Compared fourth- and fifth-grade students' attitudes about their classrooms. Found that students in a traditional public school classroom were more likely to rate their classrooms as being more competitive, providing clearer rules, and having higher teacher control than did Montessori students, who were more likely to rate their classrooms as…

Elementary school students were surveyed to determine their liking of physical education activities over eight months. Each student participated in 18 activity units during the study period. Results indicated children preferred skill-related over health-related activities, though they enjoyed all of the activities in the curriculum. (SM)

Associations between perceived psychosocial climate and student outcomes among a sample of 1,512 students in grade-5 mathematics classes in Singapore were investigated using multiple linear regression and hierarchical linear modeling. Results suggest the existence of associations between outcomes and environment and the usefulness of both data…

Describes a fifth grade social studies unit on the concept of time. Explains that the unit focused on teaching about the terms century and millennium in order to help students understand that the true date of the new millennium is January 1, 2001. (CMK)

Describes a longitudinal study undertaken by the Everyday Mathematics (EM) program and presents achievement-test data results. Compares the performances of EM students to Japanese, Chinese, and traditionally taught U.S. children. (ASK)

Provides historical background on the ancient Hohokam people. Provides an art activity in which fifth grade students create effigy vessels based on their study of the Hohokam. Describes the process. Explains that students develop clay modeling skills and an appreciation for Hohokam culture. (CMK)

Describes a library media game for grades four and five that is centered around books and is based on the television show "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?". Procedures for the game are explained, and examples of questions from simple to more difficult, with answers, are presented. (LRW)

Investigates the effects of group personalization of instruction on the mathematics achievement and attitudes of 72 fifth-grade Taiwanese students. Personalization was accomplished by incorporating personal information and preferences provided by students into their mathematics word problems. Students were blocked by ability level, then randomly…

Presents an activity with fifth-grade students called "crazy hat portraits" that is the end product of a sequence of lessons. Describes the beginning lessons and lists what the students learn and the time and materials needed for the assignment. (CMK)

Examined the effect of communal learning, peer tutoring, and individual learning on the text recall of African American fifth graders. Students completed surveys assessing their preference for communal beliefs and behaviors, participated in groups, and recalled text. Communal learning group students recalled the most text. Communal beliefs…

Analyzes the conversations and writings of 2 ethnically diverse populations of fifth-grade children (ages 10 and 11) in response to the powerful and difficult themes contained in two award-winning children's books. Discusses the child's voice; the teacher's role as cultural mediator; responses at the literal level; reading between the lines;…

Presents an art lesson for fifth- and sixth-graders where they create a translucent design of colored cellophane on black paper inspired by the stained-glass windows of the Middle Ages and the artwork of Lewis Comfort Tiffany. Enables the students to become crafts people rather than just observers of the past. (CMK)

Discusses storytelling as a medium for learning about identity and communication. Presents an approach to interactive storytelling called SAGE (Storytelling Agent Generation Environment), an authoring environment for children to create their own storytellers to interact with. Results from empirical studies with fourth and fifth graders are…

Proposes that conceptual and procedural knowledge develop in an iterative fashion and improved problem representation is one mechanism underlying the relations between them. Two experiments were conducted with 5th and 6th grade students learning about decimal fractions. Results indicate conceptual and procedural knowledge do develop, iteratively,…

Examines transformation in the nature of public spaces for children and the school's role in producing those spaces. Draws on two years of ethnographic field-work at an elementary school. Focuses on a field trip to an art museum and explores another type of trip. (CMK)