An index of student patterns of item response, when aggregated to the class level, was shown to identify classes that have a poor match between test content and instructional coverage. The mean caution index for a class can best be interpreted knowing the within-class standard deviation of the index. (Author/LMO)

Reports on a study that investigated the span of letter recognition (the region of text from which letter information is used during a fixation) for good and poor fifth-grade readers during a reading task. (HOD)

A five-week course for fourth- and fifth-grade students (titled "Chemistry for Kids") was developed. Each class session consisted of a brief lecture, a demonstration, and one or more experiments. An outline of concepts fostered, instructional strategies, and procedures used is provided. (JN)

Harter's Perceived Competence Scale for Children was administered to 714 Taiwanese fifth graders; results were compared with those from American samples. Cultural differences were found. Results among Chinese replicate the measures' factorial validity and, across the two groups, indicate a high correlation between perceived cognitive competence…

Path analysis of data collected on fifth grade boys indicated that mothers' educational expectations were strongly related to sons' academic performance. Results were related to a model which conceptualized two classes of parental behaviors as determining children's academic achievement: instigating behaviors and responsive behaviors. (Author/DST)

Describes a "Talents Unlimited" program, based on the work of Calvin Taylor, that was used successfully in a class of fifth-grade remedial readers. Includes some of the activities devised by members of the class. (FL)

Describes a study devised to determine what changes occur in young adults' attitudes toward computers as a result of a computer training program and whether attitudes of boys and girls differ significantly before or after a computer training program. Data indicate girls on average have decidedly less positive attitudes than boys. (MBR)

Investigates the role of cognitive style in the ability of first-, third-, and fifth-graders to represent the horizontal coordinate. Students were observed on a portable rod-and-frame test of field dependence/independence and on water bottle and crossbar measures of horizontality representation. (Author/RH)

Two New Rochelle, New York, teachers who developed a unit on ancient Egypt for gifted fifth and sixth grade students give tips on preparing interdisciplinary units which involve independent student research. Their unit incorporated social studies, science, language art, and mathematics activities. (PP)

Nine years after the National Science Education Standards' release, just how well do science teachers in grades 5 to 8 actually use them to plan content, define improved teaching, and assess real learning? Find out the answers to these key questions in this groundbreaking collection of 15 essays by teachers, researchers, and professors whose…

This book follows students' natural progression from measuring with informal or nonstandard units to using standard units to measure such attributes as length, weight, angle, and temperature. Activities extend students' learning to the measurement of two- and three-dimensional objects. Students work in a variety of lively real-world contexts,…

This study discusses the successes and failures that resulted when fifth grade students used email to compose response journals. Every student was required to send at least one email a week to the teacher describing and reacting to the novel they were reading independently. The teacher would respond each evening. The study was conducted in an…

This report describes a program to improve student achievement through the use of music strategies. The targeted population was fifth-grade students in a small Iowa community. The absence of music integration into the social studies area was observed through data that displayed the lack of motivation and in-depth learning by the students. Analysis…

The Age of Exploration, beginning in the late 1400s, was an important era in the discovery and development of land unknown to Europeans. Students initially participate in geographic literacy activities by comparing and contrasting the European geographic view of the world in the 1400s with present-day information. Focusing on pre-Columbian…

Little research exists that examines how children experience listening to stories, and few studies have been done that ask students to discuss their own experience with storytelling. A qualitative grounded study designed to focus upon children's responses and experiences to storytelling in the classroom was conducted in a public middle school in a…