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This paper discusses the relevance of using physical situations to introduce the concept of angles at elementary school. We compare the effectiveness of two geometry teaching sequences. In the first one (physical sequence), the pupils learned the angle concept by experimenting on the playground (i.e. mesospace) and then modelling the situation. In the second one (paper-and-pencil sequence), the pupils worked solely in the space of a sheet of paper (i.e. microspace). In both sequences, pupils compared areas of space delineated by an angle between two directions. Pupils in two Grade 3 classes were exposed to one of the two teaching sequences. The unfolding of these sequences was videotaped and analyzed, and the pupils were tested individually, before and after teaching, to measure each sequence's effectiveness. Results showed that both sequences are effective to grasp the angle concept: Most pupils overcame the common erroneous conception of comparing angles' sides' lengths instead of angle openness. The comparison of areas of space delineated by an angle between two infinite directions, which is the two sequences' common core, seems to be the key factor underlying angle conceptualization. This paper ends with a discussion of these results' teaching implications and the merits of each sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adult-centric concept of 'age-appropriateness' is an arbitrary signifier and yet it commands a powerful common-sense appeal in governing the shape of sexuality education. The visibility of LGBTQ+ lives in primary schools is deeply impacted by the cis-heteronormative ways in which age-appropriateness is commonly understood and mobilised; very often resulting in silence and delay. The concept of age-appropriateness also becomes entangled with moral panics about 'promoting' LGBTQ+ lives, or children being somehow 'recruited' to identify as LGBTQ+. This paper draws on findings from a study with the parents of eleven trans and gender diverse children (then aged between 5 and 13) conducted in 2017, as well as a follow-up study conducted with seven participants from the same group of parents and children in 2022. The paper explores how the politics of age and agency intersect and become intensified as trans and gender diverse children and their parents navigate and make decisions about their bodies, lives and everyday worlds in primary schools. These stories of trans and gender diverse children provide an arresting invitation to adults to attend closely to the rich stories of children themselves in (re)considering the potential of sexuality education across contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the growing integration of technology in education, the adoption of blended learning (b‐learning) has gained attention. B‐learning combines traditional classroom teaching with online components, holding potential to enhance student outcomes and educational efficiency. Yet, current research predominantly concentrates on higher education institutions in urban areas, creating a void in understanding its impact on K‐12 education, particularly in rural settings. Objectives: This qualitative study aims to propose recommendations for successful implementation of blended learning in rural K‐12 areas by addressing the key stakeholders influencing its adoption and identifying the main factors affecting its success. Methods: We performed a content analysis of grey literature documents detailing the implementation of b‐learning in K‐12 education. Additionally, interviews with crucial stakeholders such as teachers, principals, and experts in rural schools in South America provide insights into the challenges and prospects of b‐learning adoption in these contexts. Results and Conclusions: The study identifies pivotal stakeholders for effective b‐learning implementation, outlining their roles and addressing challenges inherent in rural settings. Recommendations for enhancing b‐learning's implementation in developing countries are also proposed. The research underscores the significance of involving diverse stakeholders such as governmental bodies, school leaders, educators, students, and families to ensure a holistic and efficient approach to blended learning. Lay Description: What is currently known about this topic: Blended Learning Definition and Benefits: Blended learning combines face‐to‐face and online instruction, enhancing student engagement and personalization by providing diverse learning pathways.Growth in K‐12 Implementation: Blended learning gained traction in K‐12 education, boosting academic outcomes, driven by recognition of learner diversity and potential in meeting students' needs.Contextual Challenges: Implementation challenges arise in low‐income households and rural areas, including limited access to technology and internet connectivity, impacting student engagement and success. What does this paper add: Focusing on Rural Dynamics: This study helps to fill a gap by investigating blended learning in rural K‐12 settings, spotlighting key players and success drivers in these unique contexts.Recommendations from Various Sources: By combining interviews and grey literature, this research generates comprehensive, practical recommendations grounded in both empirical insights and real‐world perspectives.Insights into Rural Hurdles: This paper extends the discussion on blended learning by addressing specific rural barriers, proposing family involvement, private sector partnerships for training, and tailored pedagogical strategies. Implications for practice or policy: Leadership and Collaboration: Effective school leadership and collaboration with local governments are pivotal for fruitful blended learning implementation, ensuring defined roles, responsibility, and accountability.Adaptable Curriculum Design: An adaptable, centralized curriculum aligns with recommendations, fostering efficient tracking of student progress and enabling customized learning.Engagement‐Centric Pedagogies: Recommendations spotlight interactive, student‐centered teaching methods, tailored to diverse student needs, nurturing active participation and elevated learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating socioscientific issues (SSI) into education is gaining widespread adoption in classrooms due to its positive impact on student's critical thinking, environmental awareness, holistic knowledge and/or the idea of combining science and mathematics. This paper explores the idea of using comics as appropriate media for elementary school students to engage with SSI content. Because of the difficulties in integrating SSI into classrooms, SSI-based learning is more commonly applied in high school and higher education settings, with limited implementation in earlier education. To answer this gap, we developed comics that have SSI content for elementary schools. Comics are chosen as reliable tools for visualising and simplifying complex concepts and making SSI content more accessible and engaging. This paper describes our comics on earthquake-related issues in Indonesia and the principles that guided its design. SSI inherently involves multiple perspectives, so the integration brings together science, and mathematics within the one comic. In integrating different disciplines of comic content, we utilised the rule-of-five framework, widely employed to merge five representational models (experiential, verbal, numerical, visual, and symbolic) commonly used in developing content combining two or more different academic disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education in solving real-world problems is challenging. To tackle this challenge, a project-based learning approach that integrates robots with cost-effective self-made toys to problem-solving was adopted to assist rural primary school students to apply STEM skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the project-based learning approach which includes lecturing and hands-on activities on primary school students' STEM learning outcomes and attitudes. An experiment was conducted with 25 primary school students who voluntarily participated in a STEM summer-camp programme. Students were asked to assemble a paper house equipped with an IoT control module and LED light switches, and write and edit robot scripts to produce a robot-based storytelling narrative using the paper house they made as a context. The results show that the project-based learning approach was an effective approach for cultivating primary school students' STEM knowledge and skills as evidenced from the post-written test. The relationships between the students' STEM learning outcomes and attitudes were also confirmed by a clustering analysis. Students who had higher learning attitudes also achieved higher STEM learning outcomes; the findings are also supported by the feedback from the open-ended questionnaire items. This study suggests that integrating low-cost self-made toys and robots in project-based learning activities is an effective and practical approach to enhance primary school students' learning outcomes and learning attitudes in STEM education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Support for school-age children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) usually takes place within the school setting. Successful outcomes for children with SLCN rely on effective collaborative working between speech and language therapists (SLTs), school staff and families. We need to understand the current evidence regarding the joint working practices, relationships and collaboration experiences of SLT and teaching staff within mainstream primary schools, in order to identify whether sufficient research exists for a systematic review within this field, and to inform practice. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify what research currently exists regarding collaboration, roles and relationships of SLTs and teaching staff within mainstream UK primary schools, and clarify the nature, participants and concepts described within this literature. A scoping review framework was used, consisting of identification of the review objectives, identification of relevant studies, study selection and iterative searches, data charting and reporting of the results. Information regarding research question, participants, data collection and analysis and terms used for key concepts was extracted. This scoping review identified 14 papers, however, collaboration was the primary focus of only 5 of these. Clarity and perceptions of roles were key themes within six of the papers. Whilst facilitators and barriers to collaboration are discussed in all 14 papers, only 4 studies aimed to investigate barriers and facilitators. Teaching assistant (TA) views are underrepresented within the research. Drawing conclusions from the body of research is challenging due to the varied ways in which the key concept 'collaboration' is used. Currently, there is insufficient literature to carry out a systematic review. This scoping review highlights the need for research that considers collaboration within the complex social network of school staff (including TAs) and SLTs, in order to ensure that future guidance is rooted in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a languaging perspective, this paper considers how kindergarten students and their teacher are relationally and intellectually responsive to one another in authoring conversations by constructing a sense of copresence. Copresence is defined by Goffman (1966) as being "uniquely accessible, available, and subject to one another" (p. 22). In this paper, I make Goffman's construct visible by showing how students and their teacher discursively align with each other. Microethnographic discourse analyses of sharing time events in writing workshop reveal that copresence is performed as playfulness, empathy, and disagreement. Implications include using the construct of copresence to assess the relation between the performance of authoring and the social life of the classroom as well as drawing upon the dialogic, improvisational nature of copresence as a point of pedagogical leverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an in-depth exploration of the historical factors shaping Greek elementary education and the contemporary pedagogical approaches and curriculum implemented in Greek elementary schools. Beginning with a historical analysis, the paper examines influential factors and developments spanning ancient times to the present day, including the legacy of ancient Greek education, Byzantine educational traditions, and modern educational reforms. By synthesizing historical insights with contemporary educational practices, this paper offers a holistic understanding of Greek elementary education. It underscores the enduring influence of historical legacies on present-day educational philosophies and methodologies while highlighting the innovative approaches adopted to meet the needs of modern learners. Ultimately, this comprehensive overview aims to contribute to scholarly discourse and inform ongoing efforts to enhance elementary education in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of education, work discussion groups focus on teachers' emotional experience with their students and offer a safe environment in which professionals can freely interact and explore the dynamics and relationships in their workplace. A psychoanalytic therapist usually leads them. They are considered particularly important for preschool education, as young children provoke intense emotional reactions in adults. Although the effectiveness of work discussion groups in preschools has been positively evaluated, their application is considered financially unaffordable. This paper presents the function of a work discussion peer group in preschool education, that is with a preschool teacher as facilitator. To do so, the facilitator's point of view is presented in this paper in the form of a reflective account. A group consisting of six kindergarten teachers was formed. It met for seven sessions. After each group meeting, the facilitator kept a reflective diary. The topics of the meetings included the facilitator's struggle to be seen as a peer, the group dynamics, the development of the group and the importance of supervision, which are all discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is critical to analyse and evaluate elementary school students' scientific inquiry skills to promote inquiry-based teaching and learning and to develop students' scientific inquiry skills. Compared with the analysis of students' scientific inquiry skills based on paper and pen tests and classroom teaching videos, the direct analysis of primary school students' video works on the scientific inquiry can more intuitively and comprehensively reflect students' actual scientific inquiry ability. Purpose: This study aims to analyse scientific inquiry abilities of students in Chinese elementary school through video works and to reflect students' scientific inquiry abilities authentically and comprehensively by using performance assessment. Sample: 32 high-integrity physics videos on material science topics were further evaluated for analysis. Design and Methods: The study proposed the analytical framework of students' scientific inquiry skills combined with the existing research, and the content analysis of the participating videos was carried out accordingly, which realized the performance assessment of students' scientific inquiry skills. Results: Only 40.59%entries had completed elements of scientific inquiry. The scores for hypothesis making and reflection evaluation were 1.37 and 1.71, which were relatively complex and showed that students' performance was weak. The highest scores for the ability to inquire and the view of scientific inquiry were gotten by the students in grade 4 and no outstanding performance was shown by the students in grade 6. Conclusion: First, the lowest level of scientific inquiry was found in making hypotheses and reflective evaluation performance. Second, students' scientific inquiry skills did't show a dominant correlation with grade, and students' inquiry skills don't necessarily increase naturally with increased knowledge and skills. In addition, the degree of openness to inquiry did not fully characterize students' inquiry skills. Finally, students with a more systematic view of scientific inquiry had relatively higher inquiry skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working with approximations is a common practice in physics. This paper presents an exploratory study of student understanding of some of the elementary aspects of approximations encountered in college physics. For this purpose, a questionnaire (a set of 14 multiple-choice questions) was developed to probe how students dealt with these aspects in a variety of contexts. The questionnaire was finalized after a trial of its pilot version on 7 students on the basis of their written scripts and interviews. After content validation by three external experts, the test was administered to a sample of 141 senior undergraduate physics students from a diverse set of colleges and national institutes. Data analysis reveals several significant student pitfalls in the topic related principally to (i) the identification of a dimensionless ratio to characterize an approximation, (ii) the notion of the order of approximation and consistent handling of a problem up to the required order, and (iii) the notion of the order of infinitesimal in calculus-based derivations. The findings are of direct pedagogic relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a discourse analysis of 12 Swedish sexuality education texts intended for preschool practitioners and published between 1969 and 2021. Using Fairclough's framework, we identify three discourses about children's sexual play in relation to children's sexual agency in the texts: child sexuality as encouraged and entangled with adult sexuality; child sexuality as conditioned by what is perceived as normal or abnormal in children; and child sexuality as repressed. These three discourses mainly appear chronologically, but also overlap and connect with one another. When analysis begins from children's position and a theoretical understanding of children's and adults' agency as interdependent, it becomes possible to see how the child is construed as agentic, and how the adult role changes from encouraging sexual play to regulating and monitoring behaviour so that it does not occur. Over time, discourse on young children's sexual play has changed our understanding of both adults and children. Adults are increasingly construed as less knowledgeable in relation to young children's sexuality, and young children have become understood as more dangerous and in need of having their sexuality constrained and civilised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research attempts to examine the role of 3D printer as a learning tool in inclusive education. It examines the quality of verbal and nonverbal interactions between students with disabilities (SWD) and students without disabilities (SWOD) in an inclusive classroom at primary schools, where 3D printers were used as a learning tool. The results presented in this paper are based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of interactions between 7 SWD and 31 SWOD. Even though both occurred, there was no statistical difference in generation of positive and negative verbal and nonverbal interactions between SWD and SWOD. Both, SWD and SWOD are of the opinion that cooperative learning with implementation of 3D printers contributes to their communication with peers, achieving better and durable knowledge in the subject where this learning approach was applied and they would like to learn in this way in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how non‐Indigenous teachers understand challenges and barriers to academic progress and success for Indigenous students in Taiwan. Drawing on data from a study with 17 teachers of Han Taiwanese and Hakka background who had worked closely with Indigenous students from elementary to high school across Taiwan, we utilise Expectancy‐Value Theory to explore teacher participants’ views of the barriers and challenges to educational success for their Indigenous students. Previous research suggests a deficit view among majority background teachers, depicting them as biased against Indigenous peoples and lacking relevant knowledge that would allow them to teach Indigenous students and about Indigenous cultures and histories. In contrast with this previous research, the teachers we interviewed exhibited a good and nuanced understanding of the obstacles and challenges of Indigenous students, families and communities which prevent their success. The teachers in our study indicated that they lack agency and are limited by structural forces in effecting meaningful change. Far from holding deficit views, the teachers interviewed pointed to the importance of working together with Indigenous families and communities to support the learning of Indigenous students. In our conclusion we point to ways of capitalising on the non‐deficit positive views captured here to effect long‐term sustainable change to support teachers to, in turn, support the learning of Indigenous students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 24 May 2022, a gunman entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and fatally shot 19 victims. During the incident, local police were present at the site but did not enter the building to confront the gunman. It was subsequently reported that an Incident Commander mischaracterised the situation as a 'barricaded subject' rather than as an 'active shooter', and officers were ordered to stay out of the scene and to keep student families and bystanders from entering the building. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Incident Commanders, Critical Incident Commanders, Emergency Planners, and Tactical and Public Order Unit personnel, our research seeks to better understand the influence of various stressors on decision-making in high-risk, high-profile events. This paper presents an analysis of these interviews that considers four important questions: 1. Who becomes an IC? 2. What is the function of an IC during a major, critical, and public order incident? 3. What factors influence IC decision-making? and 4. What are the sources of stress involved in IC decision-making and work? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In conjunction with written literacy both research and the international comparative studies PISA and IGLU focus in particular on difficulties with reading comprehension, while spelling is treated rather marginally. In particular, little research has been published in German-speaking countries on the specific difficulties of children with spelling difficulties and potential influencing factors. Aims: On the one hand, the paper aims to provide information about the spelling phenomena with which students with special educational needs have the greatest difficulties at the end of elementary school. On the other hand, it should make clear which (meta-)linguistic-cognitive functions have the strongest influence on spelling performance. Methods: N=253 students were assessed in terms of their spelling performance, reading skills, phonological information processing (phonological awareness, naming speed, working memory), processing speed and cognitive abilities. In order to be able to make a statement about the spelling difficulties of the participating students, the orthographic skills were qualitatively evaluated in a differentiated manner. The influence of (meta-)linguistic-cognitive functions was determined using correlation and regression analyses. Results: Participating students have particular difficulties with the spelling of the /s/- or /z/-phoneme and prefixes as well as the use of the umlauts <ä> or <äu> and double consonance at morpheme boundaries at the end of primary school. However, errors can still be identified which indicate that the phonological principle has not yet been fully mastered. The strongest influence on spelling performance was demonstrated for phonological awareness. Conclusions With regard to the acquisition of correct spelling, the promotion of phonological awareness should not be neglected for students with special educational needs, even at the end of primary school. Morpheme-based approaches are suitable for dealing with specific spelling difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) impacts various aspects of children's language abilities, including the processing of inflectional morphology. Prior research suggests that children with DLD exhibit deficits in processing speed and sensitivity to grammatical inflections, yet the relationship between these deficits remains unclear. Aims: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between processing speed and sensitivity to inflectional morphology in children with DLD, focusing on their real‐time processing abilities in response to regular past tense, third person singular, and regular plural inflections at different rates of sentence articulation. Method: Eighteen children with DLD and 18 age‐matched controls underwent word monitoring tasks that assessed sensitivity to grammaticality of inflections in sentences presented at normal and slow rates of articulation. Results: At a normal rate of articulation, children with DLD demonstrated slower response times and reduced sensitivity to grammaticality across all inflections compared to controls. When the articulation rate was slowed, children with DLD showed improved sensitivity, particularly to regular plural and third person singular inflections, although deficits in processing the regular past tense persisted. Conclusions: The findings suggest a significant relationship between processing speed and inflectional morphology sensitivity in children with DLD. Slower articulation rates improved grammatical sensitivity for certain inflections, highlighting the potential of tailored interventions that consider processing speed limitations. Persistent difficulties with the regular past tense inflection indicate the need for targeted support for children with DLD in this area. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject: Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have a wide range of language difficulties, but deficits in inflectional morphology are regarded as a 'hallmark' of the disorder. Children with DLD are also very likely to show deficits in speed of processing, although it is not known if a 'slowness to process' can causally explain the language difficulties these children experience. What this study adds to existing knowledge: When grammatical sensitivity was measured using an online real‐time task, children with DLD showed widespread inflectional deficits when sentences were spoken at a normal conversational rate. When sentence articulation rate was slowed down, children with DLD were faster, more accurate and more sensitive to the grammaticality of constructions. However, deficits in the regular past tense remained persistent, even in this slow‐rate condition. What are the clinical implications of this work?: This study has implications for clinical and educational practices that work with children with DLD to improve their language skills. The findings of this study show that when children with DLD are given more time to process incoming information, their grammatical skills significantly improve. This study also shows that deficits in the regular past tense are persistent, and children are likely need extensive and intensive support with this particular grammatical feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At least 16 states have limited exclusionary discipline for elementary age students, but little is known about the effects of these policies on discipline rates and disproportionality. This paper tests whether a limit on exclusionary discipline in grades K-5 in Arkansas impacted the likelihood of suspension and expulsion overall, for different student subgroups, and in different types of schools. Using a comparative interrupted time series approach, we find the policy—which included exceptions that could be interpreted subjectively—reduced the risk of suspension or expulsion in grades K-5, but that students who are not Black, students without disabilities, and more economically advantaged students experienced larger reductions in suspension and expulsion risk. Implications and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a literature review on relationships and sexuality education for primary (elementary) school programme effectiveness. Using a theory-generating approach informed by realist evaluation, the review takes a deep dive into the literature to identify contexts, mechanisms and outcomes likely to influence the effectiveness of programmes. This paper will be of interest to researchers, evaluators, RSE programme designers and practitioners as findings provide a catalogue of factors (variables) that can be considered for application in future programme evaluations and for inclusion in programme logic models. It identifies areas of opportunity to incorporate children's voices into research and points to the need for longitudinal studies to address the context- and time-sensitive nature of relationships and sexuality education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labeling of gifted pupils can negatively affect the life path of gifted individuals. The study explores whether and how a teacher can label gifted pupils when applying educational strategies based on internal differentiation. We focused on formally identified intellectually gifted pupils (age 7–12) educated in (mainstream) elementary schools in the Czech Republic (Central Europe). Qualitative data were collected through classroom observations and teacher interviews. We observed 24 gifted pupils and 15 teachers from 12 schools. We identified five main types of educational strategies leading to inappropriate labeling, such as Tasks for Quick‐witted, Challenges, Boffins Goes to Competition, Teacher's Assistant, and Individual Projects. The "inappropriateness" of these strategies consisted of the significant preference and presentation of gifted pupils, in the useless and overused selection of gifted pupils, and the rigidity of the applied strategies. The paper seeks to highlight the existence of a paradoxical phenomenon whereby, when teachers are maximally interested in promoting giftedness, the stagnation of gifted pupils and other pupils in the class occurs. The study concludes with recommendations for eliminating inappropriate labeling of gifted pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) are multimodal communicators. However, in classroom interactions involving children and staff, achieving mutual understanding and accomplishing task-oriented goals by attending to the child's unaided AAC can be challenging. This study draws on excerpts of video recordings of interactions in a classroom for 6–9-year-old children who used AAC to explore how three child participants used the range of multimodal resources available to them – vocal, movement-based, and gestural, technological, temporal – to shape (and to some degree, co-control) classroom interactions. Our research was concerned with examining achievements and problems in establishing a sense of common ground and the realization of child agency. Through detailed multimodal analysis, this paper renders visible different types of practices rejecting a request for clarification, drawing new parties into a conversation, disrupting whole-class teacher talk-through which the children in the study voiced themselves in persuasive ways. It concludes by suggesting that multimodal accounts paint a more nuanced picture of children's resourcefulness and conversational asymmetry that highlights children's agency amidst material, semiotic, and institutional constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the learning difficulties in the specific context of the elementary school - final years (6th to 9th grade), especially in public schools. These difficulties result from the new social and didactic organization, the relationship with expert teachers, and new homework's demanded, typical of this period when compared to early years. To mediate these difficulties, we propose the Writing to Learn device whose purpose is to systematically explore the epistemic function of writing. The device would be integrated as a curricular component to the diversified part of the grade curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Study: As interest in programming education continues to grow, more educators are incorporating programming into K‐12 classrooms. There is evidence that programming can help develop essential skills for future societal advancement, known as 21st century skills. However, there has been limited research into which sub‐skills of 21st century skills are fostered through programming and the effect sizes thereof. Objective: This study presented a meta‐analysis to comprehensively understand the influence of programming instruction in K‐12 classrooms on the development of students' 21st century skills in different dimensions of sub‐skills. And further analysed the impact of key elements of programming instruction design on its effectiveness. Methods: A comprehensive meta‐analysis was conducted, covering 74 empirical studies published between 2000 and 2023, involving 136 effect sizes, and moderation analyzes on variables of instructional design. Results: This study indicated that implementing programming instruction in K‐12 schools can help develop students' multiple dimensions of 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, problem‐solving and decision, learning to learn, ICT literacy, and personal and social responsibility. Overall, programming demonstrates a moderate but significant effect on improving 21st century skills (Hedges's g = 0.621, p = 0.000 < 0.01). Furthermore, several best practices were identified to enhance students' 21st century skills, including initiating programming education from kindergarten, limiting the duration of programming interventions to 6 months, adopting interdisciplinary approaches to programming education, utilizing visual programming tools, and selecting appropriate assessment methods. Conclusion: Based on these findings, this study recommended the thoughtful design of programming education to maximize its advantages in various dimensions of 21st century skills. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Currently, 21st century skills have become critical skills that students should have.A popular practice in K‐12 schools is to use programming to develop students' 21st century skills, but results are inconsistent and quantitative synthesis of empirical research is lacking.Some factors of programming instruction may influence the effectiveness of programming on students' 21st century competencies. What this paper adds: A meta‐analysis of 74 studies was conducted to provide systematic evidence that programming has a moderate effect on improving K‐12 students' 21st century skills.Programming significantly improves students' eight sub‐skills in the 21st century.Educational level moderated the impact of programming on students' 21st century skills.Instructional duration moderated the impact of programming on students' 21st century skills. The implications of study findings for practitioners: Programming instruction is designed to be well‐planned and to take full advantage of technology to develop students' 21st century skills.Starting programming instruction at a younger age is more beneficial for students' 21st century skill development.Regarding intervention duration, it is noteworthy that interventions lasting within six months are more effective.Integrate programming across disciplines to promote students' multi‐dimensional 21st century skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy is a crucial part of digital literacy that all individuals should possess in today's technologically advanced world. Despite the potential benefits that AI education offers, little research has been done on how to teach AI literacy to children. Objectives: This study aimed to fill that gap by investigating how children were engaged in AI literacy activities that are supported by intelligent agents. These activities were implemented in a Hong Kong kindergarten with a class of six 5‐year‐olds (Mage = 62.83 months, SD = 2.91) over a 6‐week period. Methods: The study gathered data from multiple sources, including classroom observations, teacher interviews, and documents/artefacts. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that children could learn about AI through interaction with intelligent agents in embodied learning contexts. The findings of this study have implications for the broader field of digital technology education, particularly in the context of early childhood education. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy is essential in today's world.Little research exists on engaging young children in learning AI literacy. What this paper adds: Technology‐enhanced embodied learning approach affords multimodality in enabling young children's learning with AI‐related agents.Project‐based learning and real‐life examples can enhance children's learning. Implications for practice and/or policy: Early exposure to AI can help children navigate the increasingly digital world.Practical approaches, such as embodied and multimodal learning, seem to be effective.Teachers can enhance children's digital learning by using pedagogical strategies like project‐based learning and real‐life examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are conflicting theories about the best ways to support behaviour in schools. This paper captures the perspectives of UK primary school staff regarding the advantages and disadvantages of different behaviour support approaches, in addition to exploring the facilitators and barriers to adopting relational-based approaches. Virtual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 school staff across three mainstream primary schools. A reflexive thematic analysis identified nine themes. Participants commented on the approaches' flexibility, familiarity, positive long-term behaviour change and emotional wellbeing and relationships. Key facilitators to adopting relational-based approaches included: whole-school training and understanding; quality and type of training; and working together and feeling supported. Key barriers included: changing perspectives; ease of implementation and familiarity; scarcity of resources; and persevering in the face of difficulties. Themes are discussed in light of psychological research and implications for educational practitioners and future research are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a crucial intervention because of its long‐term impact on child development. However, information concerning the effectiveness of the ECEC in developing countries like India is sparsely available. This empirical study drew upon primary data collected from India's eastern state, West Bengal and investigated whether attending preschool contributed to children's cognitive and social skill development. The study found that attending preschool did not provide dividends in the form of cognitive and social skill accumulation. Furthermore, attending private preschool was associated with socioemotional development but no cognitive development. Moreover, parents' education seems to be a strong predictor for child's development. Given the findings of this paper, preschools in India, both in the public and private sectors, would need considerable quality improvement to deliver developmentally appropriate ECEC to children. It is particularly relevant in the context of the new National Education Policy in India, which emphasises the need to provide universal access to high‐quality ECCE to all young children across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to examine the effects of the application of online material on the Brønsted-Lowry theory of acids and bases on the active construction of knowledge in first-grade grammar school students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The online material was designed to enable students: a) to learn the teaching material in smaller parts; b) to assess the acquired knowledge after each part of the teaching material; c) to progress through the lesson at their own pace; d) to visualise and interrelate the macroscopic, submicroscopic and symbolic representations of the contents about acids and bases by using a video recording and illustrations; e) to re-examine the accuracy of the given answers. The research sample consisted of 122 first-grade grammar school students, who learnt about the Brønsted-Lowry theory for the first time. The instruments used in this research study were two tests (a pre-test and a post-test), the validity of which was examined by two university professors and two grammar school chemistry teachers. The applied approach enabled the active construction of knowledge in the majority of students, while it provided the teachers with an insight into the progress and outcomes of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although human–robotic interaction is a rapidly burgeoning area of study within education, and social robots are being widely tested for use in schools, few studies have focused on early adolescent interactions with robots under actual classroom conditions. Objectives: We introduced an autonomous, social robot ('Pepper') into a project‐based learning environment at a public elementary/middle school in order to see how long‐term exposure to a robot in a project‐based classroom affected student conceptions of robots. Methods: We conducted unstructured classroom observations, focus‐group interviews with students, and took videos of students interacting with the robot at key points in the project. We engaged in joint coding and memo writing to summarize key themes. Results: Our results showed the limitations of these social robots as interactive educational technology, but also revealed the complexity of young adolescent beliefs about robots as social actors. Although current technology limits the ability of robots to be widely deployed in public‐school classrooms, skillfully designed interventions using social robots have the potential to motivate and engage students. Takeaways: Exposure to the robot stimulated students to discuss robots as social actors, raised issues about gender identification of artificial agents in the classroom, and stimulated discussion on what constitutes a social being. The initial novelty of the humanoid robot enhanced engagement with the longer‐term project and also challenged teachers to be more reflective and flexible in planning the project. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Social robots are increasingly being used in K‐12 classrooms.Robots are still a novelty for students, but technical limitations mean students rapidly lose interest.Some students appear to form emotional bonds with the robots or believe the robots can think and feel.Most of this research has been done under experimental conditions with younger children.We know little about how early adolescents react to robots under normal classroom conditions. What this paper adds: Using social robots in actual classrooms requires teachers to invest considerable time to learn about the technology and solve multiple implementation issues in order to keep up student engagement.The novelty of a social robot can greatly enhance student motivation to engage in long‐term, complex projects.Interacting with social robots stimulates young adolescents to discuss what aspects of the robot make them appear 'social'.Interacting with social robots stimulates young adolescents to consider whether or not robots are truly 'social beings'. Implications for practice and/or policy: The current generation of social robots is not suitable for most public school classrooms.Social robots have potential for project‐based or problem‐based classrooms as they pose complex problems that stimulate young adolescent thinking about social beings and social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anemia is a global public health problem, especially common among children in developing countries, which affects their physical and mental health development. However, there is currently a lack of research on the relationship between anemia and academic performance. The objective of this study was to explore the association between anemia and academic performance, and the possible factors mediating this association among Chinese children. The data for this study came from the baseline survey of the Chinese Education Panel Survey Elementary School Cohort. The cohort was conducted from September 2018 to June 2019 in 160 elementary schools, covering 20 provinces and 40 counties/districts throughout China. Paper-based questionnaires were used, completed by 4th grade students, parents, head teachers, main teachers, and principals. The data used included questionnaire responses, physical measurements, and academic performance of 17,695 students. Based on students' hemoglobin levels and school altitude data, we grouped them into anemia and nonanemia categories using WHO criteria. The anemia group had 1,154 individuals, while the nonanemia group had 16,541 individuals. An ordinary least squares regression and mediation effect analysis were conducted. Our findings found the prevalence of anemia was 6.52% among Chinese Grade 4 students. Students without anemia had a higher average test score for three academic subjects than students with anemia (P < 0.001); their test scores for Chinese, Mathematics, and English were also higher (P < 0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed a negative association between anemia and average test scores as well as individual test scores for the three subjects. Mediation analysis found that anemia affected academic performance directly (P < 0.05), and indirectly by decreasing the cognition score (P < 0.05). The indirect effect was 19.9% of the total effect. Findings highlighted anemia affected academic performance both directly and indirectly. Nutrition-related interventions should be implemented to prevent a decrease in academic performance among students with anemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a feasibility study for an evaluation of a UK primary school‐based prevention programme that addresses multiple forms of abuse and neglect, identifying research design and ethical issues and exploring research practice. For this feasibility study, 194 children aged 6–11 years completed a baseline survey and 113 did so following the intervention. Eight focus groups were undertaken with 52 children and nine interviews with school staff. We highlight key considerations for conducting large‐scale mixed‐method research on sensitive topics with younger children, a focus that is largely absent from the extant research methods literature. The feasibility study showed that younger children can contribute their views on sensitive topics in ways that are measurable, replicable and reliable, contesting ideas that certain topics are too sensitive to explore with younger children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper questions the transformational potential of teaching with digital technologies in elementary school by ethnographically examining the use of telepresence robots – which promise new forms of teaching ‚being there‘ – in terms of how it is carried out: How is teaching performatively processed with students who have a physical presence in the classroom even though they are at home? With the hardware „avatars“ a networked showing is observed, on the basis of which practices are analysed as a distributed network event (whose entanglements have been expanded by digitalisation). At the same time, and in contrast, it becomes visible how an increasingly incompatible instructional order is produced, which, for example, endeavors to demonstratively assign performance attributions and associated agency to single individuals. In the process, the accompanying practices experience an actualisation of meaning in contact with the digital, for example, when the teacher‘s tasks or questions seem to be more about demonstrating knowledge and this is instead used as a vehicle for situationally demonstrative practice or exemplification of the functional order of instruction under more difficult conditions: The contrast between the new and the old is used to emphasise the contours of the traditional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has highlighted the role of functional relationships in introducing elementary school students to algebraic thinking. This functional approach is here considered to study essential components of algebraic thinking such as generalization and its representation, as well as the strategies used by students and their connection with generalization. This paper jointly describes the strategies and representations of generalization used by a group of 33 sixth-year elementary school students, with no former algebraic training, in two generalization tasks involving a functional relationship. The strategies applied by the students differed depending on whether they were working on specific or general cases. To answer questions on near specific cases they resorted to counting or additive operational strategies. As higher values or indeterminate quantities were considered, the strategies diversified. The correspondence strategy was the most used and the common approach when students generalized. Students were able to generalize verbally as well as symbolically and varied their strategies flexibly when changing from specific to general cases, showing a clear preference for a functional approach in the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• k-12 teachers document feedback during formative assessment as professional practice. • inscription practices are key resources for feedback during formal reading assessment. • previously-made inscriptions emerge, unplanned, as situated resources for feedback. • chains of inscriptions help teachers document, diagnose and provide feedback. • inscriptions are produced collaboratively through interaction during assessment. This paper examines the role of writing in sequences of oral feedback during formal formative reading assessment in an elementary school classroom. Previous research indicates that writing-in-interaction is central to the interactional accomplishment of feedback. The limitations of writing-in-interaction research on feedback for the study of formal formative reading assessment lies in its preoccupation with the planned-use of written inscriptions. Without presuming that inscriptions are planned as resources for feedback, the study asks 'what role does inscription play in the accomplishment of feedback during formal formative reading assessment interaction?' Analyzing a single case using ethnomethodologically-inspired conversation analysis, the current study demonstrates how writing done initially to record a student's reading performance emerges later, unplanned, as resource for sequences of diagnostic and instructional interaction. The paper contributes to an understanding of inscription as a practical technology for formative assessment, and demonstrates how the formal assessment of reading performance is interactionally accomplished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks whether the slow process of divesting Indian native schoolteachers of their traditional authority was only about new concepts and representations of education and knowledge. Following the methodological idea of constellations of affordances, emphasising a relational ontology, the article discusses whether changes in the shape and the relations of objects in Indian classrooms together with the arrival of new objects may have played a silent role in the process of erosion of schoolteachers' authority. Based on a wide range of official and missionary sources, but also referring to individual native voices, the article reconstructs more pervasive and subtle transformations of native elementary classrooms, focusing on surfaces for writing and on "books". The article argues that shifts in the materialities of elementary native schooling took place that repositioned old "gurus" in an unfavourable light before the take-off of teacher training institutions would provide for new definitions of their role as schoolmasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]