Elementary Age Children Research Articles

"We are Water Warriors":

Elementary-aged children with a team of science, theater, and literacy educators performed the Chicago Global Water Dances in 2023. Global Water Dances (GWD) is an international initiative to raise awareness about water issues, promote sustainability, and inspire action to protect water resources through dance performed by a local body of Water. Through the Chicago Global Water Dances, children articulated several messages about the necessity of, and right to, clean water and highlighted the collective responsibility to protect this precious resource.

Exploring the feasibility of an occupational therapy after-school program among rural elementary children

ABSTRACT Programs that promote physical and social health for children after-school are needed. In this single-group pre-posttest study, we explored the feasibility of an 8-week afterschool program to promote physical activity, social participation, and well-being among rural elementary-age children. Data were collected from time-use activity clocks and self-assessed well-being to determine the amount of time in physical and social activities and to understand participants’ perceptions of their physical health and social relationships. Twenty-three children participated in the program. Results showed no significant change from the pretest to the posttest for total time spent in being active, non-active, and sleeping. Social participation time increased following participation in the after-school program and there was a main effect of time on weekday social participation, χ 2(4) = 12.888, p = .012. This occupational therapy after-school program was feasible to deliver. Additional research exploring after-school programming for outcomes of physical and social health are needed.

Are Sports The Catalyst For MVPA Benefits In Out Of School Programs? A Moderation Analysis In Elementary-aged Children

Are Sports The Catalyst For MVPA Benefits In Out Of School Programs? A Moderation Analysis In Elementary-aged Children

The role of school safety perceptions in childhood asthma diagnosis disparities.

Childhood racial and ethnic asthma disparities in the United States are the consequence of structural inequities such as those in socioeconomic status (SES) and exposure to violence, but little research has explored the role of the school environment in perpetuating racial and ethnic disparities. This study examines associations between perceptions of unsafe school environments (USEs) and subsequent asthma diagnosis for elementary-aged children and the extent to which USE mediates relations from SES and race/ethnicity to asthma diagnosis for Black, Latinx, and non-Latinx White children. We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the association between USE and subsequent asthma diagnosis, controlling for child sex, and indirect effects of SES and race/ethnicity on asthma diagnosis via USE. For 6,532 children, USE in second grade positively predicted new asthma diagnoses in third grade and mediated the association between SES and new asthma diagnosis. SES and USE serially mediated the relationship between race/ethnicity and asthma diagnosis. Identifying as non-Latinx White was associated with a lower likelihood of subsequent asthma diagnosis via higher SES and lower USE while identifying as Black or Latinx was associated with a higher likelihood of subsequent asthma diagnosis via lower SES and higher USE. USE was associated with pediatric asthma diagnosis and mediated the relationship between SES and asthma diagnosis as well as race/ethnicity and asthma diagnosis. Findings highlight the need to consider USE as a social determinant of health for pediatric asthma. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Building Knowledge across Language Systems: The Role of Audio and Visual Supports in Bilingual Learning through Self-Derivation

Children who enter the US education system as emerging bilinguals (or English Learners) show significant gaps in test scores and graduation rates compared to their English monolingual peers. Dual-language education programs may provide an instructional context that capitalizes on emerging bilingual children’s strengths and supports their academic performance while they acquire English. However, prior research has shown that integrating semantic knowledge across language systems poses a challenge. Supports may mitigate these challenges. Thus, across two studies, we examined instructional practices that may facilitate the integration of academic content across English and Spanish in elementary-age children enrolled in dual-language education programs. In Study 1, we examined whether facts presented through reading-while-listening or children’s silent self-paced reading more effectively supported learning the facts and subsequent integration for dual-language students in grades 3 and 4 (n = 56; Mage = 9.54 years). In Study 2, we examined whether combining graphics with text was more effective in supporting fact learning and cross-language integration compared to facts presented as text alone in dual-language students in grades 4 and 5 (n = 67; Mage = 10.48 years). Overall, the studies replicate the benefits of reading-while-listening and graphics for learning directly taught facts, but underscore the difficulty in integrating semantic knowledge across lessons and languages.

Changes in unhealthy food consumption among vulnerable elementary-aged children in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: a serial cross-sectional analysis.

Several studies suggest that during the early pandemic, amidst socioeconomic instability, children from underserved families were more likely to resort to consuming cheaper, lower-quality foods with longer shelf lives. This study investigated the change in unhealthy food consumption across different phases (pre, early, mid) of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether the strength of association between unhealthy food consumption and household socioeconomic disadvantage (HSED) varied across phases of the pandemic. This study utilized serial cross-sectional data collected from low-income families enrolled in a school-based food co-op, Brighter Bites. Secondary data analysis included 5,384 surveys from families who had complete data: 3422 pre-pandemic, 944 from the early pandemic, and 1,018 mid-pandemic. Outcome measures included sugary food intake and convenience/fast food intake, each of which was operationalized as a scale using pre-validated items from the surveys. HSED was operationalized as a composite of parent employment, parent education, food insecurity, and participation in government programs; responses were categorized into low, medium, and high HSED groups for analysis. We examined the interaction between HSED and time period to explore how HSED and its association with dietary measures changed over the course of the pandemic. A significant linear negative trend, i.e., a decrease in consumption from pre-to-mid-pandemic period was seen in sugary food intake (p < 0.001), but not in convenience food intake. In data pooled across time-periods, both sugary food and convenience/fast food consumption were inversely associated with HSED, and low unhealthy food consumption was observed among high-disadvantage groups. No significant interaction between time period and HSED was observed on either scale. However, the post-regression estimates from the adjusted interaction model showed a significant association between convenience/fast food consumption and HSED in pre- and mid-pandemic periods. The study highlights the nuances of socioeconomic dynamics on the diet behaviors of children from low-income families during a natural disaster.

Training Parents to Implement Trial-Based Functional Analyses: A Partial Replication and Extension with Elementary-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Training Parents to Implement Trial-Based Functional Analyses: A Partial Replication and Extension with Elementary-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

B - 56 Concussion Symptom Differences by Race/Ethnicity, Sex, and Age in Elementary-Age Children

Abstract Objective The influence of race/ethnicity upon symptom presentation after concussion in young children is unclear, although adult studies suggest that white male participants may encounter fewer negative outcomes. This study’s objective was to compare symptoms in elementary-age children in the immediate post-concussion period by race/ethnicity, sex, and age. Method Children (N = 392) aged 5–12 years (m = 10.26, SD = 1.83) seen within 30 days of a concussion at a specialty concussion clinic. Participants completed the concussion symptom scale from the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-5 (SCAT-5). The sample was 55.9% male with overall race/ethnicity 63.3% non-Hispanic White, 19.9% Hispanic/Latino, and 16.8% Black. Two-way (2x3) mixed-design ANOVA models examined number of endorsed SCAT-5 symptoms and total severity by racial/ethnic group, sex, and age. Participants were grouped by the following age ranges: 5–9 (N = 113), 10–11 (N = 143), and 12 years old (N = 134). Results Results showed no significant difference in total symptom count [F(2, 391) = 0.799, p = 0.460] nor symptom severity [F(2, 391) = 1.788, p = 0.169] across racial/ethnic groups. Females endorsed more symptoms [F(1, 391) = 20.383, p &amp;lt; 0.001] and greater severity of symptoms [F(1, 391) = 16.826, p &amp;lt; 0.001] than males. No significant symptom differences by age group were found. Conclusion(s) Comparison of concussion symptoms by race/ethnicity did not reveal differences for elementary-age children in this sample. As expected, females reported more symptoms than males. More research is needed with larger samples to examine sociodemographic aspects of concussion diagnosis, care, and recovery.

Differences in elementary-age children’s accelerometer - measured physical activity between school and summer: three-year findings from the What’s UP (Undermining Prevention) with summer observational cohort study

BackgroundAmong elementary-aged children (5-12yrs), summer vacation is associated with accelerated gains in Body Mass Index (BMI). A key behavioral driver of BMI gain is a lack of physical activity (PA). Previous studies indicate PA decreases during summer, compared to the school year but whether this difference is consistent among boys and girls, across age, and by income status remains unclear. This study examined differences in school and summer movement behaviors in a diverse cohort of children across three years.MethodsChildren (N = 1,203, age range 5–14 years, 48% girls) wore wrist-placed accelerometers for a 14-day wear-period during school (April/May) and summer (July) in 2021 to 2023, for a total of 6 timepoints. Mixed-effects models examined changes in school vs. summer movement behaviors (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA], sedentary) for boys and girls, separately, and by age and household income groups (low, middle, and upper based on income-to-poverty ratio).ResultsChildren provided a total of 35,435 valid days of accelerometry. Overall, boys (+ 9.1 min/day, 95CI 8.1 to 10.2) and girls (+ 6.2 min/day, 95CI 5.4 to 7.0) accumulated more MVPA during school compared to summer. Boys accumulated less time sedentary (-9.9 min/day, 95CI -13.0 to -6.9) during school, while there was no difference in sedentary time (-2.7 min/day, 95CI -5.7 to 0.4) for girls. Different patterns emerged across ages and income groups. Accumulation of MVPA was consistently greater during school compared to summer across ages and income groups. Generally, the difference between school and summer widened with increasing age, except for girls from middle-income households. Accumulation of sedentary time was higher during school for younger children (5-9yrs), whereas for older children (10-14yrs), sedentary time was greater during summer for the middle- and upper-income groups. For boys from low-income households and girls from middle-income households, sedentary time was consistently greater during summer compared to school across ages.ConclusionsChildren are less active and more sedentary during summer compared to school, which may contribute to accelerated BMI gain. However, this differs by biological sex, age, and income. These findings highlight the complex factors influencing movement behaviors between school and summer.

Balancing acts:

While Canadian policy makers are considering expanding school food programs in Canada, parents remain primarily responsible for packing lunches. Although women perform disproportionate amounts of foodwork, including feeding their children on school days, little research has investigated mothers’ experiences of packing school lunches in Canada. Drawing on 14 interviews with mothers of elementary-aged children in British Columbia, this study explored how mothers experience and make meaning of packing school lunches. Mothers described lunch packing largely as an individualized responsibility for children’s nutritional health and general wellbeing. Mothers strived to enact largely unattainable ideals about packing a “good” school lunch and engaged in diverse forms of physical, mental, and emotional labour to do so. When mothers were perceived to fall short of elusive lunch packing ideals, mothers judged themselves and other mothers, and also reported feeling scrutinized by other parents, teachers, and their children. While assuming the bulk of labour related to school lunch work, mothers also forged connections with their children through lunch packing, which they viewed as emotionally meaningful and a symbol of their care, love, and parental responsibility. These findings show that mothers’ experiences with lunch packing are complex and wrapped up in notions of “good” mothering and feeding ideals. For mothers, a “balanced” lunch requires not only a nutritionally adequate meal, but also involves balancing various forms of labour and contradictory emotions about food work. Understanding mothers’ experiences of lunch packing is pivotal for successfully developing school food programs that meet the complex expectations of Canadian families.

Balancing acts:

While Canadian policy makers are considering expanding school food programs in Canada, parents remain primarily responsible for packing lunches. Although women perform disproportionate amounts of foodwork, including feeding their children on school days, little research has investigated mothers’ experiences of packing school lunches in Canada. Drawing on 14 interviews with mothers of elementary-aged children in British Columbia, this study explored how mothers experience and make meaning of packing school lunches. Mothers described lunch packing largely as an individualized responsibility for children’s nutritional health and general wellbeing. Mothers strived to enact largely unattainable ideals about packing a “good” school lunch and engaged in diverse forms of physical, mental, and emotional labour to do so. When mothers were perceived to fall short of elusive lunch packing ideals, mothers judged themselves and other mothers, and also reported feeling scrutinized by other parents, teachers, and their children. While assuming the bulk of labour related to school lunch work, mothers also forged connections with their children through lunch packing, which they viewed as emotionally meaningful and a symbol of their care, love, and parental responsibility. These findings show that mothers’ experiences with lunch packing are complex and wrapped up in notions of “good” mothering and feeding ideals. For mothers, a “balanced” lunch requires not only a nutritionally adequate meal, but also involves balancing various forms of labour and contradictory emotions about food work. Understanding mothers’ experiences of lunch packing is pivotal for successfully developing school food programs that meet the complex expectations of Canadian families.

Structured Number Head Learning Strategy to Increase Elementary School Students' Learning Activeness

Active learning is a contemporary material that requires teachers to be able to condition students, classes and the learning process. Even though many previous articles discuss active learning strategies, studies that focus on structured number head learning strategies in elementary age children have not yet been discussed in depth. This research seeks to reveal the use of structured number head strategies in natural science learning in elementary school age children. Data collection uses observation, interviews and documentation studies methods. Next, the data was analyzed using data reduction, data display and verification techniques, then its validity was tested using data triangulation techniques. The results of this research conclude that learning the type of numbered head structure for teacher observation is in the good category for increasing the activeness of student learning activities. Because learning with this strategy forms groups that work together to fulfill their respective responsibilities and are interdependent with their peers, as each group can present and explain the results of the discussion according to their understanding. Through the implementation of the numbered head structure strategy, it is hoped that students will have active interest and enthusiasm in participating in the learning process, both in class and outside of class.

Effectiveness of a predator avoidance program for elementary-aged youth.

With thousands of children abducted and abused each year, efforts are needed to keep children safe from predators. Revved Up Kids (RUK) is an intervention that gives elementary-aged children the necessary tools to recognize and avoid dangerous people and situations. The purposes of this study were to describe the RUK intervention components and document its effectiveness. This evaluation utilized a quasi-experimental design to determine the effectiveness of RUK. The single-session intervention was offered in two formats: one-hour (n = 119 youth) and three-hour (n = 28 youth) workshops. RUK workshop effectiveness was compared to a comparison group (n = 211 youth) that did not receive an intervention. Data were collected at baseline, immediate-post, and 1-month follow-up from second to fourth grade participants. A series of linear mixed models were fitted. Compared to the comparison group, participants in both RUK workshops showed significant improvements across the three time points. More specifically, participants in the one-hour and three-hour RUK workshops significantly increased their safety knowledge measured by the Recognize Score (p < 0.01), Avoid Score (p < 0.01), and Escape Score (p < 0.01), respectively. These effective single-session workshops can be easily introduced into schools and community-based settings to complement existing efforts to prevent child abduction and abuse.

Feeling Saudade: Transborder Brazilian children’s critical consciousness in liminal zones of dual language bilingual education classrooms

ABSTRACT This article reports on a multi-year ethnographic study that explored how transborder children with ties to Brazil and the U.S. embodied and further (co-)developed critical consciousness in K-3 two-way dual language bilingual education (DLBE) classrooms. Leveraging a decolonial transborder approach in the analysis of classroom observation data, this article foregrounds how the children contested marginalized social identities related to unauthorized immigration status and co-constructed subalternized knowledge under the teacher’s radar in spatio-temporal liminal zones of sanctioned classroom discourse. Such contestation, embedded in accounts of saudade, or nostalgic longing, as well as transnational im/mobility, mapped onto critical consciousness components. This study calls on bilingual education scholars to attune to elementary-aged children’s knowledges, subjectivities, and actions on various scales as essential to understand and further support their critical consciousness formation.

The Effects of Supervision and Activity Status on Physical Activity Participation with Activity Zoned Playgrounds in Elementary-Aged Children

Objective: We compared changes in physical activity (PA) in active and inactive youth during school recess with supervised and unsupervised activity zoned playgrounds (AZP). Methods: We analyzed PA of 143 third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders from 2 elementary institutions using Actigraph-GT3X accelerometers for 4 weeks. We collected baseline data for one week prior to activity zoning. Afterwards, the playgrounds were divided into 6 activity zones for 2 weeks, with activity zones supervised at only one institution. Activity zones were removed, and PA data were collected for one-week post intervention. Results: We saw few differences in PA engagement between the supervision conditions throughout the duration of AZP implementation such that moderate and vigorous PA decreased with supervision (ps &lt; .05). Initial activity status influenced PA engagement with AZP implementation. AZPs significantly reduced vigorous PA engagement in active kids with subsequent increases in light PA engagement, whereas PA engagement remained relatively unchanged among inactive children. Conclusion: Supervising AZP may be detrimental to PA engagement during recess; however, this could be dependent on the reliability of employed supervisors. Additionally, considerable attention is needed with activity development that will appease students of differing activity statuses and prevent decreases in higher intensity PA engagement.

Effects of Activity-zoned Playgrounds on Social Skills, Problem Behavior, and Academic Achievement in Elementary-aged Children

Objective: We assessed changes in social skill development, problem behaviors, and academic competencies with an acute implementation of an activity-zoned playground (AZP) during recess. Methods: Third- and fifth-grade students (N = 116) from 2 midwestern elementary institutions were selected to wear an accelerometer at recess and have their teacher complete a pre- and post-intervention assessment of the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS). We measured physical activity (PA) using Actigraph-GT3X accelerometers for 4 continuous weeks: one week of baseline, 2 weeks of activity zone intervention, one week of post-intervention with activity zone removal. Results: The AZP intervention was effective at increasing MVPA with decreases in sedentary activity during recess for third-grade students whereas fifth-grade students showed no significant change in PA (ps &lt; .001). Furthermore, third-grade children improved their social skill scores by 3% (p = .003), but no change in social skill behavior was noted for fifth-grade students (p = .73); we detected no differences in problem behaviors or academic competence (ps &gt; .05). Conclusion: Activity-zoned playgrounds can improve PA engagement and can lead to improvements in social skill development without worsening problem behaviors, especially in younger students.

Motoric Development of Class V-1 at MIN 20 Aceh Besar Through Traditional Sports Games

This research aims to observe the physical motoric development of elementary age children achieved by providing learning methods using traditional sports equipment and games.. Teachers and parents have an important role in honing and monitoring children's physical-motor development so that they can grow and develop well. Motoric development is divided into two, namely gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Motoric development and physical development cannot be separated, because physical development can provide stimulation for motoric development which is related to movement skills. This research uses descriptive qualitative methods to obtain data by observation and documentation. This research was conducted at Madrasah Ibtidaiyyah Negeri 20 Aceh Besar. The sample for this research was all students in class V-1 with a theoretical study of students' physical-motor development. The results of the study show that the physical-motor development of all class V-1 students is developing well because teachers use a variety of learning methods to develop students' physical-motor development well.

Beliefs about social mobility in young American children.

Although actual experiences of upward social mobility are historically low, many adolescents and adults express a belief in social mobility (e.g., that social status can change). Although a belief in upward mobility (e.g., that status can improve) can be helpful for economically disadvantaged adolescents and adults, a belief in upward social mobility in adults is also associated with greater acceptance of societal inequality. While this belief might have similar benefits or consequences in children, no previous work has examined whether children are even capable of reasoning about social mobility. This is surprising, given that elementary-aged children exhibit sophisticated reasoning about both social status, as well as about the fixedness or malleability of properties and group membership. Across an economically advantaged group of 5- to 12-year-old American children (N=151, Mage=8.91, 63% racial majority, 25% racially marginalized; Mhousehold income=$133,064), we found evidence that children can reason about social mobility for their own families and for others. Similar to research in adults, children believe that others are more likely to experience upward than downward mobility. However, in contrast to adult's typical beliefs-but in line with economic realities-between 7- and 9-years-old, children become less likely to expect upward mobility for economically disadvantaged, versus advantaged, families. In sum, children are capable of reasoning about social mobility in nuanced ways; future work should explore the implications of these beliefs. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Despite harsh economic realities, a belief in upward social mobility and the American Dream is alive and well. Between 7 and 9 years of age, economically advantaged, American children begin to expect economically disadvantaged families to experience less upward mobility than economically advantaged families. Children's beliefs about social mobility better accord with reality than adults' do.

Development of a school-age extension of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers through expert consensus and stakeholder input.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends universal screening to identify children at higher likelihood for autism at 18- and 24-month well-child visits. There are many children, however, that are missed during this toddler age who do not get diagnosed until much later in development, delaying access to autism-specific interventions. Currently, brief measures for universal autism screening for school-age children, however, are lacking. In this project, we adapted a commonly used autism screener for toddlers, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised, with Follow-Up (M-CHAT-R/F), to be used for school-age children. This measure, called the M-CHAT-School (M-CHAT-S), is a parent- and teacher-report questionnaire to be used to screen for autism in school-age children aged 4 to 8 years of age. M-CHAT-S was developed through feedback from autism experts, as well as interviews with parents and teachers to provide input on the items. Two versions of M-CHAT-S were developed, one for verbally fluent and one for minimally verbal school-age children. M-CHAT-S is a brief measure, with updated items to reflect changes in the way experts think and talk about autism, making it a useful measure to use for autism screening in elementary aged children. The next steps include further testing to ensure that M-CHAT-S performs well in identifying children with increased likelihood of autism, after which it will be made available to parents, educators, and other professionals.

“I Saw It in a Movie”: Mass Media’s Influence on Young Children’s Understanding of World Cultures

This article describes research investigating mass media’s influence on elementary-aged children’s understanding of world cultures through the lens of serendipitous learning. The qualitative study explored the ideas children constructed about other countries, cultures, and people through their unmediated use of various media including movies, internet sites, books, video games, and television. Outcomes are primarily reported through the children’s own voices, and show they developed superficial, miseducative views through isolated, fragmented trivia and factoids that focused on surface culture, deficits, and exotica. However, the introduction to world cultures through media also encouraged interest and curiosity about other cultures in some children, with one student moving beyond initial exposure through media to extend his learning on his own. Results also suggest the children gleaned cultural information collaterally through media developed for purposes other than education, illustrating the complexity of media’s influence, and the idiosyncratic process of developing cultural cognition. These outcomes emphasize the importance of parents, other caregivers, and teachers addressing distortions in cultural understanding, and the necessity of teaching about world cultures in both formal and informal educational spaces to provide counternarratives and more complex perspectives than those generally found in mass media.