Reluctant readers were helped to read and to gain some understanding of themselves and their classmates through story dramatization. (JH)

Despite periodic efforts, traditional social studies teaching methods continue to be used in grades K-6. Research suggests that elementary students do not like or value social studies when these traditional methods are used to organize and teach its content. The goals of the social studies curriculum in grades K-6 are to transmit citizenship…

To investigate what and how a child was learning about reading, a case study was conducted of one preliterate child's retelling of a story. The 5-year-old child (Jamie) heard the story in its complete form on the first session and then retold it each week for 8 weeks. The adult listener answered her questions but did not help unless asked. The…

Part of a series: "National Library Week, April 20-26.

Guidelines for story telling, both for when adults and for when young children are initiators of the story telling, are offered in the first section of this Australian early childhood resource booklet. In the second section, 14 different kinds of children's books, including, for example, story books with pictures, stories in verse, wordless story…

The schema theory of comprehension as it relates to understanding while reading is reviewed in this report. Several techniques for the study of on-line measurement of comprehension are described that are based on a series of ten stories, each with two versions. The report notes that when subjects were asked to generate interpretations of stories…

Four experiments involving 54 adults were performed to examine the relationship between the effects of story grammar categories and content centrality on subjects' importance ratings, summaries, immediate recall, and delayed recall. Results of the studies indicated that central content units were judged as more important and were better recalled…

The Bibliotherapy Project, originally located at Agnews State Hospital, was transferred to the Santa Clara County Library in 1972 since the state of California announced the closing of the Hospital to the mentally ill. Most patients were returned to the community, where the County would provide the services formerly provided by the state. The new…

Developed by the Oregon Elementary English Project, this curriculum unit on stories is intended for grades one and two. The purpose of the unit is to build in students a foundation for enjoyment of literature. The suggested questions or exercises that deal with the stories are limited to simple comprehension or discussion questions; no attempt is…

Investigates the significance of the parent's role in reading aloud familiar or unfamiliar stories to their children. Concludes that, although the nature of the interaction between parent and child did not differ with respect to the parent's gender, there were differences in the kinds of interaction strategies used in familiar versus unfamiliar…

Investigates kindergarten children's ability to comprehend and appreciate cognitively-oriented humor. Conceptual development was measured by assessing children's responses to a liquid conservation task modeled after Piaget. Results fail to support previous theories and indicate that a majority of the children fully comprehended and were able to…

Examines preschool children's understanding of the reading process. Results indicate that children's immediate experiences and their developmental characteristics had an impact on their conception of reading. (Author/AS)

A study was conducted to assess the differences in beginning second-grade students' recalls after reading a story with a well-formed structure and after reading a story with little structure. Results indicated the importance of providing children with reading selections that conform to their expectations for well-structured stories. (HOD)

This paper describes a specific form of qualitative research--narrative inquiry. In this form of research, peoples' stories become the data. The paper explores the power of narrative inquiry as a "heretical" research method and how it can be used to examine stakeholders' experiences and beliefs related to transforming a system; for example, the…