A needs assessment that utilized questionnaires and an interview showed that fifth grade students at the practicum site were not able to use reference materials appropriately. Target groups for the practicum were the fifth grade students and teachers. Constructivist methods were used to increase students' knowledge of using reference materials and…

This action research project devised a program designed to increase the use of visual elements in middle school core subjects and assessed its impact on student recall, teacher awareness, and use of visual/spatial elements. Observation, surveys, and interviews documented teachers' and students' limited knowledge and use of visual/spatial elements…

The Tennessee Self Concept Scale was used to study the effect of outdoor adventure activities on the self concept of university students. Related studies have found significant changes in self concept following survival training and Outward Bound experiences. The study population consisted of 99 students enrolled in 1 of 4 classes at Eastern…

The major purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of mathematics instruction based on the use of manipulative materials in grades 4, 5, and 6. A secondary purpose was to find whether this approach is differentially effective for students in different grade level, sex, or welfare recipient categories. Three treatment groups, one…

A comparative study is presented of three types of teaching methods: cooperative, competitive, and individualistic. It is pointed out that while studies related to this topic show that the cooperative method seems to be the most widely used and perceived as the most beneficial for teaching students, competitive and individualistic teaching methods…

The relationship between achievement and method of individualized instruction and testing was investigated using a class of 32 community college students. Construction of the mastery tests was described. For the class as a whole, students in a mastery-by-module group had slightly, but not significantly, higher scores than students in a…

This study, conducted in Knox County, Tennessee, compared retention scores of students using traditional learning methodologies to retention scores of students taught using cooperative learning strategies. Participants (n=23) remained the same during both phases of instruction. A comparison of posttest scores of a fifth grade social studies unit…

A study examined the effectiveness of preservice and inservice training in selected interpersonal communication techniques as a way of improving adult educators' ability to communicate with students with a variety of learning styles. The literature on adult learner characteristics and practice, learning style, and concepts and components of…

This study was performed to determine whether graphic organizers or traditional methods were a more effective way of instructing and assessing vocabulary development. The traditional methods included instructing with the use of context clues and/or dictionary use, and assessing with the use of matching, cloze passages, and/or fill-ins. A group of…

Sixth grade students' attitudes toward school were studied to determine if outdoor education investigations conducted on the school site and in the community would effect a positive change, similar to the change noted with students involved in residential outdoor programs. An experimental group of 28 students participated in outdoor activities…

A study determined if there would be any significant difference in comprehension test scores when learning disabled students were instructed with and without graphic organizers while reading novels. Subjects were five male fifth-grade learning disabled students reading on the fourth-grade level, who came from the same middle-class suburban school…

This study investigated the validity of the research methodology which sought to compare methods of instruction through the application of univariate statistical procedures, to contribute to the development of the theoretical position which contended that students of different abilities, needs, preferences, and attitudes should be differentially…

A study examined the effects of commercially produced phonics software upon the phonemic awareness of students studying reading with the Herman Method for teaching reading. Participants were 13 middle school students in a self-contained or comprehensive developmental special education classroom. The control group of six students did not use the…

The study described in this report was designed to determine the dominant approach to library skills instruction in the schools of the DeKalb County School System (Georgia), and whether any relationships existed between certain demographic variables and the approach being used. Library media specialists were asked to respond to a two-part…

This paper analyzes content and design of 120 school media center World Wide Web sites. The study's purposes were to develop a list of criteria for use in developing media center Web sites and to compare Web sites by author type to determine if differences exist in incorporation of criteria. The sites were analyzed on June 17 and 18, 2000 using…