The Common Planning Time Project of the Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group (MLER SIG) of the American Educational Research Association provided an avenue through which researchers from throughout the United States could investigate numerous aspects of common planning time in schools. Although several studies have investigated…

Incorporating Vygotsky's concept formation theory and Berger's appropriation theory, an assessment which highlights authentic operations with the concept of area was designed and administered to 44 sixth grade students to determine what types of understanding they maintained. The results indicated the more novel the situation, the more diverse…

Action research is designed with the intent of assisting educators in assessing the effectiveness of their building and classroom practices. Lesson study helps teachers use ongoing collaborative peer-insight and feedback about student responses to instruction to develop high quality lessons. Middle school teachers from an outer-ring suburb of…

This paper provides an overview of a pilot study conducted in Northeast Ohio. A survey was distributed to ten middle school principals representing urban and suburban school districts; each principal was asked to select two teachers to participate in the survey. The study considered two questions: Are the technologies available in schools…

The faculty of one rural middle school in Ohio received professional development funds to implement a 5-year school improvement plan (Ohio's Venture Capital initiative). A study of the project investigated: (1) how the experience affected teachers' perceptions of their roles as reflective practitioners and as resources to their colleagues; (2) how…

An exploratory study examined children's self reports of media habits and academic performance. Chosen by a sample of convenience, 20 children between the ages of 8 and 14 years old (all residents of Indiana or Ohio) expressed that increased time with media takes away time spent studying. Many view media as a distraction to completing homework,…

The purpose of the study described in this paper was to determine the facilitators and barriers teachers in middle-school mathematics classrooms faced when trying to implement equity and reform objectives. The study is set in the context of the Statewide Systemic Initiative (SSI) in Ohio known as Project Discovery. In 1995, a major evaluation of…

This paper presents a narrative of a case study conducted in an Ohio middle school as part of a 5-year nationally funded reform program, Transforming Education through Art Challenge (TETAC), which features the arts as central in integrated/interdisciplinary curriculum planning. In the school the paper reports on, there are approximately 64…

A study elaborated a profile of four northeastern Ohio middle-grade teachers who incorporated whole language instruction into their classrooms. The overarching question investigated was how middle grade teachers proceeded to configure whole language instruction in their classrooms. Teachers for the study were selected based on their use of and…

Attitudes toward middle school certification in Ohio were studied. The study concerned teachers and principals of schools containing grades 6 through 8. Results, obtained through an attitudinal questionnaire, indicated that type of district and position had no effect on the participants' attitudes. However, educational level (elementary, middle,…

Four different methods for disseminating materials and activities used in a program to teach middle school students about aquatic environments were compared in Ohio. Six hundred teachers elected to attend one-and-a-half day workshops, 180 teachers attended workshops requiring 10 full days' participation, 200 teachers ordered materials by mail, and…

Designed for use in a one-semester seventh-grade Ohio social studies class, this curriculum guide is divided into teaching, testing, and activity units. The primary purposes of this guide are to teach participatory citizenship and to emphasize self-learning. Twelve broad instructional objectives include the ability to: (1) interpret Article I of…