Examines the teacher's role in computer-based problem solving using sixth grade students and a computer program called Rocky's Boots. Ways in which the program could be used in thinking skills programs are discussed, program improvements are suggested, and teacher intervention is identified as a critical element in computer-based training. (LRW)

One important finding from recent research on multiplication word problems is that children's performances are strongly affected by the nature of the multiplier (whether it is an integer, decimal larger than 1 or a decimal smaller than 1). On the other hand, the size of the multiplicand has little or no effect on problem difficulty. The aim of the…

A study measured the effects that direct instruction in narrative text structure using a story map (called "macrostruction") had on the comprehension of average and above average sixth-grade readers. A 2 x 2 x 2 repeated measures design was used with time, text, and treatment as the independent variables. The number of story grammar idea…

Examines the hypothesis that poor readers will have much greater difficulty in recalling abstract words than will normal readers but will closely approximate normal readers in recalling concrete words. The hypothesis was confirmed at the second-grade level but not at the sixth-grade level. (Author/CB)

Investigated were differences in learning styles, as measured by the Learning Style Inventory, in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students achieving at high, low, and average levels. Results indicated students do not learn in the same manner and manifest significant variations in how they prefer to learn. (RH)

Explores children's judgments of the relative effectiveness of four memory strategies (looking, naming, rehearsing, and categorizing.) Strategy judgment data were analyzed using Thurstone's Method of Paired Comparisons. (Author/NH)

The effects of various gifted programs on the self-concepts and depressive symptoms of 82 gifted and talented fifth- and sixth-grade students were evaluated. Sixth-grade gifted groups (pull-out and self-contained) scored higher on self-concept than did nongifted groups. No effects on depressive symptoms were found. (DB)

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…

A study was conducted to evaluate the level of difficulty of textbooks (French and Sciences) written in French for use with sixth grade students. A cloze test was administered to a sample of sixth grade students in two francophone districts in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, and the Henry readability formula was applied to the same texts.…

Developmental changes leading to mature judgments of the relative effectiveness of verbal memory strategies were examined in 60 subjects (20 each from second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade classrooms). Subjects viewed videotapes of a female child who was given the task of remembering a set of categorizable pictures. Demonstrations of four memory…

This study investigated the effect of similarity and reciprocity on dyadic friendship choices. Subjects were 34 third graders and 30 sixth graders. Reciprocal (mutual) and nonreciprocal (nonmutual) friendships were identified through use of the roster sociometric technique, whereby children choose their three best friends from an alphabetized list…

To establish a better linkage between the results of earlier studies on upper elementary through junior high students' rating of the stressfulness of experiences and those of primary children, study examines responses to the same life events from 270 first graders, 109 third graders, and 170 sixth graders. (Author/RWB)

Tests second- and sixth-grade students' incidental memory for words under acoustic- and semantic-processing conditions. The findings were predicted by an associative-processing account of incidental memory previously advanced by Ghatala (1981) and indicate that both knowledge-base development and processing activity determine children's incidental…

Examined the relationship between the ability to think divergently and the knowledge of social strategies on the part of 157 fifth and sixth graders. Subjects who obtained high scores on a test designed to measure divergent thinking tended to select relatively indirect, subtle, and mature social strategies. (RJC)

The expression of children's concepts of sex-roles was explored by examining changes in the masculinity and femininity of human figure drawings of males and females. A total of 106 sixth-grade students participated in two Draw-a-Person sessions. In the drawing task, persons to be drawn were either specified in terms of gender or unspecified as to…