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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]

Background: A practical test that measures the information and communication technology (ICT) skills students need for effectively using ICT in primary education has yet to be developed (Oh et al., 2021). This paper reports on the development, validation, and reliability of a test measuring primary school students' ICT skills required for effectively using ICT (the ECC‐ICT test). Objectives: Based on existing literature, three ICT use domains were identified for effectively using ICT: Effective, collaborative, and creativeuse of ICT. For these three domains, 24 corresponding teaching objectives were identified from a widely used digital literacy framework. Thirty‐four test items cover these teaching objectives in an online test. Methods: A mixed‐method approach was used for the ECC‐ICT test. Four pilot rounds (n=25) implemented qualitative interviews for cognitive validity and refining the test items, followed by a qualitative usability study(n=6). Confirmatory factor analysis and ANOVA provided quantitative insight into the large‐scale test administration(n=575). Results and Conclusions: Composite reliability of our conceptual 3‐factor confirmatory model showed that the test reliably measured primary school effective use of ICT (ω = 0.82), collaborative use of ICT (ω = 0.80) and creative use of ICT (ω = 0.64). Convergent validity (ranging from 0.41 to 0.46) was acceptable. Internal consistency (ranging from 0.84 to 0.91) and discriminant validity (HTMT values below 0.90) are good. ANOVA results show that mean test scores are higher for students in higher grade levels (p < 0.001). The post hoc Bonferroni results show that most grade‐by‐grade comparisons are significant (p < 0.001). Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Information and communication technology (ICT) skills are finding their way into national curriculums as teachers implement more digital learning environments.Teachers currently do not have a measurement instrument for the ICT skills primary education students need to learn in a personalised way. What this paper adds: This paper gives teachers a test that reliably measures the effective, collaborative, and creative ICT skills required for primary school students to learn using ICT.To our knowledge, this test is the first of its kind.Al materials to reproduce the test are available digitally for teachers. The implications of study findings for practitioners: For policy, this test can be used to check if a student is ready to use ICT in a self‐regulated setting.With this test, teachers can assess and support students' growth on the effective, collaborative, and creative ICT skills required for primary school students using ICT. [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]

The main goal of the current paper was to determine the effects of perceived school climate dimensions (leadership, relationships, professional learning-teaching climate, safety, and physical environment) on students' learning performance in upper primary schools. Correlational design consisted of structural equation modeling with mediation analysis was applied. Three hundred twenty-eight randomly chosen teachers and pupils from upper primary schools of Injibara and Chagni, Awi zone of Ethiopia participated. The 16-item school climate scale that was employed had an internal consistency score of 0.91 according to Cronbach's alpha. To create a well-fitting measurement model, as well as to ascertain the convergent and discriminant validities and the composite reliability of school climate domains, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out. Together, the five school climate factors explained 19% variation on student academic performance. Academic achievement of students was directly and significantly influenced by school leadership and the professional learning-teaching environment. Pupils' academic success was significantly and favorably directly impacted by the overall perceived favorable school climate. Positive professional learning-teaching environment fully mediated effect of physical setting and safety on learning achievement, even though it partially mediated the effect of leadership practice of school. Contribution of positive school climate elements to student's learning achievement should also be further investigated using longitudinal multilevel structural equation models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst much interest is focused on gender, and classroom-level influences such as and classroom composition and teaching style on achievement, attitudinal outcomes have not received the same attention. This paper focuses on alienation from learning as one sub-dimension of school alienation. School alienation is a relevant issue for all those engaged in supporting students to thrive and have positive outcomes, as it is related to learning and social behaviour, and eventually achievement. This explorative study considered how classroom gender composition and perceived teaching style affected the development of alienation from learning in primary and secondary schools. A multi-level analysis, based on quantitative longitudinal data gathered in Luxembourg, was undertaken. The database included information gathered during three consecutive waves (2016–2018) from 338 primary school students and 376 secondary school students. Our results indicate that the gender gap in alienation from learning was more pronounced in primary school. A student-centred supportive teaching style (classroom level) decreased alienation from learning in primary school for boys – closing the gender gap; that is to say, it did change the difference in alienation between girls and boys. In secondary school, only individual-level perceived teaching style was associated with alienation if teaching style was simultaneously considered on both individual and classroom level. A high proportion of male students in the classroom seemed to go along with a higher alienation among all students in secondary school. This exploratory study indicates that teaching style may be a crucial factor for the attitudes towards school of all students, suggesting that employing student-centred and supportive styles could help to prevent school alienation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important educational goal for the next generation is the ability to think computationally. Cultivating K‐12 students' computational thinking (CT) requires the capacity building of teachers through teacher development programs. However, if students' learning outcomes were not assessed, it is not known whether the enhancement of teacher capacity could impact on students' learning. This study aimed to examine how a teacher development program changed teachers' content knowledge and collaborative engagement, which in turn influenced their students' learning achievement. The participants were 81 teachers and 3226 students from primary schools. We employed multi‐level modelling to study the relationships between teacher‐level variables and student achievement assessed by a CT concepts test. The teachers' content knowledge and collaborative engagement were significantly enhanced through the program, which in turn had a significant impact on student achievement. Teachers' years of teaching experience, but not their gender or whether they had majored in computer science, could also affect student achievement. The results indicate that a teacher development program can play a significant role in enhancing the teachers' CT content knowledge and collaborative engagement, which can then have a positive effect on student learning. Practitioner notes: What is already known about this topic The cultivation of students' computational thinking (CT) in K‐12 education requires the capacity building of teachers.A teacher development program can improve teachers' knowledge and attitudes related to CT.Whether the enhancement of teacher capacity can in turn affect students' learning achievement in CT is less studied. What this paper adds We found that a teacher development program could significantly enhance teachers' knowledge in CT and their collaborative engagement in the program.Using multilevel modelling, we found further that the enhancement of teachers' knowledge and collaborative engagement could affect students' understanding of CT concepts positively.Teachers' years of teaching experience, but not their gender or whether they had majored in computer science, could also influence student achievement. Implications for practice and/or policy In designing similar teacher development programs for teachers, collaborative engagement opportunities should be provided as it can have a positive impact on student achievement.Although the majority of teachers do not have a background in computer science, a teacher development program can play a significant role in enhancing their knowledge in CT, no matter they had majored in computer science or not.The significance of the program is not limited to the development of teachers, as the enhancements of teachers' knowledge and collaborative engagement through the program can in turn have a positive impact on students' understanding of CT concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prior research has indicated that high levels of motivation and subjective well‐being can predict engagement in challenging academic situations and achievement. Yet studies in the field have yielded inconsistent results in young elementary school students indicating a need to further examine this topic. This is particularly urgent for young children during the foundational years of early elementary school when they are learning critical academic skills including reading. Method: We examined the relationships between reading motivation, school‐based well‐being as covitality, and literacy achievement in 268 second graders in the process of reading acquisition in Hebrew. Well‐being and reading motivation were examined by questionnaires designed and/or adapted for young elementary school students and literacy skills by language and reading tests. Results: Findings showed a positive correlation between reading motivation and full‐scale covitality scores, as well as most of its first order factors (gratitude, optimism, zest and persistence). Furthermore, both reading motivation and covitality were positively correlated to reading skills and language abilities. Significant differences were found between students with low–medium reading motivation and those with high motivation in all covitality subfactors and most literacy measures, in favour of children with high reading motivation. Conclusions: The worrisome picture, that children with low reading motivation also report low levels of covitality, suggests that proper attention should be paid throughout first grade to both reading motivation and school‐based well‐being, both of which might affect learning. Because children's cognitive readiness is related to their socioemotional well‐being, children with poor language abilities and emergent literacy skills may require special support to prevent their expected reading difficulties and the negative emotions attached to them. Thus, designing reading instruction programmes that implement motivational aspects should be a high priority interest for educators that teach young children. Implications for Practice: What is already known about this topic?There is a correlation between reading motivation and reading achievement for students in various grade levels, and a similar positive correlation has been found between school‐related well‐being and academic achievement.The very few studies that have investigated whether there is a positive correlation between reading motivation and school well‐being have been conducted almost exclusively with adolescents.Correlational studies have demonstrated that students with lower levels of reading motivation and school‐based well‐being have lower academic achievement when compared with their peers with higher levels of motivation and school‐based well‐being. What this paper adds?In a sample of second‐grade students, the associations between the following three factors were examined: reading motivation, school‐based well‐being (covitality) and reading achievement.Reading motivation, school well‐being and reading achievement are all positively correlated.Students with high levels of reading motivation also demonstrate significantly higher levels of school‐based well‐being and reading achievement when compared with their peers with lower reading motivation level. Implications for theory, policy, or practiceThe explicit cultivation of reading motivation and school‐based well‐being should be a central goal during reading instruction as they are both correlates of reading achievement.The educational context in which the act of reading takes place should be considered because emotional factors interact with cognitive processes during reading instruction, and these emotional factors can be leveraged to encourage children to engage with literacy activities.Students' levels of school‐based well‐being and its emotional correlates can be explicitly addressed by schools and are critical in creating an encouraging learning environment for young elementary school students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying students facing difficulties and providing them with timely support is one of the educator's key responsibilities. Yet, this task is becoming increasingly challenging as the complexity of physical learning spaces grows, along with the emergence of novel educational technologies and classroom designs. There has been substantial research and development work focused on identifying student social behaviours in digital platforms (eg, the learning management system) as predictors of academic progression. However, little work has investigated such relationships in physical learning spaces. This study explores the potential of using wearable trackers for the early detection of low‐progress students based on their social and spatial (socio‐spatial) behaviours at the school. Positioning data from 98 primary school students and six teachers were automatically captured over a period of eight weeks. Fourteen socio‐spatial behavioural features were extracted and processed using a set of machine learning classifiers to model students' learning progression. Results illustrate the potential of prospectively identifying low‐progress students from these features and the importance of adapting classroom learning analytics to differences in pedagogical designs. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicLearning analytics research on predicting students' academic progression is emerging in both digital and physical learning spaces.Students' social behaviours in learning activities is a key factor in predicting their academic progression.Emerging sensing technologies can provide opportunities to study students' real‐time social behaviours in physical learning spaces.What this paper addsFourteen progression‐related socio‐spatial behavioural features are extracted from students' physical (x‐y) positioning traces.Predictive learning analytics that achieved 81% accuracy in prospectively identifying low‐progress students from their real‐time socio‐spatial behaviours.Empirical evidence to support the need for classroom learning analytics to have instructional sensitivity (ie, be calibrated according to the learning design).Implications for practice and/or policySensing technologies and machine learning algorithms can be used to capture and generate valuable insights about higher‐order learning constructs (eg, performance and collaboration) from students' physical positioning traces in classrooms.Researchers and practitioners should be cautious with generalised classification algorithms and predictive learning analytics that do not account for the pedagogical differences between different subjects or learning designs.Researchers and practitioners should consider the potentially unforeseen ethical issues that can emerge in using sensing technologies and predictive learning analytics in authentic, physical classroom settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a large volume of published studies describing the positive role of Augmented Reality (AR) in educational settings. However, there is a paucity of empirical work that explores its role in supporting primary school pupil's motivation and creativity. Moreover, numerous studies have confirmed that pupils have difficulties in learning geometry and thinking geometrically. In this context, this paper explores the possibility of using AR software for low‐grade primary school pupils to enhance their creative thinking and increase their motivation during the informal geometry training course. A research‐based design process is adopted to replicate the primary school pupil's learning in this study, where pupils in the experimental group used mobile application to access AR virtual manipulatives, pupils in the control group used physical manipulatives. The applied AR technology allows pupils to handle 2D and 3D rounded corners and simple closed curves to find the most effective solutions for some learning challenges. Sixty‐two pupils from the first‐grade primary school in Egypt have participated in this study with the aim of investigating: (a) the primary school pupil's achievements and creative thinking in using AR techniques, and (b) the specific strategies that can increase their motivation and engagement. The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in geometry learning achievement, while statistically significant differences were found between the groups in the motivation and creative thinking skills in favour of the experimental group. Lay Description: What is already known about this topicAugmented Reality must have three characteristics: combining the real and virtual worlds, having real‐time interaction with the user and is being registered in a 3D environment.There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of the 21st century skills in the new global economy.There has been significant interest in utilized AR in higher education. However, limited research has been conducted about integrating AR techniques to enhance young children's creative thinking skills and motivation in informal learning scenarios.To date, there are few studies that have investigated the association between augmented environment and learning theories. What this paper addsIntroduced an iterative methodology based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning integrating the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as the inclusive learning approach for creating Smart‐flashcard as a mobile AR applications for elementary school.Research studies on informal learning are particularly limited, so this study can fill a gap in the literature.This paper provides a conceptual approach for AR design, based on multimedia learning theory.AR Smart‐flashcard application represents a shift away from traditional textbooks, flashcards and other learning material where children are limited to viewing learning content passively towards a more dynamic and augmented one. Implications for practice and/or policyUsing AR applications, children interact with the 3D models, enhance creativity and collaboration in teams.The informal education can play a crucial role in developing some of the skills required for the 21st century.The study also highlights the need for new approaches combing the technical learning tools and pedagogical foundation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Immersive virtual reality (IVR) applications that support student learning have gained increasing interest. However, empirical studies exploring the educational potential of using IVR in primary school science classrooms are lacking. Objectives: This study developed a series of IVR science lessons for primary school students and examined the effects of these lessons on learning outcomes. Methods: Our mixed‐method approach employed pre‐ and post‐tests to measure academic achievement, questionnaires to measure motivation and cognitive load, and semi‐structured interviews to further explore students' feelings and attitudes about IVR science lessons. Participants included 362 Grade 4 students assigned to either the experimental (IVR‐based classroom) or control (traditional classroom) groups. The experimental group engaged in IVR science lessons using Head‐Mounted Displays; the control group learned the same material through traditional methods. Results and conclusions: The results showed that the IVR‐based classroom significantly improved primary students' academic achievement and science motivation and decreased their cognitive load. Moreover, the experimental group reported positive experiences with the IVR science lessons. Takeaways: These findings help unpack the relationships between IVR and academic achievement, science motivation, and cognitive load in primary school science lessons, thus providing insight on integrating IVR into existing classrooms. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Non‐immersive virtual reality (IVR) has been used effectively in science learning.The 2D nature of non‐IVR can limit VR technology's educational effectiveness. What this paper adds: Evidence that IVR allows students to more fully engage in science educational subjects.Evidence that IVR can increase primary students' academic achievement.Evidence that IVR can increase primary students' science motivation.Evidence that IVR can decrease primary students' cognitive load. Implications for practice and/or policy: Adding IVR in primary classrooms can enhance science learning.Implementing IVR with head‐mounted displays can enrich primary school education.IVR‐based lessons can support primary students' successful learning in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an increasing focus on test scores and rankings in schools. However, the focus on children's standardized test scores has come at the cost of their social relations. As a reaction to this test-centric focus, new approaches claim that nature is important not only for children's social relations but also for their scholastic achievement. Drawing on a longitudinal dataset following 1,087 Danish schoolchildren in the Municipality of Aalborg, this paper sets out to investigate the impact of the availability of nature and access to nature on social relations and scholastic achievement. We address the endogeneity of child quality by applying a value-added approach and the endogeneity of school quality using propensity score matching. Our analyses suggest that the availability of nature and access to nature in themselves are not enough to promote social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the lasting interest towards the relationship between intelligence and creativity, comparably less attention is paid to its age-related changes. Our paper considers the organization of fluid intelligence and psychometric indicators of creativity and is based on the experimental data obtained for children aged 11 (n = 99) and for young adults (n = 77). We used two figural and verbal tasks with and without time limit. We found that the age-related differences in creativity are dependent on the context and the type of testing. The young adults were different from the children, having higher indicators of verbal and figurative creativity, except for the originality of the drawings created within the Incomplete Figures test, and having considerably higher test results for fluid intelligence. These age-related differences, together with the discovered closer relationship between the creativity indicators in the young adults group compared to the children, might suggest insufficient contribution of the components of the executive control of information selection (inhibition, shifting, and updating), which had not fully formed in eleven-year-olds. The comparison of the various indicators of creativity suggests that the most complex task for the children was the composition of an original sentence by joining nouns from various semantic categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the information behavior of parents with regard to their young school-age children (PreK and elementary school) during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to contribute to research on parent information behavior more generally and to increase our understanding of parent information behavior during this pandemic. This study proposes a model of the influences on parents' emotional responses to their children's required daily academic activities following roughly two months of school closures. It is unknown when the pandemic will end; thus this paper recommends solutions that schools might implement to improve parents' experiences with information as school disruptions continue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tingir et al. (2017) concluded from their meta‐analysis that the subject areas taught through mobile devices had significantly higher achievement scores (d = 0.48) than the ones taught with traditional teaching methods. Given the relatively high positive effect of mobile devices on student achievement, we carefully analysed the selected research in this meta‐analysis. We reviewed Tingir et al.'s (2017) meta‐analysis based on analysis of the methodology of the selected research, while drawing on the work of Slavin (2003), Cheung and Slavin (2016), and Sung et al. (2019). Twelve of the 14 (86%) studies included in the meta‐analysis done by Tingir and his team (2017) present such major methodological flaws that they should not have been included. Our analysis leads us to believe that the conclusion of Tingir et al. (2017) is not justified. It is recognized that duration of experiment is negatively correlated with effect size: the shorter the duration, the higher the effect (Burston, 2015; Slavin & Lake, 2009). Although demanding more effort, the field of education must raise the bar if it is to have knowledge of acceptable value. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Tingir et al. (2017) concluded from their meta‐analysis that: "the subject areas taught through mobile devices had significantly higher achievement scores than the ones taught with traditional teaching methods" (p. 366). What this paper adds?: We therefore reviewed the meta‐analysis by Tingir et al. (2017) and the underlying research. Our analysis leads us to believe that the conclusion of Tingir et al. (2017) is not justified.The data on reading used in the meta‐analysis by Tingir et al. (2017) do not make it possible to calculate a legitimate effect size for reading or to make a judgment about the effectiveness of mobile devices in the classroom.With respect to mathematics, the weakness and biases of the studies selected in the meta‐analysis by Tingir et al. (2017) should not have allowed them to calculate an effect size and do not provide a clear answer on the effectiveness of mobiles devices in the classroom.The studies in science selected by Tingir et al. (2017) demonstrate a set of methodological flaws that cannot provide a sound basis for determining a convincing effect of mobile device in the classroom on student achievement. Implications for practice and/or policy: Tingir and associates (2017) calculated an overall mean effect of 0.48 for mobiles devices on student achievement by combining research in reading (effect = 0.666; N = 3), mathematics (effect = 0.16; N = 3) and science (effect = 0.528; N = 8). The authors did not do a school‐level analysis (elementary, high school) in their school subject groupings due to the small number of studies, particularly in reading and mathematics.Twelve of the 14 (86%) studies included in the meta‐analysis done by Tingir and his team (2017) present such major methodological flaws that they should not have been included. As mentioned in the introduction, Slavin and his colleagues found different results in a related field. Slavin et al. (2009) found an effect size of 0.11 for the use of technology in the classroom, in computer‐assisted and computer‐based instruction, and an effect size of 0.05 for the use of digital tools 10 years later (Slavin, 2019). Given all the above, it is our opinion that the meta‐analysis by Tingir et al. (2017) cannot be used to justify the use of mobile devices in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the call to foster computational thinking (CT) in every child has received considerable attention. However, there is little understanding of whether children are developmentally ready to think computationally and what specific CT concepts and skills can be developed at various ages. This study explored the developmental and gender differences in CT skills of 197 Grade 4–6 students (aged 9–13) before being exposed to instruction and investigated the age–gender interaction effects on their CT acquisition in an intervention combining both programming and non‐programming (unplugged) activities. Results show that students' CT skills followed a developmental progression before instruction. Gender difference across ages was insignificant in conditionals, logical operators, pattern recognition and generalization skills. Additionally, students of different ages developed CT differently during the intervention, and their CT acquisition was unaffected by gender. Implications for practice and research in CT education were discussed. Lay Description: What is currently known about the topic: Learning progressions for computational thinking have been defined in K‐12 curricula globally.Engaging in programming and non‐programming (unplugged) activities can increase students' CT skills.Controversial results have been reported on the age–gender interaction effects on CT development.Lack of understanding on children's actual progressive development of CT. What this paper adds: A developmental progression was found in CT skills of students aged 9–13. Students aged 12 and above had some a priori understanding of CT.No gender difference across ages existed in conditionals, logical operators, pattern recognition and generalization skills before instruction.Students aged 9–11 benefitted the most from an intervention combining both programming and unplugged activities compared to older students. Students' CT acquisition in the intervention was unaffected by gender.Given the intervention, students aged 9 and above developed conditionals, logical operators and pattern recognition skills. However, generalization skill was developed only for students aged 12 and above. Implications for practice and policy: The findings lay the foundation for designing evidence‐based age‐appropriate CT learning progression and pedagogies.Age‐appropriate learning content: Given appropriate learning experiences, students aged 9 and above may be ready to learn certain CT concepts and skills, including conditionals, logical operators and pattern recognition.CT pedagogies: Using programming and unplugged activities to develop CT requires careful consideration of students' cognitive development and gender needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging technologies have been widely used in applications designed to increase potential for learning enhancement. This study develops a mobile application to integrate augmented reality (AR) functionality into physical puzzle-type games. In the application, learners see visualizations of three-dimensional (3D) dinosaurs and interact with relevant multimedia learning content. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed platform, experiments were conducted to evaluate impact on learner achievement and motivation. Experimental (AR-based) and control (paper-based) groups included a total of 53 fifth-grade students. Pre- and post-activity questionnaires (adapted from the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction (ARCS) Model of Motivational Design), and pre- and post-learning quizzes were used for assessment. Results showed that the AR-based group scored significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the Paper-based group, raising implications for a new approach to teaching natural science at the elementary school level. However, the AR-based group also showed a relative drop in confidence, suggesting that further investigation is needed to understand the impact of AR technology on learner motivation. This study provides a case for the integration of AR technology into typical physical games. The results raise important concerns for further research in technology enhancement in education. Future research should include a wider range of content topics and target groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper based on an explanatory design and focused on four dimensions of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation and empathy) of school-going children drawn from standard 8th, 9th and 10th with an objective to trace relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. For this, a small sample of 120 (60 boys and 60 girls) was drawn from a co-education school of South Odisha, India. The data obtained through a pre-tested schedule-cum-questionnaire having both open and closed ended questions after considerable rapport was established. Close observations were made for a little more than two months on activities of the children in-situ during recess period on every working day continuously. It hypothesises that emotional intelligence is directly proportional to the academic achievements of school going children with significant difference between boys and girls. The result of the analysis at the outset indicated that boys have a higher value of understanding concerning the different dimensions of emotional intelligence than girls. However, there is no significant difference of the 't' value (at 5% level of significance) between the boys and the girls regarding understating of the emotional dimensions. Thus, it is ascertained that irrespective of gender, the manifestation of emotional intelligence remains unaltered. Thus, the proposition of boys being better than girls is falsified. However, it was observed that those who suffer from strong wanted-control differ in their emotional intelligence and academic achievement from those who have least wanted - control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on our participatory multi‐faceted community‐wide intervention to change gender perceptions and encourage support for girls' education to improve their school attendance and performance. The intervention involved community and education stakeholders in implementing a context‐specific multi‐faceted intervention to improve opportunities for girls in 123 primary schools in the rural Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia. We implemented a repeated‐measures quasi‐experimental design in a sample of 30 schools (15 project and 15 control schools) to evaluate the intervention's effectiveness. Over 3 years we assessed gender perceptions of a cohort of 750 Grade 6 girls, their parents and teachers in project and control schools. In addition, participative group discussions were conducted with various stakeholders. In project schools, we recorded significant changes (e.g., provision of sanitary pads, counselling, tutorial classes and community involvement). Teachers and parents reported improved gender attitudes and support for girls' education; while girls' self‐esteem scores and educational aspirations increased. The findings showed a change in community perceptions of the value of girls' education and some evidence of increased equality in gender perceptions. We concluded that these systemic changes marked the start of a long‐term change process. This intervention showed the value of a participatory approach in a systemic community intervention. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the cultivation of computational thinking (CT) skills in programming activities has become a key issue in the K‐12 curriculum, however, there is no unified conclusion on how to design programming activities to promote the acquisition of CT skills more effectively. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of using programming to enhance K‐12 students' CT skills and explore the influence of various programming instructional design factors on the acquisition of CT skills. This study presents a quantitative meta‐analysis. A systematic search of randomized controlled studies on the influence of programming on CT skills. A total of 86 empirical studies with 114 effect sizes met the study selection criterion. The results showed that programming improved K‐12 students' CT skills in general (Hedges' g = 0.601, 95% CI [0.505, 0.697], p < 0.001). No publication bias was detected. Besides, we found that the interdisciplinary integration of programming, the duration of programming intervention within 1 week to 1 month, the class size of less than 50 students, and a reasonable selection of programming instruments and CT assessment types may be more conducive to promoting students' CT skills. Based on these findings, we suggest that programming instructional design should be planned reasonably to make the best use of technology towards developing students' CT skills. This will be of great significance to programming teaching and CT education in K‐12. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: The cultivation of computational thinking (CT) in K‐12 has become a key issue.One of the latest trends in the education field is computer programming in K‐12 classrooms to cultivate students' CT skills.Programming teaching design may affect the influence of programming education on students' CT skills. However, there is a lack of overall quantitative synthesis of existing empirical research. What this paper adds: A meta‐analysis of 86 studies was conducted to provide systematic evidence that programming education is effective to promote K‐12 students' CT skills.Programming teaching design factors such as subjects, intervention duration, sample size, programming instruments and assessment types can affect CT skills in programming activities.Programming activity forms cannot affect CT skills in programming activities. Implications for practice and/or policy: The implementation of programming education in K‐12 schooling can effectively cultivate students' CT skills.Programming teaching design should be planned reasonably to make the best use of technology towards developing students' CT skills.The interdisciplinary integration of programming, the duration of programming intervention within one week to one month, control of class size to less than 50 students, and a reasonable selection of programming instruments and assessment types may be more conducive to promoting students' CT skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Ability' or attainment grouping can introduce an additional label that influences teachers' expectations of students in specific attainment groups. This paper is based on a survey of 597 teachers across 82 schools and 34 teacher interviews in 10 schools undertaken as part of a large-scale mixed-methods study in England. The paper focuses on English and mathematics teachers' expectations of secondary school students in lower attainment groups, and explores how low-attaining students are constructed as learners who benefit from specific approaches to learning justified through discourses of nurturing and protection. The authors argue that the adoption of different pedagogical approaches for groups of low-attaining learners to nurture them may in some cases be fostering dependency on teachers and cap opportunities for more independent learning. Furthermore, more inclusive whole-school learning-culture approaches may better allow for students across the attainment range to become independent learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have suggested that flipped learning can be enhanced by designing effective in‐class learning activities to improve students' higher order thinking skills. Problem posing has been recognized as such a learning strategy that has great potential for improving students' higher order thinking skills. However, it has been reported as a challenging task for most students. Research evidence has indicated the potential of engaging students in group learning with step‐by‐step hints when conducting problem‐posing activities. Therefore, this study proposed a multilevel concept mapping‐based problem‐posing strategy to assist students in completing the problem‐posing tasks in flipped learning. To understand the effectiveness of the proposed strategy, a flipped learning system was developed and adopted in the science class of an elementary school. Seventy‐five fifth graders from three classes were divided into experimental group A, experimental Group B and a control group. Students in Group A used the concept map‐guided problem‐posing strategy for flipped learning (CMPP‐FL), students in Group B used the problem‐posing strategy‐based flipped learning, while students in the control group used the conventional flipped learning strategy. The results showed that the CMPP‐FL was effective in terms of improving students' learning performance, especially for students with higher levels of critical thinking tendency. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Flipped learning enabled teachers to have more class time to engage students in applying knowledge.Scholars have suggested that the value of flipped learning can be enhanced by designing effective in‐class learning activities to improve students' higher order thinkingProblem‐posing has been recognized as such a learning strategy that has great potential for improving students' higher order thinking. What this paper adds: This study proposed a multilevel concept mapping‐based problem‐posing strategy to assist students in completing the problem‐posing tasks in flipped learning.A flipped learning system was developed and adopted in the science class of an elementary school.It was also found that the results showed that the concept map‐guided problem‐posing strategy was effective in terms of improving students' flipped learning performance, especially for those with higher levels of critical thinking tendency. Implications for practice and/or policy: Employing concept maps as a guidance for problem posing is a promising approach.It is worth investigating the impacts of the concept map‐guided problem posing approach on the students with different personal characteristics, such as knowledge levels or motivational levels.It is worth applying the approach to other courses in the future to further explore its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Limited data suggest that adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently discontinue school. While it is known that cognitive impairment occurs in 30% to 50% of children with MS, the functional impact of childhood MS on academic achievement is virtually unknown. Objective: To that end, this paper builds an evidence-based argument for evaluating educational outcomes in children with MS. Methods: This will be accomplished through (a) a review of pediatric MS and its cognitive consequences; (b) a selective review of the utility of neuropsychological batteries in assessing academic outcomes in pediatric populations in general; and (c) a brief overview of modifiable factors that have a potential benefit on school outcomes in children with MS. Conclusion: Scholastic achievement should be assessed as part of the routine cognitive screening of children and adolescents with MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The school system is viewed as a progressive and proactive institution of society that enables children to learn values and ethics considered important for their overall personal development. Schools, however, can also be stressful places for children who are not top rankers, those with lower self confidence or that belonging to the lower socio economic strata of society and this makes them vulnerable to concerns related to mental health. The surmounting pressure on children to achieve high levels of academic success, the cut throat competition in the schools, the pressure to excel in all arenas is leading to children feeling anxious and depressed and an increase in the number of mental health disorders among school children. Left unidentified and untreated, these can have pervasive and long-term effects on their social, personal and academic performance. The current paper begins with an analysis of the current scenario of Indian school education with respect to how it is impacting the personality development of children through its pedagogy, ethos and overall environment. Focussing on the need to create an enabling and a pro-social learning environment in the school system, the paper recommends few areas for consideration with respect to mental health promotion as part of learning environment in the schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the central institutions of society, schooling is subject to significant public interest and scrutiny. Fads and fashion successfully developed elsewhere are often rebadged and relaunched in education for the purpose of improvement. Such interventions are often quickly identified as intruders and frequently fade into obscurity, but what of internal interventions, the education research that becomes widely accepted and promoted? In this paper I argue that contemporary thought and analysis in Australian school leadership has submitted to the cult of the guru. Specifically, I contend that dialogue (much less debate) has settled on the work of John Hattie’s meta-meta-analysis giving rise to the Cult of Hattie. This paper is not an attack on Hattie as a person, or even his work, rather an argument about the conditions which have facilitated the rise of a guru. I argue that the uncritical acceptance and proliferation of this cult is a tragedy for Australian school leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this research was to compare the effectiveness of physical and virtual tangrams on preschool children's learning engagement and achievement. Children listened to an e‐storybook narration and solved puzzles individually. The experimental group (N = 31) completed puzzles embedded in the e‐storybook using virtual tangrams, while the control group (N = 30) completed the same puzzles using physical tangrams on outlines drawn on a paper. Results indicated that the experimental group had significantly higher overall engagement than the control group. The experimental group had significantly higher learning achievement (time taken to complete outlines) when using virtual tangrams. It is hoped that the study will be beneficial to classrooms concerning how to use tangrams in teaching and learning and to instructional designers on how to design an e‐storybook for young readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between time devoted to homework and children's academic achievement has long been an issue of great debate. A small number of mainly correlational studies have been conducted into this issue in a primary school setting, but have produced somewhat mixed results. In this paper we contribute to this literature by investigating the relationship between time spent upon homework and children's outcomes across 24 countries. By using a student fixed-effects approach, capturing differences in homework time amongst the same student across different school subjects, we argue that our results are likely to be subject to less confounding than much of the existing literature. We find little evidence that the amount of homework time primary school children are assigned is related to their academic achievement. This holds true across a large number of countries, survives various robustness tests and does not vary by gender or socio-economic status. We interpret this finding as suggesting that the homework assigned to primary school pupils may not be adequate to produce a positive association, and needs be improved if this time-consuming activity is ever going to bring benefits for children's academic achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between the presence of organised crime into the local socio-economic fabric and educational outcomes in Southern Italy. For this purpose, we rely on different indices of organized crime, the main of which is the well-established Mafia Presence Index (IPM), a composite indicator capturing manifold dimensions (activities, violence, political, and economic infiltration) of the presence of Mafia -type organizations on the national soil. These indices proxy the (scale of) negative Mafia -type values that permeate a local society and that are likely to hinder educational achievements, distorting the incentives of both the youngsters (and/or their parents) to invest in human capital and the local firms to employ those who decide to make this investment. Furthermore, combining contemporary individual-level educational outcomes with historical data on Mafia infiltration, we control for endogeneity concerns through an IV strategy. We provide evidence that the presence of organised crime at local level significantly decreases the scores achieved by primary school students, undertaking the INVALSI test for literacy in Southern Italy. Our results are robust to the use of different measures of organised crime, to the inclusion of different sets of controls, different subsamples and to relaxing the exclusion restriction in the IV strategy. • We explore the link between organized crime (OC) and education outcomes (EO) in Italy • We claim that OC can hinder EOs by distorting incentives to invest in human capital • We rely on different indices of OC at the local level • We find that an increase in OC leads to a decrease in EOs • Results are robust to different controls, subsamples and to IV strategy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a theoretical argument regarding the power of school to shape parental involvement in culturally informed ways. The paper emerges out of preliminary fieldwork among Jewish middle-class parents in a town in northern Israel, during which our attention was drawn to the intense activity in and around their children’s transition to primary school. This activity became a lens for the exploration and articulation of a theoretical claim, according to which parental involvement is not just a matter of the fit or lack of fit between the cultural capital imported from home into school, as posited by much of the relevant literature. Rather, the cultural shaping of parental involvement takes placewithin and throughencounters between school and family: by means of the school’s cultivation of ‘proper’ disposition and comportment for parents, the power of emotional community and the recruitment of a key cultural symbol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper examines whether home overcrowding has a significant effect on children's academic performance. This topic has not been explored in detail in Latin America. • The study uses data from the international SERCE (2006) test conducted in fifteen Latin America countries for a sample of students of sixth grade. • The results show that overcrowding has a negative effect that even exceeds the impact of certain maternal education level on a child's academic performance. After examining the robustness of the model with several techniques, the coefficients remains negative and statistically significant. • The evidence suggests that overcrowding is an important variable that should be considered when creating public policies aimed at improving student performance. This study seeks to determine whether overcrowding has a significant effect on students' academic performance, controlling for variables associated with poverty and low socioeconomic status. It uses data from the international SERCE test conducted in fifteen Latin American countries. Based on multiple specifications and robustness tests, the evidence suggests that overcrowding is a negative and statistically significant factor that even exceeds the impact of certain maternal education levels on a child's academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The information use environment (IUE) – the context within which the search activity takes place – is critical to understanding the search process as this will affect how the value of information is determined. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what factors influence search in English primary schools (children aged 4–11) and how information found is subsequently used.Design/methodology/approach Ten teachers, selected using maximal variation sampling, describe search-related activities within the classroom. The resulting interview data were analysed thematically for the influence of the environment on search and different information uses. The findings were then validated against three classroom observations.Findings 12 categories of information use were identified, and 5 aspects of the environment (the national curriculum, best practice, different skills of children and teachers, keeping children safe, and limited time and resource) combine to influence and shape search in this setting.Research limitations/implications Findings support the argument that it is the IUE that is the key influence of search activity. What makes children a distinct user group is linked to the environment within which they use information rather than age, as advocated in previous studies.Practical implications The features of search systems and practical guidance for teachers and children should be designed to support information use within the IUE.Originality/value As far as the authors are aware, this is the first study to consider the influence of the IUE on how search is enacted within primary schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Textbooks have a substantial impact on mathematics achievement in primary school. • Textbooks notably differ in their effects on student achievement. • Longitudinal effects of textbooks on student achievement seem to be cumulative. • Textbooks might be a relevant covariate when analyzing intervention effects. Abstract Mathematics textbooks are ascribed an important role for classroom practice. Until now there are still open questions concerning the genuine effect of textbooks on students' learning in mathematics. This paper examines the effect of different textbooks representing the same curriculum on the student achievement by reanalyzing a longitudinal data set on primary school students' mathematics skills from Grade 1 to 3 (N = 1664). Results from multilevel regression analyses showed that mathematics teachers' textbook choice has a substantial effect on the students' mathematics achievement and that individual textbooks substantially differ in their effects. Furthermore, there are indications that the effect of textbook choice is cumulative over the school years. The findings suggest that textbooks should be considered as an important covariate in educational research and that textbook choice is a relevant factor for educational practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of composition may be strong in systems where students are systematically sorted based on their socio-economic background. This paper aims to model the differential effect of class composition on pupils’ achievement in Belgium (French-speaking Community), France, Spain and Portugal. Multilevel models are consequently tested on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2011 data (20,830 pupils in 1139 classes). Our results suggest that socio-economic composition does not have an equivalent effect on pupil achievement in the four countries included in our analysis: its effect is strong in the French-speaking Community of Belgium and France but smaller in Spain and Portugal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Most schools struggle to get busy and stressed parents to come repeatedly to the school building for events. At primary schools, especially those with pupils living in low-income communities or with many immigrants, involving parents to come at all is seen as a challenge. The purpose of this paper is to present a social ecological strategy of using the school building as a site for families to gather and for community networks to grow by building relationships between parents who have same-aged children attending that school. When families know other families, they feel more comfortable coming into the school building, and probably will return frequently. Design/methodology/approach – A large randomised controlled trial of 52 urban schools with an average of 73 per cent Latino students situated in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the USA has data to examine the impact of this strategy on parent involvement. Parents of all first-grade students (age 6 or 7) at schools assigned either to Families and Schools Together (FAST) or services-as-usual were invited to participate. At schools with the social ecological strategy universal invites were made to those in the study to attend any one of eight weekly multi-family group sessions offered after-school at the building. Trained teams were culturally representative of the families (language, ethnicity) and made up of local parents and professionals; each team hosted up to ten families in a hub for two and a half hours (83 families attended at one session). Parents were socially included, treated with respect, coached by the team to lead a family meal, singing, family crafts and games at a family table. Parent time (respite) was provided with chat-time in pairs, followed by parent-led discussion groups. Parents were coached in one to one time, “child-led” responsive play for 15 minutes. Findings – Parent involvement data showed that on average, 43.6 per cent of all first-graders’ families (an average of 44 families per school) attended at least one session; of those, who attended at least one session, 69 per cent returned for another. On average, of those families who attended at least once, the average family went four times; an average of 22 families per school attended six or more sessions. Parent graduates led monthly booster sessions open to all families. In half of the families, both fathers and mothers attended; immigrant parents attended statistically significantly more than native-born ones. In surveys, more parents in schools with FAST vs control reported attending three or more events at school. Practical implications – The FAST programme encourages the involvement of reluctant parents in school events. This benefits both children’s general well-being and academic attainment and so contributes to preventative public health strategies. Originality/value – This paper brings new perspectives to the challenges faced by educators in involving parents at school by a sociologist-led research team introducing a social worker-developed social ecological, systemic strategy to schools in low-income communities using a randomised controlled design. This novel social ecological approach has consistently and effectively engaged whole families into increased involvement in schools in 20 countries, especially in low-income communities. Headteachers consistently report increased school engagement of FAST parent graduates for years, suggesting that the early intensity builds ongoing relationships of trust and reciprocity across home, school and community. Policy makers should note that building social capital in disadvantaged communities through partnerships with parents and schools can result in decreased disparities in health, social care and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding of different ways that parents and schools develop and maintain working partnerships to improve outcomes for children by focusing on quantitative evidence about parental involvement (PI). The key questions for this synthesis are: what is the evidence about the extent of impact of PI on cognitive or academic outcomes for children, and how consistent and reliable is this evidence? Design/methodology/approach – This is an “umbrella” review comparing and contrasting findings from 13 meta-analyses across three areas of PI and home/school partnerships: first, general approaches; second, home and family literacy programmes; and finally, targeted interventions focused on individual or specific family need. Findings – There is consistent evidence about the extent of impact from general approaches (three to six months average additional gain for children’s educational outcomes) and for targeted intervention (four to six months), but with a wider range of estimates for family literacy (two to eight months average gain). Variation in approaches and evaluation quality make specific recommendations for practice challenging, though some consistent patterns of findings indicate strategies that are likely to be “good bets” to explore and evaluate. Research limitations/implications – The quality of the underlying studies makes drawing secure implications for practice difficult. The nature of the review means that it does not capture the most recent studies. Originality/value – The paper provides a synthesis of quantitative evidence from 13 meta-analyses to identify where there is consistency in estimates of impact and what is associated with systematic variation in this impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the authors' commentary on the issue's featured section of papers researching the impact of parental involvement on school children's motivation and performance. Topics addressed include identifying the theoretical assumptions made throughout these studies, proposals of alternative explanations regarding children's influence and agency within the parent-child relationship, and compliments on the positive aspects of the papers.

Many studies have focused on the negative aspects of transition from kindergarten to school, such as bullying and difficulties adjusting to school life. Fewer studies have asked children to talk about both positive and negative aspects of school life across time. This study explores children’s perception of positive and negative aspects of school during the last month at kindergarten, first three months and last month in Year 1. Gender differences in children’s perceptions of life in Year 1 are explored. Positive and negative aspects of school included peer interactions, learning, rules, environment, school activities and teacher-child interaction. Other positive aspects of school also included parents’ or siblings’ engagement in school activities, teachers’ praise and pupils’ roles. This paper provides robust information for educators and parents to use as a reference for developing effective strategies to help children adapt to school life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supported Playgroups in Schools (SPinS) are a new initiative in the Australian early childhood education landscape. SPinS are playgroups hosted by a playgroup coordinator co-located on a local school site. Research has identified positive benefits of playgroup participation for children and families. However, little is known about the potential for SPinS to contribute to families’ knowledge about transition to formal schooling. This paper uses the social capital concepts of ‘bonding’ and ‘bridging’ to examine caregivers’ perspectives on their participation in a SPinS with potential to build parental knowledge about their child’s transition to formal schooling. Three main elements of caregivers’ participation in SPinS with such potential are identified, and these elements are mapped into a continuum of low-to-high bonding and bridging relationships to illustrate the potential for SPinS to contribute to the development of increased knowledge about transition to formal schooling by families of young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 20 years, the use of administrative data has become central to understanding pupil attainment and school performance. Of most importance has been its use to robustly demonstrate the impact of socio-economic status (SES) on pupil attainment. Much of this analysis in England and Wales has relied on whether pupils are eligible for free school meals (eFSM). However, very little is known about the validity of this measure as a proxy for SES. Using a recent major birth cohort study, this paper examines the relationship between pupils' eFSM and their more detailed socio-economic circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the direct and indirect ties between various leadership styles, namely, instructional, transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership, and the instructional practices of teachers by applying a structural equation model. For this purpose, we analyzed survey data ofn = 3,746 teachers from 126 schools collected by the Hamburg school inspection in Germany between 2012 and 2015. The underlying model is based on Leithwood’s framework for guiding research on leader effects on learning and instruction. First, the results show that a bi-factor model seems to be the best measurement model. Next, it is shown that mediating variables are influenced by a leadership core as well as by different leadership facets. Third, we found that for influencing complex instructional practices like cognitive activation with challenging content, a combination of leadership styles is most promising, while for classroom management instructional leadership is the only and, thus, the primary determinant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much empirical research concerns job tenure, this paper introduces the concept of school tenure and further examines whether and how school tenure impacts student outcomes using a rich set of cohort data from England’s secondary schools. Using the number of times a student switched schools during the academic year as an instrument to measure school tenure to fully account for endogeneity issues, the resulting two-stage least squares estimates suggest that the effects of school tenure are positive and heterogeneous across students. While advantaged students are more likely to gain when their own school tenure is longer, disadvantaged students benefit if their peers have longer tenure. This significant heterogeneous effect suggests that school tenure may not simply act as the inverse of school mobility but may represent a potential determinant of student achievement and an effective school-specific measure for policymakers and practitioners. The relevant implications are accordingly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a long-standing concern within the sociology of education for ameliorating educational inequality, the challenge of improving educational opportunities for disadvantaged students remains deeply entrenched. While ‘macro’ issues such as segregation and systemic inequalities in school funding and access to qualified teachers must be addressed as matters of social and educational justice, Basil Bernstein's novel focus on ‘relations within’ education as the site of pedagogic discourse offers teachers and those working inside school systems a particularly powerful vision for promoting more equitable outcomes for students. This paper examines this assertion through a case study of the ‘mixed’ pedagogical practice of a successful teacher in a fifth-grade urban classroom in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the source of the gender gap in third-grade numeracy and reading. We adopt an Oaxaca-Blinder approach and decompose the gender gap in educational achievement into endowment and response components. Our estimation relies on unusually rich panel data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children in which information on child development reported by parents and teachers is linked to each child's results on a national, standardized achievement test. We find that girls in low- and middle-socio-economic-status (SES) families have an advantage in reading, while boys in high-SES families have an advantage in numeracy. Girls score higher on their third-grade reading tests in large part because they were more ready for school at age 4 and had better teacher-assessed literacy skills in kindergarten. Boys' advantage in numeracy occurs because they achieve higher numeracy test scores than girls with the same education-related characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews a qualitative study of student and lecturer communication and engagement within a ‘safe’, ‘structured’ setting. Relationships between students and academics are part of an emotional as well as intellectual encounter. Our sense of self is profoundly affected by how we feel others think about us. Being heard and valued gives us the confidence to question. Yet within the university context hierarchies and positions easily inhibit this rich potential. The prevalent focus on performativity and individual success can undermine our shared encounters, isolating us so that group work, endemic within university processes becomes, tokenistic and superficial. The study embedded ‘selves’ within a small group setting that facilitated a sense of belonging, open mindedness and compassion towards others by sharing thoughts and experiences. Students and academics exchanged roles and responsibilities. The results suggest that if this type of group work was extended and implemented into the wider university practice, certain concerns about inclusion and equity could be addressed and students and lecturers could enjoy a deeper intellectual and emotional affinity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article introduces the thematic special series on intersection of mathematics education and special education. This special series will include four research papers and one commentary. The four research papers rooted in a working group from the annual conferences of the International Group of the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) as well as its North American Chapter (PME-NA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with special educational needs ( SEN) are known to experience lower average educational attainment than other children during their school years. But we have less insight into how far their poorer educational outcomes stem from their original starting points or from failure to progress during school. The extent to which early identification with SEN delivers support that enables children who are struggling academically to make appropriate progress is subject to debate. This is complicated by the fact that children with SEN are more likely to be growing up in disadvantaged families and face greater levels of behavioural and peer problems, factors which themselves impact attainment and progress through school. In this paper, we evaluate the academic progress of children with SEN in England, drawing on a large-scale nationally representative longitudinal UK study, the Millennium Cohort Study, linked to administrative records of pupil attainment. Controlling for key child, family and environmental factors, and using the SEN categories employed at the time of data collection, we first establish that children identified with SEN in 2008, when they were age 7, had been assessed with lower academic competence when they started school. We evaluate their progress between ages 5-7 and 7-11. We found that children identified with SEN at age 7 tended to be those who had made less progress between ages 5 and 7 than their comparable peers. However, children with SEN continued to make less progress than their similarly able peers between ages 7 and 11. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the trajectories of initially higher- and lower-achieving children from lower and higher socio-economic status families from primary school through to university in England for the first time. We also explore what explains these trajectories. This enables us to provide new insights into when and why the performance of children with similar initial achievement diverges on the basis of their socio-economic background. Our results indicate that pupils from poor backgrounds who are higher achievers in primary school fall behind their better-off but lower-achieving peers during secondary school. This suggests that secondary school may be a critical period to intervene to prevent poor children from falling behind their richer peers. Our analysis suggests that there is less divergence in performance between pupils from different socio-economic backgrounds who attend the same schools. This result is particularly strong for children with low initial achievement. While we remain cautious about the implications of these findings, they provide suggestive evidence that schools (or the sorting of pupils into schools) play an important role in explaining why the test scores of richer and poorer children diverge over time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills are very valuable for economic growth. However, the number of young people pursuing STEM learning trajectories in the United Kingdom was lower than the predicted demand during the last decade. Several STEM enrichment and enhancement activities were thus funded by the government, private, and charitable organisations to improve understanding of and raise pupil interest in these subjects. One possible way of measuring the impact of these activities in supporting pupil understanding of maths was to track the proportion of young people obtaining a ‘good’ grade in standardised national tests such as the GCSEs. Attainment is of course only one possible outcome of education but certainly a very important one because students are more likely to continue studying subjects in which they score higher. This makes maths attainment even more important as it is a pre-requisite for admission to STEM degree courses. This longitudinal study makes use of the National Pupil Database to assess the impact of these schemes on maths attainment of participating schools. Following up 300 intervention schools for five years the study shows the intervention group did not do any better than the comparator. The paper suggests further directions for research and offers recommendations for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The juxtaposition of education and social mobility is based on the proposition that education plays an important role in mobility. This is particularly true in Malaysia as selection of students into premium classes, boarding schools, universities, for scholarships and for employment is still predominantly based on academic achievement. In an article featured by a national newspaper, the Prime Minister of Malaysia was quoted as saying that one of the government's achievements is in creating an environment of substantial social mobility and that the education system has enabled children to lead better lives than their parents. Is this sentiment, that education increases social mobility vis-à-vis to lead better lives, shared by the direct stakeholders of education, namely the school students? This paper sets out to investigate the perceptions of students in selected national primary and secondary schools in four states in Malaysia. A questionnaire survey consisting of eleven constructs was conducted to elicit responses on whether education allows them to lead better lives. A total of 331 school students in 9 primary schools and 297 school students in 8 secondary schools in Selangor, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak were randomly selected and surveyed. Findings reveal that there are significant differences in mean scores between rural and urban schools in terms of the role of education in increasing knowledge, expanding potentials, achieving ambition and becoming useful people. Between Sabah and Sarawak with Peninsular Malaysia, significant differences in mean scores are recorded in the constructs that education helps to improve class position, expanding potentials, securing better jobs and achieving ambitions. More interestingly, in a comparison between primary and secondary schools, results reveal that there are significant differences in mean scores on the constructs that education helps to increase knowledge, realize potential, obtain higher salaries, have more comfortable lives, achieve ambition, be loved by family, be loved by teachers and be loved by friends, with primary schools recording higher mean scores in all of these constructs. Does this mean that students become dis-illusioned as they go up the schooling ladder? Implications of results will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]