Communication in the mathematics classroom is currently viewed as an integral part of mathematics instruction. This paper explores the usefulness of math penpal letters as a means of increasing the quality of written communication in mathematics. The focus of this study is the letter writing exchanges between a class of 4th-grade students (n=28)…

Prior to a curriculum unit on European exploration of the New World, a class of fifth grade U.S. history students stated what they knew (or thought was true) about the discovery of America and what they wanted to learn about it. After the unit, they reported what they had learned about the general topic of European exploration of North America. In…

This paper describes a strategy that was developed to help elementary school students to become more interested, involved, and accepted in school. The strategy involved a pen pal project in which students wrote to other students at an elementary school who were in other classes and at different grade levels. The idea was presented as a fun…

Specifically designed to avoid methodological problems limiting earlier research, this study attempted to identify specific behavioral differences between elementary school students with either high or low sociometric status. Subjects, who had been selected on the basis of same-sex sociometric status nominations of 144 classmates, were 30 females…

This document comprises nine commissioned papers and four literature review chapters that are part of the first report of the Study of Academic Instruction for Disadvantaged Students, a 3-year investigation of curriculum and instruction in elementary schools serving high concentrations of poor children. (A summary of this report is presented in…

This document describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a 10-week parent effectiveness training program to improve black elementary school student attitudes and participation in extracurricular activities by improving the attitudes of their parents towards school. The program was developed in consultation with teachers and…

In order to gain a better understanding of metaphor comprehension in different cultural contexts, this study compared the performances of two groups of children from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds but with common schooling experiences on two tests of metaphor: the Metaphor Triads Task (MTT) and the Proverbs Test. The Ravens Colored…

Using a nationally representative database of students in grades one through six, this study estimates the effects of number of parents and maternal working on children's school-related achievement. Achievement scores are lower for children from one-parent than from two-parent homes. The effect appears to work primarily through the lower income of…

The goals of this research were to: (1) develop instruments useful in profiling the characteristics of teaching manuals used with grade 4 science textbooks and the effects of those manuals on teacher and pupil activities; (2) look at both high and low inference perspectives in making these profiles; (3) develop two instruments, one for elementary…

Recent evaluations of Federal compensatory education programs funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Title I, and maintained by the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981, Chapter 1, point to qualified effectiveness in the targeting of services, program structures, and classroom arrangements for increasing the…

This study found major differences among types of Chicago (Illinois) elementary schools in the amount and time that sixth grade students spent on homework, and that differences were related to the income level and prior student achievement in those schools. Ten magnet schools, 10 integrated schools and 10 primarily minority schools were chosen for…

This paper discusses the content, theoretical context, and goals of elementary art and music education. The paper focuses on statements about teaching for understanding, higher order thinking, and problem solving. Part 1 addresses the historical and theoretical context of goals and practices in art and music education. Four currents of curriculum…

Reported in this document are the results of three experiments investigating the potential influence of peers in gender-role socialization. Children were exposed to a series of vignettes providing information about target children who varied in their degree of masculinity and femininity. Drawn from third through sixth grades, participants included…

Similarity of friends and the degree to which friendship selection criteria and similarity change as a function of age were investigated in this study. Subjects were 27 preschoolers, 34 third graders, and 30 sixth graders. Fifty-three percent were male, 47 percent were female, and 29 percent were black. Friendship choices were measured by…

Three studies of children at two developmental levels were made to assess subjects' understanding of the verbal terms "easy" (to do) and "hard" (to do). Such understanding was studied in the context of statements about personal competence at depicted activities. Behavioral criteria of levels of understanding were employed;…