Describes various ways of using children's questions as windows on their understandings and approaches to reading and writing tasks. Suggests that children need to know that questions are not signs of failure. (MM)

Fifth graders performed better than third graders on discovering the function rule relating two number pairs. Task difficulty and mode of presentation (graphic or symbolic) varied by function. The children seemed ready to relinquish a hypothesis in the face of disconfirming evidence. (MNS)

The study sought to determine if increased lesson structure could aid elementary school students with low perceptual structures. Findings indicated that increased lesson structure did not significantly improve science achievement for the participating grade four and five students. (ML)

Describes a program planned and implemented by community volunteers to facilitate the development of positive attitudes toward the disabled. The program was implemented over one semester in five public schools. The article discusses variables that contributed to the success of the program as well as some of the limitations of attitude change…

This study examined same-sex and cross-sex help exchanges in reading and math classes among third and fifth-grade students. Students sought help more frequently from same sex. Girls, more than boys, reported liking their boy helpers as much as their same-sex helpers. (Author/JAZ)

A week-long build-a-city project is described which lets students become familiar with the history of the five Platonic solids (tetrahedron, octahedron, hexahedron, isosahedron, dodecahedron) and then use these solids to create a city using posterboard and construction paper. (MNS)

Presents a rationale for studying collaborative writing and evidence that coauthors can learn about the writing process from each other. Explores collaborative writing as an activity that can help students expand their repertoire of writing strategies and their mastery of written communication skills. Describes a case study of fourth and fifth…

Reports that although the traditional domain of developmental lag models has been dyslexia, this type of model is actually more helpful as an aid to understanding the normal achievement variations found among nondyslexic children. (FL)

First- and fifth-grade kibbutz and city children (320 in two studies) individually were requested to distribute rewards between themselves and a partner who had produced either more or less than the subject had. Fifth graders were also asked about the level of effort and merit displayed by themselves and their partners. (Author/RH).

Examined instructional materials, teacher planning, instruction, and student conceptions related to an activity unit on plants and photosynthesis. Reasons are offered about why the teacher was unsuccessful in helping students replace their misconceptions with scientific conceptions, although the teacher knew this misconception existed. (JN)

Examines the degree to which experiencing confusion during the acquisition of new academic material differentially affects classroom performance of helpless and mastery-oriented fifth-graders. Provides an initial test of a theoretical approach to understanding differences between male and female performances in different subject areas. (AS)

Jigsaw, a cooperative learning technique, was evaluated for its effects on fifth- and sixth-grade students' attitudes and behaviors with regard to themselves, peers and school. Few affective gains were found, although participants in Jigsaw rated their classes as less competitive. (Author/DWH)

Using 559 fifth graders, measures were collected to assess multiple dimensions of academic self-attribution, self-concept, and inferred self-concept, and academic achievement. The specificity and predictability of the observed patterns of relations support the construct validity of interpretations based on both the self-attribution and…

Suggests that self-reported story climax imagery is related to deeper levels of processing on reading comprehension measures that do not rely disproportionately on verbal reasoning processes. (AEA)

This examination of the reading processes of 36 fifth graders focused on the reader's attempts to gain meaning from three content passages using syntactic and semantic cue systems. The reading strategies of high, average, and low ability readers appeared not to vary with content. Prior knowledge and interest influenced comprehension. (Author/BS)