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Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a class of newly discovered endogenous noncoding RNAs, have shown large capabilities in gene regulation. Patients with the grade 3 endometrial cancer (EC) have a generally poor prognosis, and the specific role of circRNAs in the grade 3 EC remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the roles of circRNAs in the grade 3 EC. In the current study, we screened the expression profiles of circRNAs taken from two women with the grade 3 EC and adjacent non-cancerous endometrial tissue using circRNAs sequencing. Bioinformatic analyses were applied to study these differentially expressed circRNAs. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) of six dysregulated circRNAs was performed to validate the sequencing results. Bioinformatic analyses, including the negative correlation network analyses of circRNAs-microRNAs (miRNAs)-messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and the Cytoscape, were used to delineate the interaction of circRNAs/miRNAs of the entire network. Data of circRNA sequencing showed a significant change in 75,928 unique circRNAs ( <0.05). The upregulated hsa_circ_0039569 and hsa_circ_0001610 and downregulated hsa_circ_0000437, hsa_circ_0001776, and hsa_circ_0009043 were validated by qRT-PCR analysis. Using bioinformatical methods, we found that hsa_circ_0039569 has the MRE of hsa-miR-542-3p and hsa-let-7c-5p. Hsa-miR-542-3p and hsa-let-7c-5p were downregulated in the grade 3 EC validated by qRT-PCR analysis. In the clinicopathological parameters, the expression level of hsa_circ_0039569 was significantly correlated with tumor differentiation ( =0.001). This is the first study demonstrated that there were a lot of differences between the tissue of the grade 3 EC and adjacent non-cancerous endometrial in circRNA expression and may offer novel molecular candidates for diagnosis and clinical treatment of the grade 3 EC.

Implemented was a 45-minute per day Primary Science IDEAS intervention in grades 1–2 integrating reading and writing within science instruction in a multi-year study conducted in 8 experimental and 9 control schools. Results found a significant direct achievement effect in grades 1–2 on both the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) Science and Reading. In addition, the direct effect of the intervention in grades 1–2 also resulted in significant achievement transfer from grades 1–2 to grade 3 on both the ITBS Science and Reading. Discussed are policy implications of the findings for increasing instructional time allocated to science in grades 1–2 and expanding the focus of grade 1–2 student achievement assessment to include content-area learning.

Mathematical modeling plays an important role in improving students’ interests and attitudes in reasoning, communicating and solving problems. In order to understand modeling in the popular mathematics textbooks for primary schools in China, this study developed a modeling framework for K-12 mathematics textbooks, and used content analysis method to analyze China’s current textbooks of primary mathematics in grades 3 to 6. The results showed that the samples follow a gradual development principle in terms of “content level,”“appearing location,” and “representation mode,” but the scientificity of model content level needs to be enhanced. In the four stages of modeling, the contents for cultivating students’ high-order thinking ability need to be further enriched. It is also suggested that more mathematical background knowledge should be covered in future textbook compilations. Plain language summary Modeling of China’s current mathematics textbooks in grade 3 to 6 In order to understand the modeling in the popular mathematics textbooks for primary schools in China, this study developed a modeling framework for K-12 mathematics textbooks, and used content analysis method to analyze China’s current textbooks of primary mathematics (Grades 3–6). The results showed that the samples follow a gradual development principle in terms of content level, appearing location and representation mode, but the scientificity of model content level needs to be enhanced. In the four stages of modeling the contents for cultivating students high-order thinking ability need to be further enriched. It is also suggested that more mathematical background knowledge should be covered in future textbook compilations.

This study examines associations between leisure reading and reading skills in data of 2,525 students followed from age 7 to 16. As a step further from traditional cross-lagged analysis, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to identify within-person associations of leisure reading (books, magazines, newspapers, and digital reading), reading fluency, and reading comprehension. In Grades 1-3 poorer comprehension and fluency predicted less leisure reading. In later grades more frequent leisure reading, particularly of books, predicted better reading comprehension. Negative associations were found between digital reading and reading skills. The findings specify earlier findings of correlations between individuals by showing that reading comprehension improvement, in particular, is predicted by within-individual increases in book reading.

As the COVID-19 pandemic upended the 2019–2020 school year, education systems scrambled to meet the needs of students and families with little available data on how school closures may impact learning. In this study, we produced a series of projections of COVID-19-related learning loss based on (a) estimates from absenteeism literature and (b) analyses of summer learning patterns of 5 million students. Under our projections, returning students are expected to start fall 2020 with approximately 63 to 68% of the learning gains in reading and 37 to 50% of the learning gains in mathematics relative to a typical school year. However, we project that losing ground during the school closures was not universal, with the top third of students potentially making gains in reading.

The global concern over low mathematical achievement consistently challenges educational ministries. Poor development of learners’ algebraic representations contributes to poor mathematical achievement from the Foundation Phase classes (Grades 1–3). In short, in teaching algebraic representation in Grade 3, success is measured by the extent to which the learners can reason, handle abstractions, manipulate symbols and finally be able to communicate mathematical ideas. This article explores the views and experiences of Grade 3 teachers in developing learners’ algebraic representations. The concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) approaches underpin this study as they guide teachers in using concrete objects, drawings, and symbols to build learners’ algebraic representations. A single case study research design using a qualitative approach was employed to explore the phenomenon under study. A homogenous purposive sampling was used to select six Grade 3 teachers from three schools in Limpopo province, South Africa. Semi-structured interviews, interpretivist document analysis and non-participant observations were used to collect data. Thematic narrative analysis was used to interpret the data to explore the views and experiences of Grade 3 teachers in developing learners’ algebraic representations. The findings indicate that teachers use concrete manipulatives and indigenous games to develop Grade 3 learners’ algebraic representations. However, the lesson plans and observations revealed that Grade 3 teachers face challenges teaching abstract number symbols, as learners rely more on concrete objects.ContributionConsidering these findings, the novelty of this article contributes to teachers’ knowledge on expanding the CRA approach with scaffolding approaches to teach abstract number symbols to develop Grade 3 learners’ algebraic representations. As a result, this research addresses Africanisation, decolonisation, and pedagogical transformation in the alarmingly poor results of mathematics.

The advent of a democratically-elected government in South Africa in 1994 disrupted the erstwhile synchrony between the schooling system, teacher education system, curriculum and pedagogy. Yet many South African teachers continue to express their teacher identities much like they did prior to 1994. The explanations posited for why this is the case tend to focus on systemic arguments. Notwithstanding their importance, these arguments render teachers as products of the social system. In this paper, it is argued that reflexivity is central to the emergence and expression of teachers’ identities. Reflexivity refers to the mental capacity to consider oneself in relation to one’s social contexts and visa versa. The modes of reflexivity of a grade 3 teacher are examined to demonstrate how she mediates the social structures that condition the emergence and expression of her primary mathematics teacher identity. Drawing on a social realist analysis of narrative data and classroom observations, the paper traces her identity historically into the present. The paper suggests that over the years her concerns in the world, and modes of reflexivity, have changed. These are key to understanding the decisions she makes in the classroom and how she deals with the social structures that condition the manner in which she expresses her role as teacher, that is, her primary mathematics teacher identity. The shift in her primary mathematics teacher identity has led to her reproducing the old roles of the teacher as exemplified in the pre-1994 curriculum. While the paper is located in the South African context, the implications for teacher education have international significance.

To determine whether formative writing assessments that are directly tied to everyday classroom teaching and learning enhance students’ writing performance, we conducted a meta-analysis of true and quasi-experiments conducted with students in grades 1 to 8. We found that feedback to students about writing from adults, peers, self, and computers statistically enhanced writing quality, yielding average weighted effect sizes of 0.87, 0.58, 0.62, and 0.38, respectively. We did not find, however, that teachers’ monitoring of students’ writing progress or implementation of the 6 + 1 Trait Writing model meaningfully enhanced students’ writing. The findings from this meta-analysis provide support for the use of formative writing assessments that provide feedback directly to students as part of everyday teaching and learning. We argue that such assessments should be used more frequently by teachers, and that they should play a stronger role in the Next-Generation Assessment Systems being developed by Smarter Balanced and PARCC.

With a one-stage meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) analysis based on 49,416 individuals from 267 independent samples and 210 studies, the current study systematically investigated models including meta-linguistic skills, decoding, language comprehension, and reading comprehension for Chinese population. Findings showed that (1) decoding and language comprehension were moderately related and together explained 52.7% variance of reading comprehension; (2) meta-linguistic skills made significant direct and unique contributions to decoding and showed a strong relation with language comprehension; however, meta-linguistic skills did not make direct contributions to reading comprehension beyond decoding and language comprehension; (3) location (Mainland vs. Hong Kong) did not emerge as a significant moderator in the model; (4) grade level significantly explained the between-study heterogeneity on the relation between decoding and reading comprehension, such that decoding made more contributions to reading comprehension before Grade 2 than after; and (5) the effects of language comprehension on reading comprehension stayed stable with grade, and so did meta-linguistic skills on decoding. These findings, taken together, suggest that the Simple View of Reading can be applied to reading in nonalphabetic languages such as Chinese. For Chinese reading development, Grade 2 may be the transitional grade where the effects of decoding on reading comprehension started to decrease significantly. The null direct effects of meta-linguistics skills on reading comprehension further support the parsimonious structure of Simple View of Reading (decoding and language comprehension) in explaining reading comprehension in Chinese.

Mathematical difficulties have been distinguished as mathematics learning disability (MLD) and persistent low achievement (LA). Based on 1,880 Finnish children who were followed from kindergarten (age 6) to fourth grade, this study examined the early risk factors for MLD and LA. Distinct groups of MLD (6.0% of the sample) and LA (25.7%) children were identified on the basis of their mathematics performance between first and fourth grades with latent class growth modeling. Impairment in the same set of cognitive skills, including language, spatial, and counting skills, was found to underlie MLD and LA. The finding highlights the importance of monitoring mathematical development across the early grades and identifying early cognitive precursors of MLD and LA for screening and intervention efforts.