This report is one of a series on how curriculum unit experiences in U.S. history influenced the learning of fifth-grade students. This report focuses on the American Revolution period. Before the unit began, three classes of fifth graders stated what they knew (or thought they knew) about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War, the War…

A study investigated why children choose not to read. Subjects, 21 fifth-grade students attending a Catholic school in Vancouver, British Columbia, completed "clock-sheets" detailing their activities outside of school over a 5-day period, were administered a measure of locus of control, completed a reading attitude survey, and were…

A study looked at one problem teachers have when implementing an individualized reading program, the amount of time it can take students to choose a book to read. A database of the classroom library (consisting of about 600 novels) used by two fifth-grade language arts classes was created using Hypercard for the Macintosh. This database was…

A study examined the reading strategies of a "reluctant reader," a bright and accomplished fifth grader whose achievements had not as yet included a love of reading or very good comprehension skills. Subject of the study, a female, was an excellent student at a private school where whole language, reading and writing groups, and…

This study examined the impact of the use of cooperative learning on classroom discipline in third-, fourth-, and fifth- grade classrooms. Data were collected by means of teacher and experimenter observations of student classroom behavior. Problem behaviors were classified into two categories that involved the students themselves: off-task and…

Through timely questioning, teachers can estimate a child's understanding of mathematical ideas. Hence, the type of question asked by the teacher must be connected to the student's present thinking about a solution. This paper illustrates and analyzes how timely questioning on the part of teachers helped third, fourth, and fifth grade students…

A study examined the outcomes of dialogue journal writing from the perspectives of undergraduate teacher education students. Eighteen undergraduate students in a language arts methods course corresponded with 28 fifth-graders. Data included whole class discussions with the teacher education students, formal interviews, and written self-reports.…

A project designed and implemented a framework of conceptually oriented reading instruction to foster students' amount and breadth of reading, intrinsic motivations for reading, and strategies of search and comprehension. The framework emphasizes five phases of reading instruction in a content domain: observing and personalizing, searching and…

This document describes a project to develop a series of multi-disciplined arts lessons intended to enhance the social studies curriculum for fifth grade classes in Salina (Kansas) public schools. The lessons were developed by a team of elementary classroom teachers, artists, and representatives of Salina community cultural organizations. The…

A practicum addressed the significant difference between the reading comprehension levels of gifted students and their ability to demonstrate achieved levels on exams designed to measure these levels. Nineteen fifth-grade students participated in daily timed activities targeting reading comprehension, reading rate, attitudes towards test taking,…

An action research project studied the attitudes and achievement of low-achieving fifth-grade students after participating in a 1-year heterogeneously grouped, literature-based reading program. The project explored the changes in student attitudes towards reading, and changes in students' knowledge in comprehension and vocabulary development.…

Western society sees art as beautiful, well crafted objects; and art education derives almost its entire theory and practice from this concept. However, this is only one function of the creative process and art educators need to reconsider the fullness and depth of the usage of that process and provide an alternative mission and practice of art…

This 2-year study examined the relative potency of locus of control (LOC) and motivational orientation (MO) as predictors of standardized achievement scores and learned helplessness. Also tested was the prediction that children with an extrinsic MO would be prone to adopt an external LOC over time. In the first year of the study, subjects were 158…

A preliminary study was conducted to investigate strategies that elementary teachers and students use in responding to requests and to determine whether strategy use varies with request imposition. Subjects were 26 fifth-grade students drawn from six classes in one school district and 17 fourth- or fifth-grade teachers from the same district.…

Through a Chicago Public School Program fifth-grade students from different cultures and backgrounds were brought together to experience and learn about a forest environment. These urban students (N=269) completed a brief questionnaire about their previous experiences, perceptions, and expectations regarding forest resources. Findings indicate…