Project REM (Resources, Energy, Mankind) incorporates energy, ecology, and environmental topics into a sixth-grade science curriculum. Various activities of this year-long project are discussed, including those related to Mr. REM (a student-built "robot") and an all day exploration of energy held near the end of the school year. (JN)

Using 418 sixth-graders in Jamaica, sex, family size, birth order, occupational level, father's presence, preference for conceptual style, field dependence, reading achievement, and mental ability were examined in relationship to mathematics achievement. Mental ability, reading achievement, and family size, in that order, were found to predict…

A science teacher relates his feelings as he discussed modern warfare with his sixth-grade students. The students' reactions to moral questions and issues behind civil defense procedures and radioactivity are also discussed. (FG)

Results of a study designed to discover the proficiency level in grade six mathematics of prospective elementary teachers in a mathematics curriculum and instruction course indicated no relationship between instructional mode and proficiency, a significant correlation between attitude and proficiency, and a strong relationship between ranking of…

Describes the "Neighborhood Walking Tour" project in which gifted sixth graders worked with college students in Duluth, Minnesota to compile histories of buildings located in their neighborhoods. Evaluation results show that the project results in a greater awareness of appropriate sources for the collection of various types of data. (RM)

Investigates the use of female students as peer experts in a workshop introducing an interactive, computer-based learning environment called LEGO/Logo, in which students build computer-controllable machines. Participants were 85 sixth-grade students. Findings indicate that students were successful in building a wide range of machines and that peer…

Describes the impact of using dialog journals in English-as-a-Second-Language classes on sixth graders who lacked confidence in their writing ability. Results showed a positive effect of modeling, improved writing attitudes, and a new human dimension to a previously hierarchical teacher-student relationship. (SM)

A sample of 285 parents of children in kindergarten, second, fourth, and sixth grades was interviewed about their children's television viewing habits. Analyses revealed that interest in classic cartoons, which typically display violence for violence's sake, was predicted by grade, whereas attraction to typically justice-restoring violent fare was…

Evaluated the effectiveness of an upper elementary, abstinence-based, sexuality education curriculum on students' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs related to sexuality. Pre- and postintervention surveys of students in intervention and control groups indicated that intervention students had higher scores on knowledge and life skills and reported…

Describes how beginning language learners generated electronic mail in a foreign language, Spanish, and what the resulting texts looked like. The study uncovered different, contrastive writing behaviors and a diversity of texts and suggests that communicative activities in the language classroom pose dilemmas for students. (39 references)…

Investigated fourth, sixth, and eighth graders' thinking about the role of a bystander and the role of a victim in the context of aggression. Findings suggest that evaluation of behavioral responses on the part of bystanders and victims is influenced by the relationship among the parties involved. (RJM)

Assessed gender-related self-perceptions, activity preferences, and occupational stereotypes in 468 elementary school students. Correlations among the gender-related measures were more congruent with a multifactorial approach to gender than the unifactorial gender schema model or the two-factor model of masculinity and femininity. Instrumentality…

Argues that science may be presented as a continuing effort to improve existing knowledge. Analyzes a three-month discourse by sixth graders, showing that the basic commitments enabling scientific progress can be realized in elementary schools. Suggests that people need to be able to move freely between scientific and other modes of thought to be…

Reports on a pilot study that investigated the creative impact of information and communication technology (ICT) in a grade 6 class in England. Presents a model of creativity that includes problem solving, creative cognition, and social interaction; and discusses the creation of personal Web pages. (Author/LRW)

The question of how children solve force and motion problems in computer simulations without explicit knowledge of the underlying physics was investigated. Keystroke sequences made by children were saved and analyzed, and children were interviewed to understand their perception of the relationship between keyboard input and on-screen action. (CW)