The 10 most-cited articles in Journal of Education, 2020

This article reviews pretend play and its impact on and association with children’s language. Studies have shown the significant relationship between the two domains; however, more intervention research needs conducting to validate the causal impact of pretend play. Nevertheless, several studies exploring its effects on early language reported that pretend play is connected with children’s semantic diversity and semantic organization development; their level of using syntax and combining words in a creative way to fulfill the needs of fantasy as well. During pretend play, children practice and show advanced competence of using certain speech acts being appropriate with different contexts.

The amount of intentional, instructional, purposeful play has decreased in primary grades, and didactic, test-driven instruction has increased. Emerging neuroscientific evidence is beginning to highlight the significant effects the toxic stress from poverty has on developing brains. Almost half of American children can be considered to come from low-income to high-poverty households. Purposeful play may be the best solution to help ensure an equal and equitable educational playing field. This reflection establishes a research-based rationale for a more play-based pedagogy in primary grades and posits how striking balance between purposeful play and rigorous educational expectations is key to better developmental outcomes.

Illegal gold mining activities contribute tremendously to the local economy of the communities within which the practice is conducted. Despite such developments, its activities come with several environmental, economic, developmental and societal and educational challenges that governments, environmentalists, and educationalists have fought several decades to overcome. The study sought to examine the effect of illegal gold mining operations on school dropout. A sample size of 102 participants was selected for quantitative analysis together with purposive sampling of 20 key informants for qualitative analysis. The study found that children engage in Illegal gold mining and subsequent dropout from school.

Through a conceptual framework focused on student engagement, this article explores students’ perceptions about the impact the design of learning environments has on student engagement. The current mixed-methods study was conducted at two Texas replacement elementary schools where the entire learning community, all teachers, administrators, staff, and students, moved from an old building to a new building. Through the qualitative component of the study, student focus groups, the study explores the attributes of design and spaces that students value and perceive as having an impact on their learning and engagement. Students’ perceptions demonstrate that learning environments impact student engagement.

The goals of this study were (a) to assess the unique contributions of curiosity and demographics to the teacher–student relationship and (b) to identify the most common barriers teachers experience when attempting to build positive relationships with students. A sample of 518 public school teachers from across the United States completed an online survey. The results show that curiosity and grade level predict teacher–student relationships. Students’ negative behavior, time constraints, large class sizes, family issues, and truancy were among the most common barriers to positive teacher–student relationships. The discussion includes theoretical and practical implications for educators and school leaders.

This qualitative study examines first-year teacher candidates early field experience designing and implementing maker workshops for an afterschool program. The maker workshops were offered as part of a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) enrichment club at a local elementary school. The participants engaged in 50 hr of guided design, planning, and facilitation of a weather-focused maker workshop. Findings illuminate the role early teaching experiences (e.g., makerspaces) can play in the early professional development of elementary teacher candidates. This study calls for further investigation regarding maker environments as sites for elementary field experiences for teacher candidates.

Collaboration has been found to be a powerful tool for professional development and central for creating opportunities for teachers to reflect on their practice. However, school districts continue to have difficulty both implementing and sustaining collaboration. The purpose of this research was to investigate the experience of the teacher in a creative, instructional collaboration. The teachers in this study found that teacher-initiated collaboration offered them trust and they were more open with their partners. The results also supported the claim that teacher collaboration can facilitate school reform. Participating teachers felt less isolation and developed more teacher knowledge.

This study was primarily designed to find out the relationship between students’ home background and their academic performance. The study was conducted largely in senior high schools in rural districts in Ashanti Region, Ghana. The study used the ex-post facto correlation design. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 275 senior high school students. Questionnaire was used to collect the data from the respondents. Percentages and correlations were used to analyze the data. The family size was found to be highly correlated with the academic performance of students (coefficient = .711, p value = .002). Parent found it difficult in paying school fees and other levies of their children as a result of parents’ income (ρ = .669, p value = .004) in rural Ghana. The study also revealed that the educational background characteristics of parents had a significant correlation with the academic performance of students (coefficient = .711, p value = .002). Following from the findings, the Government of Ghana (Ministry of Education) should stick to its mandate of ensuring the provision…

Self-regulated learning (SRL) has gained increasing interest in educational research. Although SRL models agree on the dynamic interplay between forethought, performance, and self-reflection processes, they differ in the subprocesses implied at each phase. The main objectives of this study were to develop and test an SRL model by integrating main contributions of social cognitive career theory and Zimmerman’s SRL model in a sample of undergraduates in Argentina. Structural equation modeling showed that three models fitted well to the data, explaining between 21% and 34% of the variance. The results of this study provide theoretical and empirical support for the SRL model.

This research aims to discover the opinions of students who will become teachers in the future concerning the expectations and concerns about themselves in the context of the possible selves theory (PST). Qualitative phenomenological research design has been used in this study. The study group consists of 449 students. In the research, the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods, has been used. Descriptive analysis has been used in the analysis of data. The findings revealed that the concerns and expectations of the prospective teachers were mostly in the area of pedagogical formation and general culture. It is determined that the most frequent expectation and concern of prospective teachers is to be competent in the profession and losing belief in the profession.