The purpose of this study was to determine whether cooperative learning would produce higher achievement test scores among low-ability fifth-graders than the traditional mode of instruction. Subjects were students in two low-ability classes, one taught by a teacher who used traditional instruction, and another taught by a teacher who used…

A study investigated the effectiveness of using a particular type of instructional graphic, a "frame," on fourth and fifth graders' ability to learn from reading their social studies textbooks. Six fourth- and six fifth-grade teachers taught social studies using either frames or the instruction suggested in the teacher's edition of the…

This practicum introduces a program that increases the exposure time to music in the elementary classroom by integrating U.S. music with the teaching of U.S. history. A pretest and posttest were employed to identify increases or decreases in students' abilities to identify U.S. music and its relationship to specific lifestyles or periods of U.S.…

This document outlines the content of the grade 5 social studies curriculum of the Lebanon School District, Lebanon, New Hampshire. The program focuses on a U. S. history from the first Americans to the post-Civil War era. U. S. geography is studied, either Americans to the post-Civil War era. U.S. geography is studied, either as a separate unit…

A two-part study examined the effectiveness of glossing (writing comments or questions in text to improve comprehension) when students use it in social studies texts in combination with discussions and other activities. Students were divided into two groups, one of which learned glossing while the other engaged in assigned workbook activities.…

This study assessed the ability of third, fifth, and seventh graders to learn a problem-solving heuristic scheme and apply it to grade-appropriate tasks. A framework was utilized that focused on metacognitive aspects of task performance such as planfulness, strategy selection, monitoring, and evaluation. It was expected that use of the scheme…

The paper analyzes seven widely-used fifth grade social studies textbooks with the hypothesis that texts are unnecessarily loaded with poorly conceived instructional design features that often do not relate to content or skills and tend to minimize the primary function of the texts. Using present and future challenges facing the United States as a…

Two experiments with 167 first-, third-, and fifth-grade children revealed age-related changes in the composition of natural categories. Categorization was investigated via perceptual similarities of objects and conceptual similarities of superordinate classes. The free-classification paradigm (Garner, 1974) was adapted to natural categories,…

An alternative procedure is examined to compare test scores which does not require the utilization of computers and therefore, can be easily employed by classroom teachers. This technique is called the Average System: a simple way to score examinees using information obtained from a representative sample (or samples). Examinees are ranked on a…

In conjunction with the New Mexico State Department of Education's Writing Appraisal Program for high school students, a project was designed whose central goal was to identify and clearly delineate writing competencies for students in the younger grades. A pilot project first collected student writing samples and descriptive data from third and…

Research of evaluation techniques shows that assessment of student achievement in art education is a neglected and undeveloped area of curriculum. This thesis reviews the reasons for curriculum reform, examines the need for evaluation tools in art education, reports current trends toward improving evaluation of student achievement in art…

This is one of a series of reports which provide definitions of and descriptive data on the variables used in the Comparative Study of Phase IV of the Individually Guided Education (IEG) Evaluation Project. Phase IV investigated three curriculum programs specifically designed to be compatible with instructional programming for the individual…

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of a basal reading series mastery test. Subjects were 47 fifth graders, who were tested on the SRA Reading Achievement Test, the Ginn 720 End-of-level 11 Mastery Test (MT), and the Word Reading Test. A subgroup of 22 children was tested a second time on the MT. Traditional…

During the last decade, the attributional aproach to achievement motivation has evolved into a powerful theory of motivated classroom behavior. Causal attributions, and their dimensional nature, are seen as influencing achievement behaviors through their effects on the expectations that individuals hold for outcomes in future achievement…

Developed in response to numerous requests from curriculum specialists and classroom teachers, this booklet addresses student assessment in written composition. Its purpose is: (1) to assist teachers in constructing writing prompts which correspond to the TEAMS (Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills) writing objectives and measurement…