In recent decades, researchers have indicated that U.S. schools have underexposed elementary grade students to informational text. The increased exposure to this genre should be a top instructional priority. In the present study, we explored 46 third-grade students' attitudes toward and perceptions of informational text. Using three data sources…

Set in the context of a choice-saturated public school system, this study examines the school choice process of low-income parents who participated in Louisiana's 2008 voucher program. Based on semistructured interviews with 16 parents at 1 Catholic school, we report that spirituality, small class and school size, character/values, familiarity,…

This article used two studies to investigate sign and symbol mediation in children aged 8-11 years. In role play, children exist at one at the same time in objective reality and their representation of reality. We cannot observe their mental representation directly, but the issue of whether signs or symbols mediate early role play is an important…

Background: This study explored typically developing children's attitudes towards peers with intellectual disabilities, with special reference to the type of school they attended. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and fifty-six Greek children aged 9-10 (135 in inclusive settings) completed a questionnaire and an adjective list by Gash ("European…

The purpose of the qualitative study was to explore the strategies teachers from the third, fourth, and fifth grades are employing to engage students and provide an in-service training where identified needs are not being met in a school district in Connecticut. No empirical studies have been conducted to explore what strategies teachers in the…

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of familiarity with the sound of a melody on children's performance of the melody. Children in kindergarten through fourth grade (N = 97) with no previous formal instrumental instruction were taught to play a four-measure melody on a keyboard during an individual instruction session. Before…

The current study examined the utility of multiple-exemplar training to teach children with autism to share. Stimuli from 3 of 4 categories were trained using a treatment package of video modeling, prompting, and reinforcement. Offers to share increased for all 3 children following the introduction of treatment, with evidence of skill maintenance.…

This investigation examined the efficacy of a model of integrated science and literacy instruction situated at a community zoo. Three intact cohorts of third grade urban students received instruction via different treatments: inquiry-based instruction at a zoo; inquiry-based instruction at school; and activity-based instruction at a zoo. All three…

While research has been conducted concerning the effects of school-based mentoring on at risk students, limited work has focused on the volunteer mentors. This study examined the motivations of adult volunteers and the benefits of their participation in a six-month, school-based mentoring program. A total of 31 volunteers completed adapted…

Shane, who is in Ms. Jones's third-grade class, has autism. Ms. Jones has provided him with a schedule, a picture communication system, and a positive reinforcement system for his learning tasks. He is demonstrating progress toward his individualized education program (IEP) goals, but he still struggles with attending for any length of time,…

Primary school pupils in the UK today may be less familiar with natural objects, less exposed to formal natural history teaching and have less time given to school-based observation and discussion of natural objects. This study of children's responses to a "Nature Table" of displayed natural objects was designed to assess pupils'…

We examined how children with and without oral language (word-finding) difficulties (WFD) perform on oral reading (OR) versus silent reading recognition (SRR) tasks when reading the same words and how lexical factors influenced OR accuracy, error patterns, and nature of miscues. Primary-grade students were administered an experimental reading…

An angles teaching sequence was designed, in which students were guided to abstract a general concept from physical activities with concrete materials. The three design principles used were familiarity, similarity recognition, and reification. The resulting teaching sequence was tested in a field study involving 25 teachers of Grades 3-4. The data…