Specific Grade Levels Research Articles

Utilization of Photomath Among Grade 7 Junior High School Students

This study investigates the efficacy of introducing the Photomath mobile app into the mathematics curriculum for Grade 7 students. The study takes a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis and qualitative observations to assess Photomath's impact on students' learning results. The study intends to offer light on how Photomath affects students' mathematical knowledge, problem-solving abilities, and overall academic achievement via the lens of educational technology. The quantitative component entails examining pre- and post-intervention assessment scores and comparing the performance of students who used Photomath to those who used standard teaching methods. In addition, surveys and interviews are used to collect qualitative data about students' perspectives, attitudes, and experiences using Photomath. This dual-method approach enables a more nuanced assessment of the complex implications of incorporating this technology into the Grade 7 mathematics curriculum. The study's findings are intended to contribute not only to scholarly discussions on technology-assisted learning, but also to practical issues for educators and legislators. By investigating the efficacy of Photomath at a specific grade level, the study hopes to shed light on the possible benefits and drawbacks of using similar instructional tools. Finally, this investigation aims to inform evidence-based decisions on the use of technology to improve mathematics teaching for Grade 7 pupils.

Utilizing Text-Generative AI for Creating Oral Reading Fluency Probes

Oral reading fluency probes are essential for reading assessment, intervention, and progress monitoring. Due to the limited options for choosing oral reading fluency probes, it is important to utilize all available resources such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT to create oral reading fluency probes. The purpose of this article is to describe how to use AI through ChatGPT to create customizable reading passages comparable with that of oral reading fluency probes. Using readability estimates, the ChatGPT-generated passages can be tailored to suit for specific grade levels, similar to how current publishers design oral reading fluency probes for the market. The implication of ChatGPT-generated passages is that researchers and practitioners alike could use ChatGPT to be able to create a seemingly unlimited amount of reading passages tailored to the skill level and interests of the learner for intervention material and potentially assessment material, while reducing cost and time investment.

Student-Led Interest Time and Its Influence on Social Skills and Interaction among Students: A Quantitative Analysis

This quantitative study investigated the perceptions of student-led interest time (SLIT) among secondary school students and its influence on social skills and interaction. Conducted at Balite National High School in San Francisco, Surigao Del Norte, the research utilized a descriptive research design to analyze the impact of SLIT on various aspects of student development. Purposive sampling was employed to select participants from the school's population of 365 students. The findings revealed that SLIT positively affects engagement, learning outcomes, skill development, and social connections within the classroom. Students perceive SLIT activities favorably, expressing enjoyment and recognizing its benefits for personal growth and relationship-building. However, there are identified areas for improvement, particularly in aligning SLIT activities with student preferences and interests. Demographic analysis indicates a diverse representation of students across different age groups and grade levels, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of perceptions across various developmental stages and educational backgrounds. Statistical tests demonstrate significant differences in perception based on age and grade level, highlighting the influence of demographic factors on students' views of SLIT. This study underscores the importance of SLIT in promoting holistic student development. It suggests that efforts to tailor SLIT activities to meet student needs and interests better can further optimize its effectiveness. Further research, including post-hoc analyses, is recommended to identify specific age groups or grade levels that exhibit significant differences in their perceptions of SLIT, aiding in the refinement of SLIT implementation strategies.

Analisis Meta dengan Machine Learning: Tingkat Efektivitas Projectbased Learning untuk Meningkatkan Pemahaman Konsep Fisika

This article proposes a meta-analysis using a quantitative approach to evaluate the effectiveness of Project-Based Learning (PjBL) in enhancing the understanding of physics concepts. By summarizing findings from 19 studies conducted in various countries, grade levels, and educational levels, this article aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the extent to which PjBL can be an effective learning approach. The analysis results reveal a diversity of effect sizes, with some studies indicating a positive impact and others indicating challenges in implementing PjBL. Moderator analysis highlights significant differences between studies conducted in Asia and Non-Asia, as well as at specific grade levels. Despite varying results, overall, PjBL can be considered effective in improving the understanding of physics concepts. By exploring recommendations and implications from this analysis, this article contributes to the development of the PjBL approach in the context of physics education in the future.

Discussion on Microteaching in Korean Mathematics Education

This study conducted a literature review to scrutinize the landscape of microteaching-related research within the field of mathematics education in South Korea. The research data were collected by searching for keywords such as microteaching, teaching demonstrations, and simulated rehearsal on RISS until July 2023. The final research data consisted of 28 empirical studies, including only those published in academic journals. For data analysis, the study delved into the purposes of microteaching, the specific grade levels being targeted, and the diverse methodologies employed in microteaching. The findings illuminated that a predominant focus of the studies was on secondary preservice teachers, with microteaching being implemented primarily for the purpose of observing teaching behaviors. Qualitative research methodologies prevailed, with a notable prevalence of studies utilizing video recordings to encapsulate the intricacies of the teaching process. Furthermore, it was a customary practice to facilitate peer feedback sessions following the teaching sessions. Finally, a comprehensive discourse was engaged to elucidate the underlying rationales driving the observed trends in these findings.

Measures To Develop the Ability To Self-Study Chemistry For High School Students With the Support of AI Chatbot

AI Chatbot is applied in most areas of life, in the field of education, AI Chatbot is also a term that many educators and teachers are interested in researching and applying. The most application of AI Chatbot in education is in teaching, AI Chatbot helps teachers make teaching work easier, saving more time. Besides, the development of self-study capacity is also a matter of concern in order to equip the necessary qualities and skills for an independent learner with a spirit of lifelong learning. The article presents measures to develop the ability to self-study Chemistry with the support of AI Chatbot for junior high school students. Thereby, teachers have orientations for building teaching scenarios to help students self-study and be autonomous in their learning when learning with AI Chatbot. With the benefits that AI Chatbot brings, learning with the support of AI Chatbot needs to be used not only in a specific subject or grade level, but should be used widely at all levels and for students. different subjects.

Exploring bilingual and dual language teachers’ perspectives on asset-based professional development in science and engineering

ABSTRACT In this article, we report on a mixed method study conducted through a previously validated bilingual instrument. The purpose was to understand elementary bilingual and dual language (BDL) teachers’ perspectives of science and engineering (S&E) teaching in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico with the goal of developing situated professional development in science and engineering (S&E). Our findings suggest that an asset-based, and content-language integrated approach is needed to develop BDL professional development models attuned to specific locations, program models, and grade levels. Implications for our findings transferred to academic practices for BDL teachers are included.

Moderator effects of mobile users' pedagogical role on science learning: A meta‐analysis

AbstractThe advancement of technologies has promoted the increasing popularity and integration of mobile technologies in science education in the past decade. These trends have led to an increased interest among scholars to understand the effects of mobile technologies in science education and whether those effects differ depending on how mobile technologies are used in learning and teaching (eg, student‐led, teacher‐led, collaborative). In this study, we performed a meta‐analysis of 34 studies that directly examined the effects of users' pedagogical role on K‐16 students' achievement in science when engaging in mobile learning (ML). The analysis of the 34 studies yielded an overall significant main effect of ML on K‐16 science learning outcomes. We applied the mixed‐effects model with moderator variables and found that users' pedagogical role significantly moderated the ML effects as a whole. Collaborative and student‐led uses had a statistically significant impact on student science learning, whereas teacher‐led use did not. Findings from this meta‐analysis are consistent with prior research, providing synthesized research‐based evidence of the effects of ML on science learning that holds implications for both mobile curriculum design and mobile technology use.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicMobile technology has been increasingly adopted in science learning with great potential to support learning and teaching.Prior meta‐analysis has suggested multiple moderators in measuring the mobile learning effect.Prior empirical studies examined the effect of mobile users' pedagogical role in the specific subject domains (eg, physics) and grade levels (eg, high school).What this paper addsThis meta‐analysis is among the first to examine the moderator effect of mobile users' pedagogical roles on ML in K‐16 science education.This study found that mobile technology use is associated with significant science learning outcomes across 34 studies.This study found that the effect of mobile learning was moderated by mobile users' pedagogical roles (ie, who initiated the use). Collaborative use between teachers and students tends to be the most effective. Teacher‐led use tends to be the least effective.Implications for practiceThis study suggests that we should consider who leads the use of mobile technology when integrating mobile learning in science education.In particular, educators should encourage collaborative and student‐led mobile use for learning and instruction.

Perceived Metalinguistic and Cognitive Influences of Bilingual Education

Despite the substantial body of academic research regarding the metalinguistic and cognitive effects of bilingual education, most of the literature reports on large-scale experimental studies (e.g., Bialystok et al., 2010) while little is known about how individuals who have participated in bilingual programs view their learning outcomes. The objective of this study was to investigate whether there are trends in the self-perceived outcomes of bilingual immersion education on people who have spent at least four years in a bilingual educational setting. Ten individuals who met this criterion were interviewed and the audio recordings of their interviews were transcribed and analyzed inductively to allow themes to emerge from the participants’ words. Findings indicate there were identifiable themes in how participants perceived their education and the amount of time and specific grade levels spent in bilingual programs tended to correspond with certain participant response patterns. This study has implications for the many emerging Georgia dual language immersion programs and their recruitment strategies. Keywordsbilingual education, dual language immersion, metalinguistic ability, cognitive ability

Middle Grades Mathematics Teachers’ Mixed Perceptions of Content-Focused Professional Development

The purpose of this study was to understand how and why middle grades mathematics teachers did or did not fully participate in sustained, content-focused professional development. Qualitative data were collected from middle grades teachers who demonstrated varying levels of participation. The teachers identified opportunities to engage in novel ways with mathematics content as effective in improving their own mathematics understanding and, consequently, their own instruction. Participants who were more critical of the professional development felt the mathematics content was often beyond their specific grade-level. Factors identified as affecting teachers’ participation in the training included administrative support and school-related responsibilities. Offering content-focused professional development designed to reflect the structures and characteristics established in research to most effectively provide teachers with needed knowledge and skills was not enough to ensure teacher participation.

Elementary teachers’ science subject matter knowledge across the teacher career cycle

AbstractAlthough widely touted as important, there is little evidence regarding the influence of teaching experience on elementary teachers' science subject matter knowledge (SMK). To better understand this phenomenon, we administered an assessment of science topics taught in the fifth and sixth grades to 169 preservice teachers, 231 fifth‐grade teachers, and 208 sixth‐grade teachers. We then compared the mean scores of teachers at different stages in the career cycle using one‐way and two‐way ANOVA and explored the relationship between SMK scores and years of teaching experience using regression analysis. Findings indicate that (i) being assigned to a specific grade level had an impact on teachers' SMK for topics included in the grade level, (ii) teachers' SMK scores were lower later in their careers for both science topics they had never taught and for science topics they were responsible for teaching, and (iii) results differed for fifth and sixth grades. This study adds to the existing literature through the examination of a large sample of elementary teachers, with teachers of varying years of experience, while focusing on the science topics these teachers are responsible for teaching. The results of this study provide strong evidence that (i) years of experience teaching specific science topics is associated with the development of teachers' knowledge of these topics, and (ii) teaching experience, what teachers do in the context of their everyday practice, can be an effective means of self‐directed learning for teachers. There is also evidence that this influence is not uniform across years of teaching experience or science topics taught. These findings raise important implications about future research into the mechanism of SMK development through teaching experience and teacher grade‐level assignments.

The Scientist in the Classroom Partnership program: an innovative teacher professional development model

ABSTRACTThis article presents an in-depth study supporting the Scientist in the Classroom Partnership (SCP) program as a model of effective professional development (PD) for K-12 teachers. The goal of this study was to determine the core and structural features of the SCP program necessary for effective teacher PD. The SCP partners a classroom teacher with an STEM graduate student or postdoctoral fellow to co-teach 1 day per week during the academic year. During the summer, the teacher and fellow work together in a 10-day workshop to build the partnership, learn inquiry-based pedagogical strategies, and develop curriculum. Teacher participants from 9 years of the program were surveyed to determine the impact on the participants. In addition, teachers attended a 1-day retreat that allowed for data collection during storytelling and focus-group sessions. Likert surveys were analyzed, and the storytelling and focus-group data were coded for analysis. Five core and three structural features emerged from this analysis. The core features included gains in discipline and pedagogical content knowledge, inquiry strategies, and renewal of teaching. The structural features included the duration of PD (over 200 h), PD focused on specific grade levels, and the use of multiple types of PD approaches.Abbreviations: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)

Relationship between Gender, Year Levels, Assignment Completion and Academic Achievement for College Students

In order to effectively enhance students’ learning, doing assignments is an accepted practice of improving content knowledge and self-regulated skills. However, individual differences may impact students’ assignment behaviors. This study examined the relationship between specific assignment variables (i.e. amount of assignment completed, time spent on assignment), gender and grade level. The participants were 786 undergraduate students from five universities in Thailand. A two-way analysis of variance showed that differences of gender and year levels significantly affected the amount of assignments completed and time spent on assignments. The female students completed significantly more assignments and had more time spent on assignment than the male students. For year level differences, freshman complete more amount of assignments than other students (sophomore, junior and senior). On the other hand, junior and senior students spent more time on assignments than sophomores. Using a hierarchical regression analysis, gender and year levels were significantly associated with academic achievement. Moreover, the results revealed that the number of assignments completed was a strongest predictor on academic achievement and had positive associations with academic achievement after controlling gender and year level variables. Our findings then suggest there are differences between gender and undergraduate year levels in terms of assignment completion which may then affect students’ learning outcome.

Assimilation Patterns of Migrant Students in China: An Exploration of their Implications for Mathematics Outcomes

This study is concerned to compare and contrast academic performance indicators which characterize migrant students in segregated schools, as opposed to integrated schools, and investigates the differences in their levels of mathematics achievement in terms of length of residency and specific grade level. Extrapolations derived from performance results in mathematics display a pattern of what we call ?segmented processes of assimilation?, conditioned distinctly in accord with the length of residency migrant children spend in urban areas in the Chinese context. The implications of these disparities and inequities are discussed, with an aim to encourage policy makers to recognize that reform of the segregation patterns for Chinese migrant students is clearly imperative.

A panel study to examine the impact of multidimensional poverty on Korean adolescents' health

The study aims to explore the changes in adolescents' health during this significant transition from childhood to adulthood, and examines the impact of multidimensional poverty on their health. The study used panel data drawn from Seoul Child Panel Study, from 8th to 11th grade, and analysed the 908 adolescents using hierarchical linear modelling. Having consistent poverty, single parents and food insufficiency were significant predictors of physical and mental health problems, and these findings varied significantly by specific grade level. Implications for policies and practice to promote the health of adolescents in multidimensional poverty are identified.

SciCats: An Integrative Outreach Initiative to Enhance STEM Education in Our Community

ObjectiveTo bolster the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education of K‐12 students by providing dynamic, hands‐on experiences aligned with national education standards while providing professional‐development for university students.MethodsUniversity of Kentucky (UK) students in the allied‐sciences programs volunteer to work with an elementary school class for a calendar year. Graduate students collaborate with UK professors and their assigned teachers to design lesson plans in line with the core standards tailored to be palatable to specific grade levels. Lessons are led by UK students in order to offer advanced science students an experience in teaching and conveying difficult concepts at a lay level. Gifted high‐school students also work on developing exciting experiments for primary school students.ResultsElementary student science interest increased drastically in the first four trial months of this initiative. Interest in science for students that originally reported that they did not like science has also increased. UK graduate students involved in the program have noticeably enhanced communication skills over students who have not yet chosen to participate in the program. Post‐secondary science students are not commonly taught how to teach, and participation in this program allows them to learn, practice, and perfect the art of teaching and communicating with the mentorship of a professional <a>educator.</a>ConclusionParticipation in the program increases scientific education of K‐12 students. UK students who participate in the program gain the teaching and communication skill, organization and preparedness, and the community‐outreach commitment qualities valued in academic and industrial researchers alike.

Awards, Announcements, and News

Awards, Announcements, and News

Advocacy

The author describes key issues and uncommon concerns about the Common Core State Standards that fit within two categories: philosophical and pedagogical. Philosophically, Common Core State K-12 Standards should not be expected to be mastered at a specific grade level but based on developmental readiness. Pedagogically, Common Core State Standards need to be taught using inquiry or discovery, and independent study strategies, rather than direct instructional strategies.

Preferences Regarding School Sexuality Education Among Elementary Schoolchildren's Parents

Background A comprehensive review of the literature failed to find any studies to assess elementary school parents' preferred philosophical approach to teaching sexuality education and sexuality education topics discussed by parents. All previous research reported parent data for grades K-12 or grades 9-12 only. Methods A random sample of 2400 parents of children ages 6 to 11 across 3 counties of a Midwestern state were surveyed using a 3-wave mailing, which resulted in a final response rate of 43% from eligible parents. Results When asked to identify which of 3 sexuality education topics should be taught at specific grade levels, a plurality (36%) thought that the reproductive system should be taught in grades 3-5. Most parents (51%) supported teaching abstinence and refusal skills in grades 6-8 and supported teaching birth control and condom use (55%) in the middle school grades or earlier. Discussion Multiple factors come into play when schools decide what sexuality education topics to include in the curriculum, including politics, moral philosophy of adults, resources, and research evidence. The results of this study support comprehensive sexuality education. Translation to Health Education Practice Health education teachers should advocate for quality sexuality education in the middle school grades or earlier.

Distortion or Clarification: Defining Highly Qualified Teachers and the Relationship between Certification and Achievement

Recent studies of the relationship between teacher preparation pathways and student achievement have resulted in similar statistics but contradictory conclusions. These studies as a group have several limits: they sometimes focus on student-level indicators when many policy decisions are made with indicators at the school-level or above, are limited to specific urban locations or grade levels, or neglect the potential influence of building type, as defined as the grade-levels serviced. Using statewide data from the 2004-2005 school year, we examined the relationships between school-level indicators of student achievement on nationally-normed tests and proportions of alternatively certified teachers, while controlling for building type and other relevant covariates. Our findings indicate that the relationship between teacher preparation and student achievement at the school level depends on whether the building mixes multiple grade levels (e.g., elementary and middle). The implications of Missouri's policy change for research and school improvement are discussed with respect to the current high-stakes testing environment.