The links between sixth-grade reading achievement, race, and the socioeconomic status of schools and neighborhoods in the Kansas City School District (KCSD) from the 1950s to the present were examined. The data show that black students tended, as early as 1956, to be in poverty schools with low achievement and that this pattern has persisted. In…

"Trade-offs" is an instructional television series of 15 programs designed to improve and expand economics instruction in fifth and sixth grade classrooms in the United States and Canada. This paper reviews 15 studies that have examined the impact of the "Trade-off" series, and seeks to determine how the series affects student…

A prominent theme permeating national science education reform reports such as the "National Science Education Standards" (National Research Council [NRC], 1996) and "Project 2061: Science for All Americans" (Rutherford & Alhgren, 1990) recommends the incorporation of cooperative learning in the science classroom. Although…

The organization of this book is based upon the principle -- generally accepted in schools today -- that every situation in the school requiring or stimulating social intercommunication or individual self-expression affords significant opportunity for developing language ability. These situations, which are vital and meaningful to the pupils, are…

A follow-up study built on a 1980 study which compared the self-concept of 86 rural Appalachian sixth graders with 80 urban non-Appalacian sixth graders using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale; then the rural Appalachian sample scored significantly lower in general self-concept and on four self-concept clusters. Where the original…

This is a report on a study of racial interrelationships among students in desegregated schools. Sociometric measures of third graders' willingness to play and work with their classmates (indicating cross-race acceptance) showed evidence of racial bias; however, the amount of bias appeared small compared to the findings of earlier studies which…

The development and field testing of two instructional mathematics programs are discussed. The general instructional program evolved from earlier research, and was field tested with 40 teachers and over 1000 fourth-grade students. Data reflected that this program had strong, positive effects on students' achievement. The second program focused on…

The activities of the Canadian Awareness Project involved the development and analysis of an assessment of general knowledge and understanding of Canadian history, geography and citizenship as demonstrated by a sample of elementary, junior and senior high school students in provincially-funded schools. Included in this report are the phases…

Students in three grade 7 classes, a grade 6 class and a split grade 5/6 class were provided with calculators for use in their mathematics classes for a period of eight weeks. For the posttest on problem solving the 116 students were randomly assigned to the group using calculators on the posttest or to the group using only paper and pencil. In a…

Educators in Indiana's Duneland School District found the transition from elementary schools to a newly organized middle school unacceptably difficult for both the students and their parents. After assessing student and parent preconceptions of the middle school as revealed in their responses to questionnaires, the middle school principal…

This document contains an instructional booklet on law-related education for social studies classroom teachers in grades five and six and a book of spiritmaster handouts for use by students. Objectives include helping students define responsiblity and identify at least two characteristics of a responsible person, state reasons why responsible…

All sixth class pupils in 93 Irish primary schools were rated by their teachers as either having or not having problems related to literacy (in reading or writing). Teachers perceived 6.2% of pupils as being unable to cope with everyday demands in reading, while 6.6% were perceived as unable to cope with everyday demands in writing. A further 7%…

This study investigated children's preference and comprehension responses to stories in which both male and female main characters were represented in traditional and nontraditional roles, and stories in which only the opposite sex main characters were portrayed in those roles. A total of 218 girls and 169 boys from grades five and six (all with…

This teaching unit, Astronomers, is one in a series of curriculum guides developed by Project CHOICE (Children Have Options in Career Education) to provide the classroom teacher with a source of career-related activities linking 5th and 6th grade elementary classroom experiences with the world of work. These seven lessons on astronomy introduce…

This teaching unit, Physicians, is one in a series of curriculum guides developed by Project CHOICE (Children Have Options in Career Education) to provide the classroom teacher with a source of career-related activities linking 5th and 6th grade elementary classroom experiences with the world of work. These eleven lessons about physicians explore…