This resource book offers an activity bank of learning experiences related to the theme of architecture. The activities, which are designed for use with students in grades 4-6, require active engagement of the students and integrate language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and art experiences. Activities exploring the architectural…

A study was conducted to determine if audience-tailored videotapes and the format of follow-up discussions can change audience attitudes. Sixth-grade students in Taiwan were given a survey on their attitudes toward elderly people. Scripts for videotapes were written based on the data obtained from the survey. Children found to have a negative…

The Alpha Program for the 1994-95 school year was operated for at-risk students by the School Board of Broward County (Florida) at two middle schools and one elementary school under the provisions of a grant from the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. Services included academic instruction, parent involvement, group…

A study conducted at Oberlin Elementary School, in Oberlin, Kansas, considered the effects of gender, family structure, parents' socioeconomic status (SES) and education, and grade level on students' tendency to stereotype occupations by sex. The study sample included 164 elementary school children, including 53 second graders, 62 fourth graders,…

A middle school student helper teacher program based on some cooperative learning tenants provided alternative instruction to sixth grade instrumental students in music lessons that would have been severely curtailed due to budget reductions and increasing enrollment. Students were grouped on like instruments and divided into subgroups by ability.…

This study used three different differential item functioning (DIF) procedures to examine the extent to which items in a mathematics performance assessment functioned differently for matched gender groups. In addition to examining the appropriateness of individual items in terms of DIF with respect to gender, an attempt was made to identify…

This unit is one of a series that presents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. Columbus's momentous arrival in 1492 in the Caribbean ended the mutual isolation of two regions of the globe. From this moment on, the future of the Americas has been inextricably linked to those of Europe, Asia, and…

This thesis investigates the sensitivity of junior high/middle school students to statements depicting verbal and physical sexual harassment. The independent variables that were investigated included gender, grade level, age, size of district, grades received, participation in sports, birth order, developmental level, and self-esteem. Students…

Modifications to an existing secondary school foreign language program in Arlington County, Virginia, are described that were developed when the middle school program began in September, 1990, and sixth graders were incorporated into the foreign language program. Lessons were tested in an alternative school prior to adoption in the middle schools.…

A study extended a previous study (Sparks and Spirek, 1988) by examining children's individual differences in coping with stressful mass media. The investigation proposed that scores on the Children's Coping Measure (CCM) are related to the intensity of negative affect children experience while watching a frightening program. Eighty-two fifth and…

African American urban sixth graders (28 males and 22 females), the majority of whom tested at or above grade level on the Iowa Basic Skills Test, were interviewed about 2 methods of selecting students for a summer science program. One method focused on student grades, and the other method focused on student interest in science. Subjects initially…

The assertion that there is a social component to children's construction of knowledge about natural phenomena is supported by evidence from an examination of children's classification schemes for plants. An ethnographic study was conducted with nine sixth grade children in central Texas. The children classified plants in the outdoors, in a…

The Jasper Challenge Series of Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) has been used in conjunction with the university's videodisk problem-solving series, "The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury," to provide a teleconference-based performance arena that allows students and teachers to assess the degree to which they are learning to solve the kinds…

A study examined how one sixth-grade teacher's theoretical beliefs about literacy and biliteracy were reflected in her instructional practices. The subject taught in an English-Spanish bilingual classroom in a public school located in a neighborhood of low- to middle-class families in a large, southwestern city. Data included field notes…

A practicum addressed the problems of low reading levels, deficient writing skills, and poor attitudes toward reading. The objectives were to increase reading levels, improve writing skills, and improve attitudes toward reading and in this process to improve critical thinking skills. The target group was a sixth-grade language arts class of 23…