Examines the relationship between leisure-time reading and home environment, reading attitude, and reading motivation. Suggests, from the perspective of developing the leisure reading habit, that (1) what parents "do" is more important than what they "are" and (2) the emphasis placed on reading in the home and on academic and intellectual…

First and fifth graders participated in this assessment of ways in which differential experience with objects in a spatial array might establish relative landmarks within the array. Results suggest that different levels of experience can establish elements as relative landmarks in spatial memory. (Author/RWB)

Presents a lesson which will help students see the importance of the Bill of Rights in their everyday lives and learn the first ten constitutional amendments. Outlines the procedures for a five-day teaching unit, assignment of a student project, and discussion of two problems dealing with freedom of expression. (GEA)

Findings suggest that (1) dyslexia is more prevalent in the United States than in Italy, (2) reading disabilities are strongly associated with disorders of verbal processing in both countries (although some American dyslexics also show visual-motor deficits), and (3) there is a greater dissociation between reading comprehension and decoding in…

Offers a full-color reproduction of Jacopo del Sellaio's painting, "The Adoration of the Magi," and a lesson plan for using it with children in grades four through six. The goal of the lesson is to familiarize students with the concept of symbolism and its use in early Christian art. (JDH)

This study investigated the effect of task difficulty, evaluation condition, and sex of subject on continuing motivation of fifth-graders. Results indicted higher return rates for teacher evaluation and for boys over girls. Boys returned to a challenging task more than girls did, whereas girls preferred the easier task. (Author/JAZ)

Concludes that teaching fourth- and fifth-grade children to ask themselves questions about key points in a story significantly improved their performance on tests about story content. (FL)

Reports on a study that investigated which of four modes of reading (oral reading to an audience, oral reading to oneself, silent reading, silent reading while listening) best facilitates fifth-grade students' comprehension. Concludes that for these students as a whole, comparable comprehension may be expected when they read to themselves or read…

Social studies peer work groups (PWGs) in fifth grade classrooms were more frequent than math PWGs and involved a broader variety of student behaviors and cognitive levels. The majority of social studies groups were cooperative in both task and reward structures. For both subjects, student involvement was highest in cooperatively task-structured…

Studies the gender-neutral use of "he" and "his" in first, third, and fifth graders and college students according to a modified version of a task developed by Moulton et al. (1978). Also uses a task involving a fictitious, gender-neutral occupation (a wudgemaker) to test third and fifth graders for possible effects of gender-related pronoun use…

For each of six randomly selected elementary students, their teachers were asked to predict whether the student had responded correctly or incorrectly to selected items on a standardized achievement test that recently had been administered in the district. Results were consistent with other research. (Author/LMO)

Determined whether test-wiseness training would influence the achievement of students in math and reading. Significant effects were noted in math for fifth-grade students. Race effects favored White students. (Author/ABB)

To examine the effects of using a microcomputer in mathematics instruction, a nine-month study with 87 fifth-grade students was conducted. The group having drill-and-practice on the microcomputer improved significantly more than a group using an individualized kit, and also gained significantly in computer literacy. (MNS)

Investigated were the effects of computer-assisted instruction and computer programing instruction on the feelings and knowledge students have about computers. For the 72 high-ability fifth-grade students participating, both treatments improved computer literacy in the affective domain, but only CAI improved it in the cognitive domain. (MNS)

Presents conversations of a group of fifth graders collaborating on a social studies task to illustrate how childen use language to learn. Focuses on one student whose oral language was rapid and chaotic but who demonstrated extremely sophisticated and complex structuring of knowledge to understand a particular social studies concept. (HTH)