The famed playwright Harold Pinter, having just been introduced as a very good writer, was once asked by a six-year-old boy if he could do a "w." The author suspects that "w" was a difficult letter for this young man, and he judged the writing capability of others accordingly. This student's assumption--that being a "good…

This study compared oral personal and fictional narratives of diverse (African American and Caucasian) students with and without learning disabilities. Naturalistic conversation with embedded narrative prompts and supports provided the context for narrative elicitation. The participants were 82 fourth to seventh graders from urban and suburban…

Early exposure to science may have a lifelong effect on children's attitudes towards science and their motivation to learn science in later life. Out-of-class environments can play a significant role in creating favourable attitudes, while contributing to conceptual learning. Educational science theatre is one form of an out-of-class environment,…

Science teaching deals with abstract concepts and processes that very often cannot be seen or touched. The development of Java, Flash, and other web-based applications allow teachers and educators to present complex animations that attractively illustrate scientific phenomena. Our study evaluated the integration of web-based animated movies into…

It is common practice for elementary classes to plant seeds so that students have the opportunity to observe them germinate and grow. Beyond introducing plant anatomy, this relatively simple activity has the potential to engage children as young plant scientists who investigate the basic needs and behaviors of plants. In this article, the authors…

Spelling is a language skill supported by several linguistic knowledge sources, including phonemic, orthographic, and morphological knowledge. Typically, however, spelling assessment procedures do not capture the development and use of these linguistic knowledge sources. The purpose of this article is to describe a new assessment system, the…

The newly developed computerized Constructive Multiple-choice Testing system is introduced. The system combines short answer (SA) and multiple-choice (MC) formats by asking examinees to respond to the same question twice, first in the SA format, and then in the MC format. This manipulation was employed to collect information about the two…

Introduction: The use of self efficacy has been suggested as an effective classroom intervention procedure. The present research examined the use of self-efficacy training on the writing of Spanish elementary student with learning disabilities. Objectives: We present a research study focused on the improvement of the writing product and the…

Introducing a mystery object is an easy strategy to implement and allows teachers to pre-assess students' knowledge about local natural resources. Misconceptions can be noted as teachers record initial inquiries and wonderings on charts. Using the constructivist approach, students can explore and construct their learning as they continue to use…

The wealth of assessment options that exists offers teachers and students a "menu" of selections. Just as matching appetite needs with appropriate food selection is fundamental to a successful dining experience, matching assessment options to targeted achievement needs is crucial to an effective assessment experience. The author uses a…

Eighty-seven 4th, 5th and 6th grade students were administered the "Derivational Relatedness Interview" (DRI) (Templeton, Smith, Moloney, Van Pelt, & Ives, 2009). The purpose of this instrument is to explore students' understanding of derivational morphology. During the same week, the subjects were also administered an Upper…

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of the "Montana Recess Before Lunch Survey" was to explore benefits, challenges, and factors associated with successful implementation of Recess Before Lunch (RBL), from the perspective of school principals. Methods: An online written questionnaire was distributed to all (N = 661) Montana elementary and…

This study explores the potential of the "draw-and-write" method for inviting children to communicate salient aspects of their self-concept. Irish primary school children aged 10-13 years drew and wrote about their favourite people and things to do (social and active self). Children drew and described many salient activities (39 in…

In the era of globalization, the trend towards learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) has become increasingly popular worldwide. The increasing demand in learning CFL has raised the profile of the Chinese proficiency test (CPT). This study will analyze in depth the inadequacy of current CPT's utilizing the common European framework of…

In 2 quasi-experimental field studies in a real-life physical education (PE) setting, the authors investigated whether the interest-enjoyment and vitality of Greek pupils (age range, 10-12 years) varied from class to class as a function of the class-to-class variation in the manipulated motivational environment (Studies 1 and 2) and pupils'…