Reports the development of a written measure of nutrition and physical fitness knowledge for use with upper elementary school students, developed as the cognitive component of an assessment instrument that also included attitude and behavior sections. (CS)

Although businesses and schools make unnatural partners, Stamford, Connecticut's business community is reaching out to disadvantaged youth. GE Capital Services focused on a pen-pal program to improve students' writing skills. Pitney Bowes created an afterschool tutoring/social-support program for neighborhood kids that dramatically boosted reading…

Student engagement during testing in the full range of writing process activities they had been taught was studied. Results with 28 third-grade draft sets, 21 fifth-grade sets, and 38 eighth-grade sets on the Maryland School Performance Assessment writing test show that students' peer responses are unengaged, minimal, and formulaic, and that their…

Describes typical student strategies for counting cubes in cube buildings and explains why these problems are difficult for students. Suggests instructional tasks that can help students develop more powerful ways of thinking about such problems. Lists two action research ideas related to this issue. (ASK)

This study investigated the verbal interactions of fifth grade students within groups when using simulation and word processing software. Students were grouped according to ability, and conversations were analyzed, which found the largest proportion of student talk was cognitively oriented, predominantly in directing and reporting language; group…

Describes a study of fifth-grade students in Taiwan that explored the differential effects of intergroup competition on intragroup cooperation and interpersonal relationships within groups in a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) environment. Statistically significant differences were found between the two treatment conditions (with and without…

This study examined whether graphic organizer instruction would facilitate comprehension, recall, and information transfer, and how much explicit instruction was necessary for independent generation of graphic organizers. Fifth graders read social studies information with or without graphic organizers and explicit instruction. Explicitness and…

A study examined Spanish-speaking children's attitudes about being and staying bilingual. Classroom observations and interviews with 15 fifth-grade students, 12 parents, and 2 teachers at a Texas elementary school indicated that despite being in a supportive bilingual environment, students believed they would have to struggle to maintain their…

Contrasted effects of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) program to those of Chapter 1 programs on fourth and fifth graders' reading achievement, self-concept, and higher-order thinking skills. Found that HOTS is more effective in raising self-concept and some higher-order thinking skills in fifth grade and after two years of treatment, with…

Describes the experiences of fifth and sixth grade elementary students and their teachers (n=3) who taught a social studies unit using the Engle-Ochoa Decision-Making Model, an issues-centered instruction model. Examines the reactions of the teachers and students. (CMK)

Examines the role of play as a composing strategy for the development of children's writing abilities. Finds that boys use play more extensively than girls, and that boys balance their use of play and marked control (gisting and evaluating) while girls rely on a marked control strategy more than on play. (KEH)

Results are presented from two intervention studies which investigate whether encouraging elementary students to generate drawings of arithmetic word problems facilitates problem-solving performance. Findings indicate that fifth graders (N=50) generated many drawings of word problems and improved problem solutions after the intervention, whereas…

Examined self-perceptions of cognitive abilities in students (N=360) in grades 5, 6, and 9. Results indicated depressed children were more likely than nondepressed children to have negative expectations for future and to compare themselves unfavorably to others. Findings suggest differences in cognitive ability may account for some of perceived…

Outlines the development of a lesson structured around four stages of problem-solving. Provides five problems and questions for understanding, getting started, and for extension in each of the problems. (YP)

The linguistic performance of four Hispanic bilingual fifth- and sixth-grade students perceived to have limited language abilities in English and Spanish was studied. Results indicate that the organization of instruction limited students' abilities to show their competence and that teachers interpreted this as a lack of conceptual ability. (SLD)