The effect on achievement when the prescribed maximum time limits of a standardized achievement test are exceeded was studied using students nested in block-by-treatment combinations. The analysis was a hierarchical (nested) randomized blocks analysis of covariance involving 408 fifth graders taking the Stanford Achievement Test in Lansing,…

This study compares a traditional method of social studies teaching to a literature based approach. The study sought to compare student attitude, achievement, and retention of the material presented. The study involved 37 fifth-graders, one class using a literature based approach and the other traditional textbook teaching. Content objectives for…

Over the past 10 years, traditional elementary history textbooks have been criticized by a number of reviewers. In part as a result, some fifth-grade teachers, many of whom have students who are learning chronological U.S. history for the first time, have begun to augment these textbooks with biographies, historical fiction, literature-based…

The Higher Order Thinking Skills Program (HOTS) is a computer-based program for teaching thinking skills developed by Stanley Pogrow at the University of Arizona. It is now used in over 800 U.S. schools. This study investigated the effects of the HOTS program versus the traditional Chapter 1 program on fourth and fifth grade students'…

This paper describes how a target group of seven students in a combined fourth and fifth grade mathematics class used structured representations to solve fraction problems situated within various realistic contexts. Emphasis is given to the ways in which students' thinking about rational number concepts influences and is influenced by the…

An action research report described a program for enhancing students' ability to focus on instructional processes and oral directions. The targeted population was comprised of 4th-, 5th-, and 8th-grade students from 3 different metropolitan schools in southwest Cook County, Illinois. The problem of off-task behavior, including distractible…

Grade-5 teachers, who were nominated by their supervisors as effective in educating their students to be readers and writers, responded to questionnaires about their practice. The 33 teachers claimed commitments to: (1) extensive reading at the heart of their reading instruction; (2) diverse instructional activities (e.g., whole-group instruction,…

This book outlines a nontraditional approach to papier mache and a process called "cloth mache" with fifth- and sixty-grade students. The volume describes a process called "cloth mache," a technique neither widely known or practiced. By combining the two media, a new dimension of sculpture is opened to the student. The paper…

The usefulness of achievement goal theory in explaining motivation in writing classrooms was studied with 14 students interviewed in fifth, sixth, and tenth grades. In the tenth-grade interview, students were asked about their writing experiences and processes. Interview statements were analyzed by three judges regarding mastery and performance…

The concept of goals has emerged as a useful and important social-cognitive approach to understanding motivation, achievement, and learning. Recent work reveals that the environment of the classroom affect the types of goals which students adopt: students are likely to adopt ability-focused goals when they see their teachers emphasizing relative…

A practicum sought to improve the quality of involvement of fourth- and fifth-grade parents in a southeastern United States elementary school. Despite indications of active involvement in some school events, parents were not involved in student education in a way that affected academic performance. Three outcomes for the 13-week project were…

An exploratory study examined teachers' perceptions of students' motivation to read and the relationship between those perceptions and students' reading achievement. Focus groups of third- and fifth-grade teachers were convened and given an initial questionnaire. A second questionnaire based on those findings was developed and field-tested with…

A mounting degree of language contact between the linguistically related varieties of Frisian and Dutch might undermine the structural integrity of Frisian. Focusing on the suffixation paradigm, this study explores how and to what extent this is occurring. Data gathered for this research is part of a larger project concerning Frisian as a first…

The use and abuse of dangerous and illicit drugs, particularly among young people, continues to rise despite recent efforts to develop and implement drug education programs in schools. This study investigated substance use by rural Kansas fifth and sixth graders. Independent variables were gender, family structure, perceived relationship with…

This study examined the effects of self-evaluation on student performance in mathematics. Grade 5 and 6 students (N=300) were randomly assigned in intact classes to treatment and control groups. In both conditions a 2-week cooperative learning unit on probability was implemented. In the treatment condition, students received training in…