Examines self-enhancement bias among 5th and 11th graders in the United States and Japan by having students listen to stories describing behaviors (aggressive, depressive, oppositional, and school-phobic) of hypothetical peers. Reports that U.S. students showed no greater self-enhancement tendencies, while 11th graders rated themselves less like…

Explores the sociocultural dynamics within an urban fifth-grade science classroom, highlighting attempts to emulate the ideals of the collective culture of science within the classroom and how students reframed those practices. Discusses the importance of thinking about students' approach to and deviations from scientific practice norms in terms…

Presents an activity for fourth- and fifth-grade students in which they create a realistic or imaginative insect of their choice following a brief slide presentation on insects. Explains that the activity combines the use of line, shape, and color and takes two 40-minute class periods. (CMK)

Compares homework styles of Chinese students characterized by: (1) high versus low self-achievement and attitudes; (2) high versus low teacher-rated homework completion and quality; and (3) high versus low academic achievement in mathematics. Examines gender differences of homework styles in these students. Focuses on 329 fifth graders and 244…

An experienced foreign language methods instructor presents his "private history" about teaching Spanish to fifth-graders as part of an elementary school's afternoon enrichment program. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on using a holistic learning approach in music education. Offers two lessons that were influenced by an instructional model called 4MAT and studies of modality and brain research in order to implement holistic learning. Explains that hands-on learning and action are both fundamental concepts in music education philosophy also. (CMK)

Examines the relationships and development of communities of concepts related to heat and convection among fifth grade students. Discusses the influence of familial and cultural experiences on conceptual development as well as the extent to which competing phenomena affect the development of new conceptual understandings. (Contains 49 references.)…

Describes computer software called Shemesh designed for learning equivalence-classes of fractions. Describes interviews with fifth-grade students who used the software in their learning activities. Evidence indicates initial actual development of desired mathematical concepts. (Author/MM)

The effects of 2 rigorous strategic approaches to reading comprehension for 32 5th-grade students who struggle with reading were investigated. The first approach, TWA (Think before reading, think While reading, think After reading), was taught following explicit self-regulated strategy development instructional procedures (K. R. Harris & S.…

The purpose of this paper is to report our findings from a qualitative study intended to develop our understandings of: what high-poverty urban children understand and believe about food and food systems; and how such children transform and use that knowledge in their everyday lives (i.e. how do they express their scientific literacies including…

This article describes a collaborative effort that included a botany professor, an art teacher, and a science teacher, called,"Plants, Pots, and Paints." This interdisciplinary project was successful in connecting content across disciplines (science to art) and for motivating fourth-and fifth-grade students to create something beautiful both they…

As part of a large-scale instructional intervention research, this study examined elementary students' science knowledge and awareness of social activism with regard to an increased greenhouse effect and global warming. The study involved fifth-grade students from five elementary schools of varying demographic makeup in a large urban school…

This article describes the activities that fifth-grade students experienced when learning about the moon, its phases, and eclipses. It illustrates how mathematics and science can be integrated to enhance the learning of both. (Contains 3 figures.)

How should a teacher respond when a student makes off-base guesses about meaning in a literary text because that learner is trying to genuinely understand the story rather than find the "right" meaning? Aukerman argues that when teachers jump in to correct students' interpretations, they short-circuit students' processes of reading and thinking.…

Language differences in the United States are largely viewed as problems that schools must remedy. This paradigm has created the pervasive belief that Spanish is a root cause of underachievement for Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs). This article examines teacher beliefs systems with regard to the above paradigm. It also examines…