This curriculum guide and accompanying teacher's guide focus on the individual and personal freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and as interpreted by the courts--namely, the idea of fundamental rights as expressed through the concepts of liberty, justice, and equality. The curriculum includes 10 lessons: (1) Rights Are Fundamental; (2)…

This study explored the teaching practices and attitudes toward history of two fifth-grade teachers who taught their students about the American Revolution in 6-week units. Using case study, interviewing, observations, and student attitudes assessments, the study examined how the fifth graders reconstructed elements of the American Revolution…

The resources necessary to create, administer, and score performance assessments in science were studied. RAND and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) designed performance tasks for science in grades five and six as part of a larger study of the feasibility of science performance assessment. Tasks were developed in pairs in task…

A study examined how at-risk readers constructed meaning while reading, writing about, and discussing a full-length novel during Transactional Literature Discussions (TLD). Subjects were six fifth-grade students, four males and two females. Students chose the novel and participated in 15 group sessions of 45 minutes over 8 weeks. Scaffolded…

This study investigates the effects of computer-aided videodisc-based anchored instruction on promoting elementary school students' problem-solving skills in Taiwan. Anchored instruction combines theories such as situated cognition, cognitive apprenticeship, cooperative learning, and constructivist theories. With the help of interactive videodisc…

In the inclusion style of teaching, learners must make decisions about level of task difficulty. They must decide at which level to enter the presented task and then, for additional sets of trials, decide whether to perform the task the same way, make it more difficult, or make it less difficult. This study examined learner decision making in a…

This resource book offers an activity bank of learning experiences related to the theme of architecture. The activities, which are designed for use with students in grades 4-6, require active engagement of the students and integrate language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and art experiences. Activities exploring the architectural…

A study examined a program for advancement of students' literacy to improve their reading and writing skills. Subjects were seven fifth-grade bilingual students in a growing middle class community, located in a suburb of a large midwestern city. The problem of low reading and writing scores was documented in student writing samples, teacher…

The Alpha Program for the 1994-95 school year was operated for at-risk students by the School Board of Broward County (Florida) at two middle schools and one elementary school under the provisions of a grant from the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. Services included academic instruction, parent involvement, group…

At the same time that educators and researchers are identifying ways in which major reform and restructuring is needed in schools, research on student learning in science (and other subjects) from constructivist and conceptual-change perspectives is suggesting the potential for significant improvements in students' understanding of science and…

This study applied brain lateralization research and a model of generative teaching and learning to economic education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of verbal-only, imagery-only, and integrated (verbal-to-imaginal) strategies on fifth graders' proclivity to use economic reasoning (i.e. cost-benefit analysis) in personal…

Developmental changes in the understanding and use of the logic of experimental control were addressed with three tasks in a longitudinal study. In all three tasks, understanding of experimental control was assessed by production measures (children were asked to test potential causal relations in a multivariable situation) and by choice/evaluation…

This unit is one of a series that presents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. Columbus's momentous arrival in 1492 in the Caribbean ended the mutual isolation of two regions of the globe. From this moment on, the future of the Americas has been inextricably linked to those of Europe, Asia, and…

This guide is one of a set of 10 science guides, each covering a separate grade in Manitoba, together covering kindergarten through grade 9. The guides have been designed to provide a framework for building scientific concepts and developing the learning of process skills. They replace an earlier set of guides dated 1979. Each guide is essentially…

Low self-esteem frequently impedes students' academic achievement. By incorporating different learning and teaching strategies, this practicum attempted to build self-esteem for fifth grade students who exhibited low self-esteem. Participants were selected based on their attendance, academic achievement, and/or behavior. The writer incorporated…