This paper reports on a project involving student recall of the dialogue in a movie and retention of the "anchor," which in this case refers to a videotape recording of "To Kill a Mockingbird." The project looked at how students retained knowledge over a few days and what kind of activities resulted from expertise with an…

This edition of "NAEPfacts" discusses the frequency with which process-oriented activities are taught in United States schools, and the writing performance of students whose teachers emphasize these activities. Data were drawn from the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Writing, which was administered to a…

The purpose of this unit is to explore the ideas and ideals of the 18th century Enlightenment thinkers called the Philosophes, and to understand how they continue to influence basic notions about the nature of man and his world. The unit introduces key members of the Philosophes through short excerpts from their works. The selections illustrate…

These instructional materials were produced as part of the project, Developing Computational Estimation Materials for the Middle Grades. The introduction to these eighth grade materials covers the following: why teach estimation; how the materials were developed; and how the lessons are organized. The 15 lessons that follow are designed to teach…

The "Speak for Yourself" curriculum is one element of the Lutheran Brotherhood's "Respecteen" national youth initiative. Designed for seventh and eighth grade students, this program encourages students to develop an awareness of contemporary social issues, inspire communication about those issues among students and their…

This guide for teachers focuses on the educational aspect of cultural similarities and differences and is designed to develop acceptance of individual and group heritage. The materials covered deal with the roots of American culture and the sources of many customs that were brought to this country. The guide is divided into 9 sections: (1)…

This study reports the application to classroom dialogue of the Thematic and Structural Analysis (TSA) Technique which has been used previously in the analysis of text materials. The TSA Technique identifies themes (word clusters) and their structural relationship throughout sequentially organized material. Dialogues from four Year 8 science…

This eighth grade teacher's guide with student activities is designed to create greater awareness of Indiana, its geography, history, government, and future and is designed to be used as a supplement to the study of the U.S. Constitution and the Indiana Constitution. In the first section, entitled "Geography of Indiana," the lessons…

A random sample of fourth, eighth, and eleventh grade Illinois students has been tested annually since 1976 by the Illinois State Board of Education. This testing program is called the Illinois Inventory of Educational Progress (IIEP). This report presents mathematics achievement results of a random sample of fourth (N=6,103), eighth (N=10,026),…

Developed from a comparison of the writing performance of eighth grade students in Delaware with a representative national group, this writing resource guide provides a detailed description of the state's writing assessment procedure and offers educators guidance in evaluating student writing and improving student writing skills. After describing…

An eighth grade social studies unit on Maryland state and local governments contains three sections. In the first section, a two-column chart matches grade level objectives related to Maryland governments to specific activities discussed in the next section. A content outline is divided into sections on introductory materials, including vocabulary…

One population at risk of academic failure comprises students who are of average ability, but who score significantly higher in nonverbal aptitude than verbal aptitude. Careful identification and instructional intervention can help these students to perform better. The findings of two studies are presented. The first study was conducted in 1964…

This teacher's guide begins with sample unit plans for junior high school art teachers. Unit plans cover specific themes, approaches, objectives, concepts, motivation, resources, study approaches, evaluation, and related activities. A description of how the units relate to the objectives and concepts of the art program's curriculum guide is also…

This pregnancy prevention curriculum guide for seventh and eighth grades is based upon the concept that individuals with social behavioral problems such as teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, criminal records, and other disruptive behaviors have a set of symptoms in common. Those symptoms include poor self-esteem, a lack of assertiveness, the inability…

Discusses large corpus and pedagogical word lists. Develops two word lists based on 80 compositions of second-, fifth-, eighth-, and eleventh-grade students from a metropolitan school district in western United States. Compares both favorably to the Dolch list. Notes remaining need to investigate vocabulary of individual beginning reading texts.…