Emerging evidence attests to the need to intervene in young students' science motivation and achievement before their science motivation starts to dwindle. Heeding this call, we implemented a science utility value intervention for fifth and sixth graders in 23 classrooms (N = 550). Through five intervention sessions that consisted of diverse…

This study's first purpose was to investigate effects of a fourth- and fifth-grade "next-generation" fraction intervention, which included six enhancements over a previously validated fraction intervention, designed to address career- and college-readiness standards. The study's second purpose was to assess effects of the next-generation…

In "Small Teaching K-8," a team of veteran educators bridges the gap between cognitive theory and the K-8 classroom environment, applying the same foundational research found in author James Lang's bestselling "Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning" to the elementary and middle school setting. Via clear…

This study's 1st purpose was to investigate effects of a 4th- and 5th-grade "next-generation" fraction intervention, which included 6 enhancements over a previously validated fraction intervention, designed to address Career- and College-Readiness standards. The next-generation intervention is referred to as "Super Solvers."…

As a growing number of students with learning disabilities (LD) receive science instruction in general education settings, students with LD continue to perform significantly lower than their non-disabled peers. The shift from textbook-driven instruction to inquiry-based approaches to science learning supports students who struggle with reading.…

This article describes the effects of an analysis-of-practice professional development (PD) program on elementary school students' (Grades 4-6) science outcomes. The study design was a cluster-randomized trial with an analysis sample of 77 schools, 144 teachers and 2,823 students. Forty-two schools were randomly assigned to treatment, (88.5 hours)…

Upper elementary school students who have reading problems may have difficulty in one or more areas of reading, each requiring specific types of interventions. This study evaluated a short-term reading intervention for 46 fifth-grade students with poor reading comprehension. Students were randomly assigned to an intervention or no treatment…

Previous research has linked inquiry-based science instruction (i.e., science instruction that engages students in doing science rather than just learning about science) with greater gains in student learning than text-book based methods (Vanosdall, Klentschy, Hedges & Weisbaum, 2007; Banilower, 2007; Ferguson 2009; Bredderman, 1983;…

This program evaluation assessed the utility and efficacy of lead4ward toward facilitating meaningful instructional planning, and improving STAAR reading, English language arts, and math performance of students whose teachers participated in lead4ward professional development. A web-based survey on HISD's HUB yielded responses from 340 educators…

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends 2014, taking place in Porto, Portugal, from 4 to 6 of April. Psychology, in our time, offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and behavioral…

This is an abstract for an action research project report on improving student motivation. Students struggle with motivation to perform well in school. This study was designed to increase student motivation in the classroom setting. The targeted population consisted of one third grade classroom, one fourth grade classroom, and three periods of…