The development of conceptual knowledge about the earth among 60 elementary school students in grades 1, 3, and 5 was studied through questions about its shape. In the process of knowledge acquisition, children appear to modify their initial models to make them more consistent with the culturally accepted model. (SLD)

The effect of parental involvement in school-based exercise and nutrition education was investigated. Elementary students participated in school-home, school-only, or control groups. Pre- and posttesting on physical and knowledge measures indicated family involvement mainly helped improve flexibility and nutrition knowledge. School-based students…

Fifty-three elementary school children were tested on Incidental Science Knowledge, i.e., knowledge acquired by chance outside school, and the results obtained were correlated with intellectual development and cognitive style as measured by interviews and group testing, respectively. Indicates that cognitive style and misconception play a…

Study examined differences between self-contained and team teaching approaches when two groups of elementary teachers implemented a physical education curriculum during an inservice. Researchers collected lesson completion forms, specialists' reports, class observations, and teacher surveys. Results indicated those using self-contained approaches…

Describes a former superintendent's disconcerting swim in the teacher candidate pool while trying to find a teaching position without "pulling strings." After landing a job teaching 36 fifth graders, he soon realized that espousing methodologies is very different from actually doing them. Allowing students more responsibility for their learning…

A summative evaluation of "Square One TV," an educational mathematics series produced by the Children's Television Workshop, shows that children who regularly viewed the program showed significant improvement in solving unfamiliar, complex mathematical problems, and viewers showed improvement in their mathematical problem-solving ability…

Describes humorous presentations to heighten adults' awareness of their dependence on printed materials in contrast to children's high level of comfort with electronic media, and the changes in information delivery that are already in place. (KRN)

Discusses a study that compared the effects of selected aspects of a discipline-based approach to ceramic instruction with a child-centered approach. Makes comparisons in relation to fifth grade students' self-concepts, attitudes toward art, knowledge of art, and the aesthetic quality of modeled human figures and ceramic vessels. (KM)

Effects of animated presentations and practice were studied in a computer-based science lesson involving 55 fourth graders and 64 fifth graders. Results suggest that animated graphics can promote learning, and they demonstrate successful application of interactive graphics in the design of cognitively based practice activities. (SLD)

Second and fifth graders from five sociometric status groups were interviewed for their attributional, emotional, and behavioral responses to hypothetical social encounters with same-sex and same-grade peers with the same sociometric status. Results demonstrate that children's manner of processing social information is a complex phenomenon based…

Uses fables to study the moral orientation used in problem solving by 54 first, second, and fifth grade children. The following findings are reported: (1) all adopted a "care" orientation; (2) only fifth grade boys used solutions involving tricks; and (3) the ability to explain the logic of solutions was related to abstract reasoning…

Studies second, fifth, eighth grade, and college undergraduate students' changes in the ability to draw inferences. Examines the generation process of the inferences. Finds that the ability to draw inferences increases with age; backward inferences are most likely to be drawn when the text is encoded; whereas forward inferences are most likely to…

Examines how teachers allocate instructional time in reading classes. Indicates that teachers used 34% of time in reading and responding; 24.89% in listening and discussing; 8.36% waiting; 20.28% completing skill development; 7.52% in telling, writing, and narrating; 3.47% in other activities. Notes that the recommendation that time spent reading…

Evaluates the effects of the scaffold explanation-based approach to collaborative discussion on students' understanding of photosynthesis. Forty-eight fourth- and fifth-grade students were divided into groups of high, average control (AC), and average intervention (AI). Students worked collaboratively and individually on two reasoning tasks.…

Seventeen fourth and fifth graders with severe writing disabilities received a weekly one-hour individual tutorial which focused equally on transcription (handwriting and spelling) and composition skills. Students showed reliable improvement in composition and handwriting automaticity but not in spelling. Suggestions for teaching phonological…