To determine how writing, as compared to other learning activities, affects both good and poor writers' ability to remember factual information and transfer learning, a study (1) investigated the effectiveness of a writing activity requiring students to develop compositions by synthesizing information read, and (2) explored the correspondences…

The Mathematics Pentathlon is a tournament of mathematics games held each spring since 1979 to promote the development of mathematical concepts and skills while fostering interaction among the educational community. There are five games in each of four divisions, for grades K-1, 2-3, 4-5, and 6-7. The focus is on active problem solving and…

Prompted by the growing interest in the role of reader-related and text-related variables in reading comprehension, a study compared 30 sixth grade students in regular classrooms to 30 language impaired students. The purpose was to assess the relationship of (1) text structure manipulations for simple and complex sentence structure, (2) discourse…

A study was conducted in California to explore the extent of cheating, its relationship to personal and situational factors, and the actions of school personnel to promote academic honesty and responsibility. Questionnaires were completed by 1,037 sixth-graders, 2,265 secondary school students (mostly 11th-graders), and 109 school staff members.…

To determine children's perceptions of underlying morals or messages in television drama, a study was conducted in which four early prime time situation comedies were selected for viewing by 15 children per program in kindergarten/first grade, 15 children per program in third/fourth grade, and 8 children per program at the sixth grade level. The…

To understand better how readers learn and recall text information, a study examined one prose learning approach--the selective attention strategy (SAS)--in which text elements are processed, given various degrees of attention, and learned according to their perceived importance. Fifty sixth grade students from an inner city school in a large…

This study investigated the measurement integrity of the "Heart Smart" cognitive tests. Designed for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, the tests measure health-related knowledge involving physiology, nutrition, exercise, and behavioral skills. The report presents tables of specifications, test floors and ranges, a demographic profile of…

Knowledge about the structure of arithmetic expressions enables people to reason effectively about such expressions, including an ability to judge equivalence under transformations. This paper reports an empirical study of six middle-school children who judged the equivalence of three sets of three-term arithmetic expressions with an addition and…

This unit, one of a series designed to develop and foster an understanding of the marine environment, presents marine science activities for grade 6 students. The unit is divided into the following sections: (1) Pagoo (story of a hermit crab); (2) introduction to marine environments; (3) salt water environment; (4) sea water investigations; (5)…

This paper reports on regression based methods for identifying exemplary schools. A distinction is made between schools which are maintaining an exceptional level of achievement and those which are improving their achievement in an extraordinary way. More schools were found which consistently exceeded expectations and fewer schools were found…

Student characteristics associated with school failure and school dropouts are well documented. This study sought to determine if a subgroup of students could be differentiated prior to high school as at highest risk for secondary school failure and dropout. It also attempted to describe behavioral, academic, and familial differences and…

A study was conducted to test the effectiveness of four instructional strategies on students' writing. Students, 138 fourth, sixth, and eighth graders in a semi-rural school district in southern California, were instructed in informational writing through one of four instructional strategies: (1) presentation of model pieces of writing; (2)…

This guide provides instructional strategies and activities for improving measurement and geometry skills. In the introduction, the importance of measuring skills, the history of measurement, and instructional approaches are discussed, and a table matching activities with requisite skills is presented. The 16 activities include such topics as…

A bulletin concerning Alberta's Grade 6 French language achievement test to be administered in June 1988 provides specific information about the test's design, items, and scoring. It begins with general information about the province's achievement test program in English and goes on to describe and illustrate the French language arts achievement…

This curriculum provides grade 4-6 urban children with hands-on activities that will build their understanding of and concern for their environment. The urban environment is viewed, not as a negative, non-wilderness place; but as a place where people can learn to have an influence on their surroundings. The curriculum consists of 11 units written…