential and kinetic energy to fourth-grade students. "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") 4-PS3-1 states that students should be able "to use evidence to construct an explanation…

This paper draws from a broader research project and reports on literacy program supports and instructional strategies in two-way immersion (TWI) classrooms (Grades 3-5) where the partner language is Spanish. The study examined TWI classrooms in which students from multiple demographics were performing at or above the state average on reading…

Explore the impact technology has on mathematical identity and agency when students use mathematical action technology to engage in cycles of proof and support case-based reasoning. This article showcases a mathematics task used in a fourth-grade class that allowed students to develop their conceptual understanding of division. The authors…

Energy concepts are taught in many schools, but children rarely have an opportunity to grapple with energy problems and work on their own solutions. This study explores the impacts of Connect Science, a service-learning (SL) program developed to enhance elementary students' energy literacy in the United States. Program impacts were explored within…

This exploratory study examined the nature of instruction provided in two reading intervention programs designed for elementary-grade students with dyslexia (The Multisensory Teaching Approach and Reading RULES!). In addition to documenting the proportion of time dedicated to particular content components (i.e., letter-name knowledge, phonological…

A team of literacy, science, and theatre educators have been working to engage children in an urban public school system in the United States through embodied performances, where students embody and dramatise science ideas. This study focuses on one fourth-grade classroom when instruction was done remotely due to Covid-19. Children in the class…

For classroom norms to be effective, beginning with a coconstructed, inclusive, and equitable process (Kastberg and Frye 2013) can be helpful. This involves engaging all students in meaningful discussions about the norms and continually reinforcing these understandings throughout the year. However, early in the year, not all students are willing…

The purpose of this study is to share the design, implementation, and evaluation processes regarding an activity implemented for improving the vocabulary of 4th grade students, and to determine the opinions of the students about the activity. The activity serves to the purpose of learning the new words and phrases meaningfully through active…

New content standards in English language arts and literacy, mathematics, and science expect all students, including English learners (ELs), to use multiple modes beyond language. Traditionally, conceptualizations of multimodality in EL education and the content areas have differed considerably. To acknowledge and begin confronting these…

Teachers have the daunting task of preparing students for a future that they cannot predict. In an age of information where students have the world quite literally at their fingertips, and with the ever-growing momentum of integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), it is not enough that students experience STEM subjects…

Evolution by natural selection is key to understanding life and of considerable practical importance in public health, medicine, biotechnology, and agriculture. "The Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) include natural selection among several evolutionary concepts that all third-graders should know. This article explores a novel…

Up until 2020, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scores had increased only slightly since the early 1990s with large achievement gaps for students of color and students living in poverty. Modest gains in fourth grade reading proficiency since 1992 were erased during the pandemic. The insufficient progress in reading even…

Students in Mrs. Wilson's fourth-grade classroom watch in anticipation as the guest teacher, Ms. Davis, demonstrates binary signaling using a lightbulb that flashes when she holds it in her hands. She challenges them to guess what she is trying to "say" while making the lightbulb flash on and off, explaining that the lightbulb stands for…

This article reports on an empirical, social-anthropological study of inclusion/exclusion in Danish public school education. The study sheds light on the downside of a neoliberal education policy that emphasises achievement. In spite of the best intentions of Danish education policy that inclusion and learning achievement should be two equal…

Main idea and summary are essential elements of reading comprehension. We report results from Grades 4 and 5 student performance on two years of state-mandated standardized reading testing which indicate that students perform statistically significantly lower on main idea and summary questions on the tests than any other question category. In this…