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Arts integration in science has benefits of increasing student engagement and understanding. Lessons focusing on form and function of animal skulls provide an effective example of how handicrafts integrated with science instruction motivate students and support learning. The study involved students ages 9-12 during a week-long summer day camp. Students applied animal skull concepts of eye positions of predators and prey, relative eye sizes of nocturnal animals compared to tunnel-dwellers, shapes and functions of different types of teeth, and terminology and functions of different bones, openings, and structures of animal skulls in making moveable book pages. These pages featured pop-up constructions, a lift-the-flap page, and a turning wheel behind cutout windows in a page to convey the skull concepts. Additional creativity was incorporated through making a three-dimensional cover related to the Mexican Day of the Dead with skulls made from pieces of recycled plastic bottles, drawing figural-transformations, and creating animal skull models from household or discarded materials. The lessons included classification of images of skull features on cards and examination of realistic animal skull models. Pretest-posttest science content results indicated large gains with a very large effect size; attitude surveys and student work showed high motivation and creativity.

This rich, arts- and spatial-thinking-integrated project examined the effects of making three-dimensional dioramas of traditional African cultures on Black fifth graders at an urban school on students' racial identities, knowledge of cultural universals, and spatial thinking skills. Pretest and posttest attitudes measured with the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity--Teen evidenced an increase in sense of belonging to other Black people. Students learned social studies content and recognized many cultural universals, allowing them to feel connected to the African groups. Student essays showed admiration for African cultures, connections through similar foods, and links through appreciation of animals.

This experimental study compared concept acquisition and enjoyment of learning about perfectionism under two conditions: bibliotherapy (control) and analysis and construction of cartoons (experimental) in first, second and third grade students (N = 46). Posttest results showed students learned significantly more content in the experimental condition with a medium effect size. Students were more engaged in the cartoon condition, appreciating the humor and opportunity to be creative. Most students reported liking the bibliotherapy but some complained of boredom. The authors recommend that both bibliotherapy and cartoon analysis be used in lessons about perfectionism to maintain student interest and comprehension of concepts.

New tactile curriculum materials for teaching Earth and planetary science lessons on rotation=revolution, silhouettes of objects from different views, contour maps, impact craters, asteroids, and topographic features of Mars to 11 elementary and middle school students with sight impairments at a week-long residential summer camp are presented along with tips for constructing=obtaining the materials. Many of the lessons focused on spatial skills, an important skill area for persons with visual impairments. The pretest-intervention-post-test design study measured both attitude changes and gains in content knowledge. Students reported significant improvements (with large effect sizes) in the frequency of science lessons, the concrete nature of science lessons, the enjoyment these lessons produced, and the amount of participation in the lessons at the summer camp for students with visual disabilities compared to students' regular schools. Students generally showed a lack of knowledge of lesson topics on the pretest; on the post-test, most students were able to articulate basic facts about contour maps, impact crater formation, volcanic rocks, and features of Mars. The materials are recommended for use with sighted students as well as those with visual impairments because of their concrete, tactile nature.

Curriculum materials designed to provide students with practice interpreting plotted evidence of global climate change were developed using graphs from the scientific literature and tested with one hundred urban high school students from a high-poverty school in a major northern city in the US. The graph interpretation lessons followed a constructivist-teaching learning cycle format. Additional activities included watching videos related to climate change and completing a graphing exercise. Students displayed motivation during the lessons along with significant improvement from pretest to posttest in graph interpretation skills and content knowledge of organisms affected by climate change. Student motivation was revealed by task commitment during the exercises as well as requests for additional activities related to investigating environmental effects on organisms and stopping global climate change. The efficacy of the lessons is attributed to the concrete, manipulative nature of the graph interpretation sets, real-world connections of the topic, the focus on interesting organisms, the opportunity for students to express their views, and the use of multi-media.

This article describes the positive impact of Montessori manipulative materials on four seventh grade students who qualified for academic intervention services because of previous low state test scores in mathematics. This mathematics technique for teaching multi-digit multiplication uses a placemat-sized quilt with different color-coded squares for place value, color-coded bead bars for representing digits, and small numeral tiles in a procedure related to lattice multiplication. The article presents a brief introduction to the Montessori approach to learning, an overview of Montessori mathematics, and an explanation of the Checkerboard for Multiplication with related multiplication manipulatives. Pretest/posttest results of the four students indicated that all increased their understandings of multiplication. The results of an attitude survey showed students improved in enjoyment, perceived knowledge, and confidence in solving multiplication problems. (Contains 19 figures and 5 tables.)

This article explains how to teach long division using hands-on materials (skittles, base ten blocks, colored counters, numeral cards) and investigates reviewing division word problems with middle school students (N=27) with learning disabilities in mathematics by this approach compared to spending the same amount of time on the typical practices of computerized drill and paper/pencil work. Student performance related to division was assessed by an identical pretest/posttest. Both groups participated in ten thirty-minute lessons during which the experimental group used place value color-coded numeral cards, counters and skittles, and the control group reviewed division with computerized practice and worksheet activities. A significant difference was found between the average gain scores of the two groups, favoring the experimental (17.1% versus 4.5%). The experimental group scored as well or better than the control group on all test sections. (Contains 15 figures and 3 tables.)

Educators seek to develop students' mathematical knowledge retention to increase student efficacy in follow-on classwork, improvement of test scores, attainment of standards, and preparation for careers. Interactive visuals, feedback during problem solving, and incorporation of higher-order thinking skills are known to increase retention, but a comparison of online and face-to-face learning regarding knowledge retention has not been fully explored. The current study tested 38 Caucasian eighth grade students for knowledge retention on ten mathematical topics they had learned in sixth grade during either online or faceto-face conditions. After two years, students were given the same posttest as in 6th grade over the 10 units of which five had been learned online and five face-to-face. Scores for long-term gain scores showed no significant differences between online or face-to-face learning conditions. A TOST calculation was used to show equivalence of middle school student long-term learning across online and face-to-face conditions in mathematics in this study within the limits of the test. The interactive nature of each condition contributed to strong mathematical understanding, which led to the retention being equivalent for both conditions.

Industry and authors of 21st Century Skill Frameworks are calling for student proficiency in creativity, problem-solving, innovation, collaboration, and communication skills. This project involved 13 fifth grade gifted students in inventing products for a specified audience with a set of given materials, time limit, and topic constraints. The complex, challenging project supports Next Generation Science Engineering Process Standard 3-5-ETS1-2 and applies concepts of plant and animal adaptations. The study had a counterbalanced, repeated measures design in which student made an initial invention during the pretest, then participated in two trials with one in the control condition and the other in the experimental condition. The experimental condition involved creative articulation strategies of considering the audience for the invention, effective communication of the ways the product meets audience needs, and peer collaboration and feedback to improve the product ideas. Students found the invention process initially very challenging, especially generating unique ideas. No statistically significant differences were found in product creativity or student attitudes, which were very positive, between the two conditions of the experiment, likely because of the small sample size. Analysis of student advertisements revealed a statistically significant difference favoring the experimental condition with a medium effect size for including reasons the product meets audience needs in the advertisement. Examples of student-made products and teacher analysis of selected products provide ideas for coaching students into higher creative skill levels. Additionally, statistically significant gains in creativity skill occurred from the pretest to the invention of the product during the first trial and this was maintained into the second trial with large effect size. This study showed that multiple invention opportunities allowed students to develop their skills better than a single activity. The challenging, complex activities helped students achieve a state of flow as they worked during the experiment and helped students develop their creativity.

Recently-adopted standards call for more emphasis on writing in early elementary grades. Rubrics may assist students in attending to important characteristics of effective writing, but research data on their use in early childhood is lacking. This study explores the effects of rubric use on writing instruction of opinion paragraphs for 20 first grade students (9 female, 11 male; 11 Black, 4 White, 4 Hispanic, 1 Asian; 8 English Language Learners) and 12 second grade students (7 male, 5 female; 6 Black, 2 Hispanic, 2 Middle Eastern, 1 Asian, 1 White; 0 English Language Learners) from a low socio-economic Midwestern United States elementary school that was designated a School in Need of Assistance. The stratified-grouped, counterbalanced pretest-midpoint test-posttest study determined if providing a rubric and instructing students on how to use it, in addition to teaching writing mini-lessons regarding specific areas of the rubric, would improve student writing scores compared to the mini lessons alone. Also, data were collected on student attitudes throughout the study. The results indicated that providing instruction on the skills outlined by the rubric, paired with student access to the rubric, improved student writing scores with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.92). Although student attitude ratings did not show a significant difference between conditions, student-supplied reasons for those ratings indicated that initial use of a rubric promoted later positive attitudes toward writing and higher self-efficacy while using the rubric. The authors recommend rubric use in writing to assist students in remembering and self-monitoring important components of writing.

An authentic, challenging curriculum engaged middle school students from an urban district in exploratory work related to restoring a small prairie at the school. Integrated science-literacy-arts activities were coupled with a system of thinking skills that helped students view issues from different perspectives. Impassioned guest speakers and an enthusiastic teacher inspired students to build a relationship with the content, express their ideas creatively, interact with each other on student-designed projects, and to assume a leadership stance. Middle school students of all academic levels would benefit from teachers implementing similar subject-integrated, real-world-connected work in their classrooms.

Science inquiry has been found to be effective with students from diverse backgrounds and varied academic abilities. This study compared student learning, enjoyment, motivation, perceived understanding, and creativity during a science unit on Models and Designs for 38 sixth grade students (20 male, 18 female; 1 Black, 1 Hispanic and 36 White). The unit began with a very teacher-centered approach, then became increasingly student-centered, employing more inquiry with each lesson set to determine the effects of student-centered instruction on performance and attitudes. Pretest-posttest data with specific questions tied to each lesson set were collected, as well as repeated measures attitude surveys administered at the conclusion of each of the six sets of lessons. The surveys included ratings of lesson enjoyment, student motivation, perceived understanding, creativity designed into the lesson, and perceived self-creativity on a scale of one to ten, along with open ended responses of reasons for the ratings. Results indicate a trend of improving knowledge retention as student-centeredness and inquiry increased until the last lesson set, which a few students found too challenging. Additionally, reported levels of enjoyment, motivation, and creativity increased as the instructional approaches became more studentcentered until the challenge became too great for some students, causing a small dip in the upward trend. Greater experience with science inquiry may assist students in extending their confidence, inquiry leadership, and achievement.

This study examined the self-efficacy in science, art, dance, and music; attitudes concerning contributions of people of various ethnic/cultural groups; and science learning of students involved in an after-school arts-integrated science enrichment project. Students dramatized three traditional animal legends from African, Native American, and Mexican cultures to drum beats while wearing student-made papier-mâché helmet crest masks of the animal characters. They learned the structure and functions of the featured animals through slide shows, embedded explanations in the play scripts, and hands-on form and function analogy materials that related the form and function of animal body parts to manufactured items. Although at least 40 students participated at times in the after-school program, matching pretest and posttest data were only available for 13 students. Results showed positive changes in students' art self-efficacy with a medium effect size, improvements in knowledge of animal form and function with a large effect size, and a trend toward greater appreciation of the cultural contributions of different ethnic groups. Photographs of student-made masks and the animal legend scripts with added form-and-function content are provided.

The cause of day and night is a difficult concept to master without concrete foundational skills of understanding shadows, rotation, changing point of view, and relative positions of objects in the sky. This pretest-posttest experimental-control group study examined student learning in a science-literacy-spatial skills integrated unit with concrete, kinesthetic, and model-making experiences compared to a typical commercial curriculum formerly used at the school. The 23 2nd graders in the experimental group from a low socio-economic district in Iowa were matched to 23 2nd graders in other classrooms at the same school on pretest scores to form the control group. Although both groups gained knowledge from pretest to posttest, the experimental group evidenced a very large effect size overall compared to a medium effect size for the control group. Differences between groups on posttest scores favored the experimental group with a very large effect size. The integrated lessons, greeted with enthusiasm, included experimenting with flashlights, reading relevant books, photographing shadows and making books with written explanations, participating in kinesthetic rotation activities, developing new time of day vocabulary, creating books with movable pages, composing play scripts about diverse space or time-related scientists, making shadow puppets, and presenting the shadow plays.

Research into identification of gifted early childhood students of minority groups through classroom activities is lacking. A focus in the United States on students with learning challenges and a lack of awareness of educators concerning the needs of early childhood gifted students are important causes of this situation. The current case study investigated whether African American students not identified through standard achievement scores might be recognized as gifted through performance during and after a special enrichment project. Eight (four female, four male; five White, three African American) identified or potentially gifted first/second grade students from a multi-age, mixed ability, diverse classroom at an elementary school in Iowa, participated in a 12-week enrichment program to develop leadership through curriculum material making and peer teaching. School and university personnel collaborated to meet school needs: supplying challenging activities to high achievers, offering the opportunity for leadership through peer-teaching, and providing alternate means (leadership, creativity) of potentially identifying typically-achieving minority students as gifted. A pre-post class sociogram was administered to all students in the broader class (11 female 8 male). The teacher observed evidence that all participating students gained confidence and leadership skills; two of the three African American students were identified as gifted through their leadership, creativity, and academic performance during the project. Curriculum materials-making projects with integrated thinking skills like those in the current study were enriching for all participants in the current study, including classmates who were peer-taught; similar enrichment activities are recommended for primary grade students.

The current emphasis on computer technology integration and narrowing of the curriculum has displaced arts and crafts. However, the hands-on, concrete nature of craft work in science modeling enables students to understand difficult concepts and to be engaged and motivated while learning spatial, logical, and sequential thinking skills. Analogy use is also helpful in understanding unfamiliar, complex science concepts. This study of 28 academically advanced elementary to middle-school students examined student work and perceptions during a science unit focused on four fossil organisms: crinoid, brachiopod, horn coral and trilobite. The study compared: (1) analogy-focused instruction to independent Internet research and (2) computer technology-rich products to crafts-based products. Findings indicate student products were more creative after analogy-based instruction and when made using technology. However, students expressed a strong desire to engage in additional craft work after making craft products and enjoyed making crafts more after analogy-focused instruction. Additionally, more science content was found in the craft products than the technology-rich products. Students expressed a particular liking for two of the fossil organisms because they had been modeled with crafts. The authors recommend that room should be retained for crafts in the science curriculum to model science concepts.

Word play is an important skill allowing product names, show titles, jokes, poetry and other writings or orations to be interesting, entertaining and well-remembered. This pretest--posttest counterbalanced study compared two instructional approaches for teaching second and third grade students (n = 71) word play skills. Students at a public elementary school in Iowa, United States studied vowel patterns and rhyming as part of the regular school curriculum for literacy through two conditions: a traditional format of reading, pocket charts, worksheets and oral discussion; versus a more concrete approach of arranging objects and corresponding word cards in a chart-like formation. There was no significant difference in student performance between the conditions but an attitude survey indicated that a large majority of students preferred the object boxes for understanding of word play concepts and task enjoyment.

Online education is increasing in popularity at the college and high school levels with several studies showing the comparability of e-learning and more traditional methods. Middle school students' ability to function well with this mode of instruction has not been established in the literature, although the circumstances of Generation Z growing up with technology suggest potential success. This counterbalanced, repeated measures study provides empirical evidence of the academic efficacy of online instruction for middle school students learning mathematical concepts. Forty-six Caucasian sixth graders (24m, 22f) in two mixed-ability classes participated in the quasi-experimental study in which they switched between online laptop learning in a supervised classroom with electronic communication only and traditional face-to-face learning for ten different mathematics topics. Academic performance was evaluated by pretests-posttests. All classes were taught by the same instructor with the same/similar practice problems, exercises, assignments, and manipulatives adapted for the environment. Gain scores (except for perimeter) and posttest scores showed no statistically significant differences between the two conditions; TOST (two one-sided t-tests) calculations indicated that gain score and posttest performance was equivalent for the two conditions, showing that middle school students can indeed learn online. Additional studies with more participants or greater diversity are needed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Today's children are often separated from the natural world, developing fear and aversion to wild creatures. This humane education program used curriculum-blended science lessons that focused on eight generally disliked animals: bat, skunk, snake, mouse, spider, centipede, cockroach, and mosquito. First and second grade students participated in 6 weekly hour-long lessons that introduced appealing images of the creatures, facts, and poems that presented their lifestyles. Students practiced fine motor skills by making a craft version of each animal. Literacy skills were addressed by analyzing the poems and writing a script for a puppet play that told why humans don't like the animal and how these characteristics or behaviors help the animal survive in the environment. This pretest-intervention-posttest quasi-experimental study had 26 students (16 f, 10 m) in the experimental group and 16 (11 f, 5 m) in the control group. Students rated their liking for the eight targeted animals and four other animals not discussed in the intervention (dog, cat, goldfish, butterfly) on the pretest and posttest. Results showed significant differences for the experimental group for all animals considered together and for the targeted animals as a group. The control group did not exhibit these differences. The results indicate that lessons focusing on ecology and animal lifestyles help improve students' caring for animals.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, important in today's world, are underrepresented by students with disabilities. Students with visual impairments, although cognitively similar to sighted peers, face challenges as STEM subjects are often taught using visuals. They need alternative forms of access such as enlarged or audio-converted text, tactile graphics, and involvement in hands-on science. This project focused on increasing teacher awareness of and providing funds for the purchase of supplemental adaptive resources, supplies, and equipment. We examined attitude and instructional changes across the year of the programme in 15 science and mathematics teachers educating students with visual impairments. Positive changes were noted from pretest to posttest in student and teacher perspectives, and in teacher attitudes towards students with disabilities in STEM classes. Teachers also provided insights into their challenges and successes through a reflective narrative. Several adolescent students resisted accommodations to avoid appearing conspicuous to peers. Teachers implemented three strategies to address this: providing the adaptations to all students in the class; convincing the student of the need for adaptation; and involving the class in understanding and accepting the student's impairment. A variety of teacher-created adaptations for various science and mathematics labs are reported. Another finding was many adaptations provided for the student with visual impairment benefitted the entire class. This study supports the claim that given knowledgeable, supportive teachers, and with appropriate accommodations such as tactile or auditory materials, students with visual impairments can be as successful and engaged as other students in science and mathematics. (Contains 11 tables.)

This study examined the use of form and function analogy object boxes to teach second graders (n = 21) animal adaptations. The study used a pretest-posttest design to examine animal adaptation content learned through focused analogy activities as compared with reading and Internet searches for information about adaptations of animals followed by making an informative puppet play. Students participated in six week-long lesson sets, each addressing adaptations of two animals, which alternated between the two conditions. In the analogy condition, students matched cards explaining form and function analogies of animal body parts or homes to analogous manufactured items. They mapped analogies, thought of alternate manufactured items, and created new analogies. Students scored similarly on material to be taught through both conditions on the pretest, but made significantly higher posttest mean scores (76.1% analogy versus 57.2% traditional condition) with large effect size (partial [eta][superscript 2] = 0.58) on animal adaptation content learned through the analogy activities. This study shows the usefulness of form and function analogies in teaching product innovations to second-grade students, indicating that early childhood students are able to successfully engage in sophisticated analogy activities. Efficacy of the analogy activities was related to objects that focused attention, motivated, and gave concrete representations of concepts; to cards and graphic organizers for organization, connections, and memory; and to complex thinking activities that challenged students and promoted peer interaction. (Contains 8 tables and 3 figures.)

This study explored the effect of fine motor skill activities on the development of attention in kindergarteners (n = 68) in five classes at a suburban public school in the Intermountain West through a pretest/posttest experimental group (n = 36) control group (n = 32) design. All children received the regular curriculum which included typical fine motor activities such as painting, coloring, writing, and play activities with small items. The treatment was a series of supplemental fine motor activities in which children used tongs, tweezers, and spoons to move small items. The assessment was the attention subtest of the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) (Naglieri, J. A., & Das, J. P. (1997a). Cognitive assessment system. Itasca, IL: Riverside). A significant group x sex interaction with females positively responding to the treatment was found, suggesting that fine motor skill activities are effective in increasing female kindergartners' attention. Further studies exploring effective materials for males and factors such as student choice and interest are needed.

A new method of analyzing mathematics attitudes through symbolic drawings, situated within the field of Jungian-oriented analytical psychology, was applied to 52 preservice elementary teachers before and after a mathematics methods course. In this triangulation mixed methods design study, pretest images related to past mathematics experiences drawn by prospective teachers were 63.2% negative in tone, and listed associated emotions were 60.4% negative; on the posttest these changed significantly to 72.1% positive images, with 70.5% positive associated emotions. The qualitative analysis of images and preservice teacher interpretations of them indicate that mathematics anxiety decreased and motivation changed from extrinsic to intrinsic as a result of the course. Pretest images and interpretations focused primarily on grades, unhappiness, time and pressure, struggle, and lack of success. Posttest images and interpretations revealed (a) greater understanding of mathematical concepts through use of concrete materials; (b) greater engagement in mathematics through interesting activities and discourse with peers; and (c) a sense of accomplishment from teaching practicum lessons. Because the drawing exercise helped students connect with their previously unconscious images of mathematics, thereby helping to shift the mathematics anxiety complex toward a more positive affective state, it is recommended that these activities be part of mathematics methods courses. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.)

This study compares the use of form and function analogy object boxes to more traditional lecture and worksheet instruction during a 10th-grade unit on human body systems. The study was conducted with two classes (N = 32) of mixed ability students at a high-needs rural high school in central New York State. The study used a pretest/posttest design, in which the two classes alternated between conditions for the four systems (skeletal, digestive, immune, nervous). Both conditions involved students in quality instruction addressing the same concepts for the same amount of time. Additionally, all students participated in hands-on labs. The experimental condition presented students with a set of objects analogous in form and function to parts of a human body system. Students matched objects with cards describing body system parts, mapped the analogies on a chart, generated alternative objects that could be used for the analogy, and finally, created new analogies for other body system parts. Students made significantly higher posttest and gain scores on material learned in the experimental condition, with a mean gain score average of 12.4 points out of 25, compared to 6.2 points in the control condition. Cohen's Effect Size was large, 1.36.