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Effective Teaching Approach Kindergarten Language Development

The Playful Pen: Strategies for embedding Writing Instruction into Daily Play

To explore how educators can integrate early writing instruction into kindergarten classrooms through guided play. Sanchez (2025) addresses the growing tension between play-based learning and the rigid, policy-driven academic curricula common in modern early childhood education. Because strict mandates often cause frustration for young learners during formal writing tasks, Sanchez (2025) proposes guided play—a blend of child-led exploration and intentional adult scaffolding—as a pedagogical solution to meet literacy goals while preserving autonomy.

The study was designed as a five-month participatory action research project conducted by Sanchez (2025) in a public kindergarten classroom of 25 students. Sanchez (2025) dedicated one hour daily to guided play, intentionally introducing targeted writing tools, books, and printables into popular areas like the playdough, block, dramatic play, and Lego centers. By carefully observing and interacting with the children, Sanchez (2025) seamlessly integrated early writing prompts into their natural play routines.

By thoughtfully curating materials and engaging in collaborative dialogue, Sanchez (2025) successfully motivated students to independently incorporate writing into their spontaneous play. Children naturally began authoring authentic texts, including “how-to” guides for playdough snowmen, labels for complex block mazes, dramatic play pie recipes, and step-by-step Lego instructions. This playful approach transformed writing from a stressful, mandated chore into a joyful, self-directed activity that empowered even the most reluctant students.

Sanchez (2025) concludes that guided play effectively dismantles the false dichotomy between structured academic learning and early childhood play. The research highlights that successful implementation requires dedicating adequate classroom time, encouraging storytelling with an audience, and fostering a supportive community among educators. Ultimately, intentional scaffolding allows writing to evolve from an isolated academic skill into an authentic, meaningful communication tool that honors young children’s agency.

 

Source (Open Access): Sanchez, A. (2025). Guided play in the kindergarten classroom: One teacher’s inquiry into scaffolding play-based writing instruction. Early Childhood Education Journal, 53(6), 2089-2098.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-025-01931-w… Read the rest

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Primary School Education Secondary School Education Social and Motivational Outcomes

Teachers’ Teaching Emotions, Teaching Mindset, and AI Readiness

Ti and colleagues employed a cross-sectional survey design with hierarchical regression and moderation analyses to examine how in-service teachers’ teaching emotions and teaching ability mindset predict their AI readiness, and whether mindset moderates the relationship between emotions and AI readiness. The study included 424 in-service teachers in China (mean age = 38.76 years) from both primary and secondary schools. AI readiness was measured using Wang et al.’s (2023) four-dimensional framework, including cognition, ability, vision, and ethics. Teaching emotions were categorized into positive and negative emotions, and teaching mindset was classified as growth or fixed. Gender and social desirability bias were controlled in the analyses, and interaction effects were tested using the PROCESS macro.

The results showed that positive teaching emotions significantly and positively predicted all four dimensions of AI readiness (B ≥ .48, p < .001), whereas negative emotions did not significantly predict any dimension (|B| ≤ .06, p ≥ .309). Regarding mindset, a growth teaching mindset had significant positive effects on cognition, ability, vision, and ethics (B ≥ .18, p < .01), indicating that teachers who view teaching ability as developable are better prepared to respond to AI-related educational change. Interestingly, a fixed teaching mindset did not uniformly produce negative effects; instead, it positively predicted the cognition and ability dimensions (B ≥ .17, p < .01), although it was not significant for vision and ethics. Overall, the inclusion of emotions and mindset in the models yielded medium to large effect sizes (.28 ≤ f² ≤ .36), suggesting substantial explanatory power.

Moderation analyses further revealed that a growth teaching mindset strengthened the positive relationship between positive emotions and AI cognitive readiness (B = .11, p < .05). In other words, teachers with both high positive emotions and a strong growth mindset demonstrated higher levels of understanding regarding AI roles and functions. In contrast, a fixed teaching mindset moderated the relationship between negative emotions and the cognitive dimension (B = .10, p < .05). When fixed mindset was low, negative emotions significantly reduced cognitive readiness (B = –.18, p < .05), whereas this effect was not significant when fixed mindset was high. Notably, moderation effects were observed only for the cognition dimension, suggesting that the cognitive aspect of AI readiness is particularly sensitive to the interaction between emotional and mindset resources.

Overall, this study indicates that teachers’ readiness for AI integration in education is influenced not only by technical training or institutional support but also by their emotional experiences and beliefs about the malleability of teaching ability. Positive emotions and a growth teaching mindset serve as important psychological resources that enhance AI readiness, especially in shaping teachers’ cognitive understanding of AI. The authors recommend that AI-related professional development initiatives incorporate emotional regulation support and mindset cultivation to foster more comprehensive and sustainable AI readiness among teachers.

Source (Open Access): Ti, Y., Sun, Y., & Li, X. (2026). Predicting in-service teachers’ AI readiness from emotions in teaching and mindsets about teaching ability: Testing the direct and moderating effects. Teaching and Teacher Education, 175, 105433.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2026.105433… Read the rest

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Higher Education Language Development

Comparing the effects of ChatGPT and automated writing evaluation on students’ writing and ideal L2 writing self

Using a randomized controlled experimental design, Shi et al. (2025) compared the effects of ChatGPT-based feedback and traditional automated writing evaluation (AWE) systems on English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students’ writing performance and their ideal L2 writing self. One hundred and fifty second-year university students from three writing classes in a Chinese public university were recruited and randomly divided into a ChatGPT group, an AWE group, and a control group.

After an eleven-week intervention, results showed that ChatGPT helped students perform better in their writing compared to the control group and the AWE group, but compared to the AWE group, ChatGPT significantly lowered students’ ideal L2 writing self. Qualitative results shed light on possible causes: while participants were fully aware of the affordances of ChatGPT feedback, they were also concerned with their (over) reliance on the tool and the accompanying loss of creativity and agency and expressed their reserved attitude toward future intention to use ChatGPT.

Educators should refine learning objectives based on students’ ZPD and design prompts accordingly, so that ChatGPT supports learning rather than completing tasks, while also teaching prompt-engineering skills. For lower-intermediate to intermediate learners, AWE’s systematic and rule-based feedback can provide stronger scaffolding and better preserve authorship. However, ChatGPT’s richer affordances may lead to over-reliance, weakening learner agency and diminishing the ideal L2 writing self. Therefore, language-education goals should be redefined to incorporate AI literacy and critical thinking, safeguarding teacher and learner agency and promoting responsible use.

 

Source (Open Access): Shi, H., Chai, C. S., Zhou, S., & Aubrey, S. (2025). Comparing the effects of ChatGPT and automated writing evaluation on students’ writing and ideal L2 writing self. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 1-28.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2025.2454541… Read the rest

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Achievement K-12 Education Maths and Science Learning

The Impact of Mathematics and Science Professional Development on Teacher Knowledge, Instruction, and Student Achievement

A recent meta-analysis by Lynch and colleagues examined the effectiveness of professional development (Professional Development) interventions for mathematics and science teachers in grades PK-12. Analyzing 200 effect sizes for teacher outcomes and 126 effect sizes for student achievement from 46 experimental studies published from 2001 to 2024, the authors investigated how PD programs affect teachers’ knowledge and classroom instruction, and whether these changes translate into improved student learning.

The authors employed Hedges’s g as the effect size metric, using randomized controlled trial designs to ensure causal inference. PD interventions were categorized by their focus areas: improving teacher knowledge (content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge), content-specific and content-general instructional strategies, and content-specific formative assessment. The researchers also examined contextual factors such as intervention duration, inclusion of curriculum materials, and school demographics.

The results revealed a significant positive impact of PD on teacher outcomes (pooled average: +0.52 SD). Specifically, teacher knowledge improved by +0.52 SD and classroom instruction by +0.49 SD. Importantly, programs with larger impacts on teacher outcomes also demonstrated significantly larger effects on student achievement. A 1 SD improvement in teacher-level outcomes was associated with a +0.18 SD gain in student achievement. Notably, improvements in classroom instruction showed a stronger link to student learning (+0.24 SD) than knowledge gains (+0.08 SD, not statistically significant). PD programs explicitly focusing on teacher knowledge development (effect size difference: +0.18 SD) and content-specific formative assessment (+0.27 SD) showed significantly stronger impacts on classroom instruction. Interestingly, intervention duration and the inclusion of curriculum materials did not significantly moderate outcomes.

The findings underscore that the quality and specific focus of professional development matter more than duration. Schools should prioritize PD programs that explicitly target both teacher knowledge and instructional practices, particularly emphasizing formative assessment strategies. The strong link between improved instruction and student achievement validates investments in high-quality professional development as a lever for enhancing educational outcomes in mathematics and science.

Source (Open Access): Lynch, K., Gonzalez, K., Hill, H., & Merritt, R. (2025). A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence linking mathematics and science professional development interventions to teacher knowledge, classroom instruction, and student achievement. AERA Open, 11, 23328584251335302.https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251335302… Read the rest

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K-12 Education Programme Evaluation

Gender Disparity in Computational Thinking Pedagogy and Assessment: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

Gender disparities in computational thinking (CT) education are widely acknowledged, but few meta-analyses have investigated how particular instructional approaches and assessment settings shape these differences. To address this research gap, Liu et al. (2025) conducted a meta-analysis of 53 empirical studies, covering 100 effect sizes and a total sample of 15,454 participants, to examine the overall magnitude of gender differences in CT education and the factors that may shape them. The findings show a small but statistically significant overall gender difference (g = 0.106, 95% CI [0.024, 0.188], p < .05), suggesting a slight advantage for males.

Regarding moderation effects, neither general study features (e.g., publication type, geographic region, and educational level) nor CT assessment contexts (e.g., the instrument used and the learning outcome measured) significantly altered the effect sizes. In contrast, pedagogical approaches did matter: technology-integrated strategies such as mixed and plugged approaches were linked to larger gender gaps favoring boys, whereas unplugged approaches tended to narrow the gap and sometimes even shifted the advantage toward girls. In terms of assessment, gender differences were not significant when CT concepts were measured, but they became significant when outcomes involved authentic practices (such as programming tasks) and identity-related dimensions (such as motivation, learning interest, and self-efficacy).

The results highlight clear implications for improving equity in CT education. Support should start early in K–12, with a particular focus on developing students’ CT practices and perspectives so that small gender gaps do not become persistent over time. Unplugged activities can serve as a low-barrier entry point, strengthening basic understanding and confidence, especially for girls. In addition, technology use should be introduced progressively: when digital and AI tools are scaffolded within supportive, culturally relevant learning settings, students may feel less anxious about technology and experience more inclusive participation.

 

Source (Open Access): Liu, S., Dai, Y., Ng, O. L., & Cai, Z. (2025). Gender Disparity in Computational Thinking Pedagogy and Assessment: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 37(4), 114.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10095-3… Read the rest

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Primary School Education Secondary School Education Social and Motivational Outcomes

The Relationship Between Teachers’ Character Virtues, Engagement, and Well-Being

Angelini and colleagues employed a cross-sectional survey design combined with path analysis to examine how three teacher character virtues—caring, inquisitiveness, and self-control—influence teachers’ work engagement and overall well-being, and to further test the mediating roles of burnout and teacher self-efficacy. The study involved 339 in-service teachers in Italy from both primary and secondary education, and collected data on character virtues, burnout, self-efficacy, work engagement, and psychological well-being to examine both direct and indirect relationships among these variables.

The results showed that the three character virtues exerted significant overall positive effects on teachers’ engagement and well-being. Correlational analyses indicated that inquisitiveness, caring, and self-control were all positively associated with self-efficacy, work engagement, and well-being, and negatively associated with burnout. Path analysis further revealed that inquisitiveness and self-control significantly reduced burnout (β = –.142, p < .05; β = –.235, p < .001, respectively) and enhanced teacher self-efficacy (β = .206, p < .01; β = .191, p < .01). Caring, by contrast, mainly influenced outcomes through increasing self-efficacy (β = .171, p < .01) and did not directly reduce burnout. Burnout had strong negative effects on work engagement (β = –.528, p < .001) and well-being (β = –.324, p < .001), whereas self-efficacy significantly increased engagement (β = .212, p < .001) and well-being (β = .219, p < .001), highlighting their central mediating roles in the model. Overall, the model explained 35.6% of the variance in work engagement and 45.7% of the variance in well-being.

Notably, the mechanisms through which different character virtues operated were not identical. Inquisitiveness had direct effects on both work engagement (β = .095, p < .05) and well-being (β = .122, p < .05), as well as significant indirect effects through burnout and self-efficacy. Caring primarily affected well-being (β = .184, p < .001), with its influence on work engagement largely mediated by self-efficacy. Self-control did not directly predict engagement or well-being, but indirectly promoted both outcomes by reducing burnout and enhancing self-efficacy. These findings suggest that teacher character virtues influence professional functioning through multiple psychological and occupational pathways rather than a single uniform mechanism.

Overall, this study demonstrates that teachers’ character virtues constitute important personal resources for fostering professional engagement and psychological well-being, with burnout and self-efficacy serving as key mechanisms linking character to well-being. The authors emphasize that teacher well-being and burnout should be viewed as two ends of the same continuum, and recommend that future teacher support and professional development programs incorporate character-based interventions to simultaneously reduce burnout risk and enhance teachers’ professional vitality and overall well-being.

Source (Open Access): Angelini, G., Mamprin, C., Buonomo, I., Benevene, P., & Fiorilli, C. (2026). Virtues, engagement, and well-being in teachers: Associations with burnout and self-efficacy in a path analysis model. Teaching and Teacher Education, 169, 105284.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2025.105284… Read the rest