As an extension of a two-year longitudinal study involving various aspects of children's writing, a study examined the function of children's oral language during creative writing sessions in typical classroom settings. Using ethnographic style techniques, researchers conducted 46 writing episode observations of seven fifth graders in the spring…

Fifth and sixth grade students of the University School at the University of Wyoming participated in a successful week's overnight outdoor experience in September 1983. Because results of a pre-camp questionnaire indicated that most students had minimal knowledge of the planning necessary for camping, activities and classes were organized to…

To explore how fifth grade students used their oral language in small group discussions to remake information, a study set up a series of small group tasks in the curriculum areas of social studies, current events, science, poetry, and mathematics for one class of 28 Canadian students. Students were randomly divided into seven groups of four…

A study compared the reading achievement over 3 years of a group of elementary school students taught to read by means of a single-basal system and one taught by means of a tri-basal system. Subjects were 34 current sixth grade students from a school that uses the Ginn "Reading 720" series, representing two or more grade levels, for all students…

Gagne proposed in his learning hierarchy model that a final task could not be performed by an individual who does not have the subordinate skills, and that any superordinate task involved in the hierarchy of skill building could be performed by an individual provided suitable instructions were given, and provided the relevant subordinate knowledge…

The factorial validity of four of the nine Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales (FSMASs) was examined for use in measuring fifth graders' interaction with a subject. The following four scales were assessed: (1) the Confidence in Learning Mathematics Scale; (2) the Attitude Toward Success in Mathematics Scale (ATSMS); (3) the Mathematics…

This follow-up study investigated the self-concept of students who had received an additional year of readiness experiences before entering first grade to see if their good self-concept in the first grade was sustained over a period of 6 years. Of 100 participants in an original study that found the self-concepts of first grade readiness subjects…

This family life instructional unit is organized around five themes: (1) the importance of families; (2) human growth and development; (3) relationships and responsibilities; (4) sexual abuse prevention; and (5) promoting positive lifestyle practices. Approximately 16 age-appropriate lessons contain student objectives, suggested activities,…

The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the possible relationships among children's extracurricular toy-playing habits, sex-role orientations, spatial abilities, and science achievement. Data were gathered from 282 Midwestern, suburban, fifth-grade students. It was found that boys had significantly higher spatial skills than girls.…

Three approaches to classroom management--assertive discipline, cooperative learning, and behavior management/mastery learning theory--are described. Assertive discipline was observed in a fifth-grade class taught by a teacher who would not allow students to interfere with her teaching or another child's learning. The assertive discipline approach…

This study analyzed the differences in attitude and achievement of fifth- and sixth-grade subjects presented with a series of science lessons directed toward instructional procedures which addressed the right hemisphere, the left hemisphere, or both hemispheric processing modes. The study used 65 randomly selected students divided into four…

"Inquiry Training," a teaching technique promoted during the 1960s, involves students gathering information about a discrepant event or puzzling situation, and formulating theories to explain the event. Continuing the work of two studies into the efficacy of Inquiry Training (subsequently renamed Cognition Enhancement), a more refined…

A study was conducted to compare students' recreational reading levels to their independent, instructional, and frustrational levels determinable with an informal reading inventory. Subjects, 20 second grade and 20 fifth grade students, were administered the Basic Reading Inventory. In addition, the school's librarian recorded titles of four books…

This study examines the relationship between student misconceptions and learning by focusing on six fifth-grade students as they attempt to make sense of classroom instruction on light and seeing. Pretests, posttests, and classroom observation narratives served as student data. Pretests indicate that students held the misconception that sight is…

The stability of sociometric measures and their use for classifying elementary-age children are discussed. This is an important topic because of the assumption that childhood social maladjustment is a very stable and consistent phenomenon. Sociometric scores were collected over a 7-month period in a study of potential developmental differences…