Examines the creative writing of third- and sixth-grade students for gender differences when provided with story starters that introduced either a male or a female character. Finds that identifiable difference and trends related to gender and age appeared in the stories, reflecting the pervasiveness and power of sex-role stereotypes. (RS)

Explores the influence of the children's writing on the preservice teachers conceptions of writing as a complex growth process rather than a discreet set of skills. Notes many preservice teachers thought of writing as a set of linear skills to teach, but their paradigms shifted as they came to recognize the highly predictable and developmental…

Compares writing products of first graders who were taught to write using a structured approach (including phonemic awareness and phonics training) to the products of students taught using a holistic approach. Finds that children in the structured program wrote more words, wrote better overall compositions, and spelled more words and different…

Examines African-American kindergartners' intrinsic motivation in the context of an emergent writing task in both autonomy-supportive and controlling interactions. Finds: (1) in the autonomy-supportive context, children demonstrated more interest in the letter writing task than in the controlling context; (2) the order of the interactions affected…

Describes how a semester-long pen-pal project enabled 18 participating university language arts students, a class of first graders, their teacher, and the university instructors to become co-learners in meaningful, action research. Discusses insights about writing derived from the children's weekly letters. Presents an assessment rubric charting…