The purpose of this study was to examine the potential role of peer influences in contributing to the relative underachievement of girls in mathematics. Upper middle class, suburban New Jersey students (n=172 in grades 5, 8, and 11) were asked to express their attitudes toward hypothetical peers displaying strong interests and abilities in…

A study examined children's theme comprehension of non-religious moral children's stories. The study used 3 tasks of ascending difficulty: (1) selecting the moral theme when it is found in a multiple-choice context; (2) identifying the story-with-the-same-message when the message is found in a new context; and (3) moral message construction (a…

This guide, a revision of the 1985 manual, Archeology Is More than a Dig, is designed to help teachers use archaeology in the classroom and can be used with several disciplines to integrate learning in the elementary classroom. Designed for fifth-grade students, the lessons can be adapted to fit the appropriate skill level of students. Divided…

The role of performance assessments in making cognitive activity apparent to teachers and students was studied through descriptions of the cognitive activity of 31 fifth-grade students. Differences while carrying out a science performance assessment reveal critical differences between those who think and reason well with their knowledge of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of researcher-developed lessons on students' understanding of two- and three-digit numeration. Digit-correspondence tasks, often used for individual interview assessment of place value understanding, were adapted to be used as problem-solving tasks. The tasks were presented to three classes,…

A study of the relationship between involvement in an extracurricular drama club and the self-esteem of at-risk preadolescent and elementary students examined 244 fourth and fifth grade students in a rural Missouri school district. The experimental group consisted of 72 students who selected drama club from a list of extracurricular activities.…

This curriculum guide seeks to contribute vision to the values and goals of outdoor education and to show their relevance to all curricular areas. Direction is provided for developing and implementing a dynamic curriculum in outdoor education. The guide is divided into three sections. Section I addresses the informational needs of administrators…

A practicum addressed fifth and sixth graders' deficiencies in writing and comprehension skills with the implementation of diagnostic-prescriptive teaching techniques. The Multi Level Academic Skills Inventory and interest inventories aided in defining students' specific strengths and weaknesses in the areas of reading and language arts. Among the…

This report is one of a series on how curriculum unit experiences in U.S. history influenced the learning of fifth-grade students. This report focuses on the American Revolution period. Before the unit began, three classes of fifth graders stated what they knew (or thought they knew) about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War, the War…

A study investigated why children choose not to read. Subjects, 21 fifth-grade students attending a Catholic school in Vancouver, British Columbia, completed "clock-sheets" detailing their activities outside of school over a 5-day period, were administered a measure of locus of control, completed a reading attitude survey, and were…

A study looked at one problem teachers have when implementing an individualized reading program, the amount of time it can take students to choose a book to read. A database of the classroom library (consisting of about 600 novels) used by two fifth-grade language arts classes was created using Hypercard for the Macintosh. This database was…

A study examined the reading strategies of a "reluctant reader," a bright and accomplished fifth grader whose achievements had not as yet included a love of reading or very good comprehension skills. Subject of the study, a female, was an excellent student at a private school where whole language, reading and writing groups, and…

This study examined the impact of the use of cooperative learning on classroom discipline in third-, fourth-, and fifth- grade classrooms. Data were collected by means of teacher and experimenter observations of student classroom behavior. Problem behaviors were classified into two categories that involved the students themselves: off-task and…

Through timely questioning, teachers can estimate a child's understanding of mathematical ideas. Hence, the type of question asked by the teacher must be connected to the student's present thinking about a solution. This paper illustrates and analyzes how timely questioning on the part of teachers helped third, fourth, and fifth grade students…

A study examined the outcomes of dialogue journal writing from the perspectives of undergraduate teacher education students. Eighteen undergraduate students in a language arts methods course corresponded with 28 fifth-graders. Data included whole class discussions with the teacher education students, formal interviews, and written self-reports.…