In 2011, new teacher education programmes were introduced in Sweden. This policy case study examines the outcome of the reform, focusing on the pedagogic discourses in the examination practise of the primary teacher education programme, but also on the possible effects of dividing teacher education for primary teachers into two specialisations:…

This quantitative study was developed to explore the ability to impact elementary student 21st Century online research skills with a planned classroom intervention curriculum. The repeated measures quasi-experimental study randomly assigned all 5th grade classes in a Midwestern, suburban school (n = 418) to a 12-week intervention or control…

Tens of thousands of students begin each new school year with the hope that they will finally find "the" teacher who will help them succeed as readers, writers, and learners. This book shows how teachers can provide the type of differentiated instruction that struggling readers need by drawing on students' individual and cultural backgrounds, as…

To accurately assess the health knowledge, attitudes, and practices of students in fourth-seventh grades, the staff of the School Health Education Evaluation project found development of a new instrument necessary. The philosophic orientation and detailed processes followed in developing a noncurriculum specific, psychometrically sound evaluation…

Results of gifted fourth-sixth graders on the Structure of the Intellect Learning Abilities Test are analyzed in terms of the test's measure of five operations (evaluation, convergent production, divergent production, memory, and cognition). (CL)

Presents a set of criteria (formulated by students) for evaluating student projects. Notes that the method is called "FINE" (Facts, Interesting, Neatness, Effort). (SR)

A study examined the dimensions of children's motivation for reading. Eleven different dimensions of reading motivations were proposed, including intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for reading, perceptions of reading efficacy, social aspects of reading, and reading disincentives. An 82-item questionnaire was developed to measure each dimension,…

Describes the creation of an opera based on Aesop's Fables which was written, composed and performed by middle school students. Student groups created scenes based on the fables and devised methods for realizing them musically. Activity organization and student evaluation methods are discussed. (AM)

This study established nine categories which taken together define the open classroom. Three open classrooms at the grade levels four to six were used for this study. To gather the data the classrooms were observed, literature was reviewed, interviews were taken, and audio and video equipment was used. The data was then analyzed, and the…

In a study involving 59 gifted fifth- and sixth-grade students, Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices test was a more significant predictor of intelligence than Meeker's Structure of Intellect screening form for gifted. The use of either measure in screening or identification was questioned. (CL)

Described is a device designed to assess food intake which consists of a card display of 40 foods and pictorial representation of a day with which students indicate their typical food patterns. Results from a field test with upper elementary students (N=532) proved favorable. (DC)

This study attempted to identify gifted child humorists among 1,204 children in grades 3-6. Final identification of 13 gifted child humorists was determined through application of such criteria as funniness, originality, and exemplary performance or product. The influence of intelligence, development, social factors, sex differences, family…

Examining the effects of spelling tests on spelling achievement, a study compared two methods of spelling evaluation: (1) the dictated word-sentence-word method, requiring students to write only the spelling words; and (2) the dictated-sentence method, requiring students to write entire sentences containing the spelling words. Two fourth-grade…

Eighty-one fourth grade students were administered tests, tasks, and observations to investigate the relationship between IQ, rates of learning, scores on standardized achievement tests, and results of classroom observation. There was a substantial relationship between IQ, standardized tests, and rates of learning, but not classroom observation.…

Two studies compared strengths and deficiencies in the problem solving abilities of about 80 learning disabled and 110 nondisabled fifth and sixth graders using a microcomputer as an assessment tool. No significant differences in performance on problem solving tasks were found. The microcomputer is postulated as possibly responsible for this…