Children from two primary schools--one a state primary and the other a private school--have been involved for some eight years with planning, making and maintaining a conservation area beside the River Thames in Berkshire. The work is part of the curriculum and involves habitat studies, identification of local species and learning about animal…

Children's perceptions of a distant locality are gauged before the introduction of a link with a school in that distant locality. Changes in the perceptions are recorded after a variety of exchanges between the schools. The implications are considered for children, teachers and teacher trainers.

This document contains the results of the Primary Health Related Behaviour Questionnaire which was administered to 7,852 students between the ages of 8 and 11 years in schools in England during the 1991-1992 school year. The preliminary sections of the report introduce the work being done by the Schools Health Education Unit at the University of…

Examines the effects of gender, expectations of success, and social comparison on children's performance on a computer-based task. Finds that the presence of like students facilitated the performance of girls with high expectations of success but was detrimental to those with low expectations; found opposite results for boys. (DSK)

The aim of this small-scale study was to investigate the effect of pupil-generated ground rules on peer group learning in a class of 9-year-old boys. The study examined the type of talk used by participants working in a group before the introduction of ground rules and compared this with that used after the introduction of ground rules. It was…

This book offers an in-depth understanding of the unique challenges and contributions of urban primary schools. The authors set urban education in the wider social context of structural disadvantage, poverty, oppression and exclusion, and reassert some critical urban educational concerns. Recognizing that practice needs to be informed by theory,…

Drawing upon data collected during an investigation into the exclusion (suspension or expulsion) from school of primary age children due to behavioral problems, this paper provides an overview of findings from empirical research, but also considers the possibilities for prevention of primary school exclusion by using education service-based…

A 32-month project has been designed to study the process of school development planning in British primary schools and to evaluate the impact of such planning on the work of individual schools, the learning opportunities for individual pupils, and the professional development of individual teachers. When completed in June 1994, this project…

This paper reports on research conducted as part of a project, the aim of which was to utilise outdoor and adventurous experiences to help schools address their "if only" factor--that aspect of learning perceived to be key to raising standards, whether it be the acquisition of knowledge, skills or a change in attitudes to learning. The…

Background: Recent government papers have expressed concern about the poor educational attainment of "looked after" children. Early reading development has been found to be significant in their subsequent academic achievement. The possibility that biosocial factors extraneous to their experiences in public care may underpin their low…

The Sex Stereotype Measure II (SSM II), a 32-item picture-story technique, was developed to assess children's knowledge of conventional, adult-defined, sex-trait stereotypes. The procedure was based on stereotype characteristics identified by college students using the Adjective Check List item pool. A second procedure, the Sex Attitude Measure…

Elementary school art history lessons may be aided by the use of everyday games and playthings, such as jigsaw puzzles, board games, card games, puppets, and dolls, that have been altered to include an art history overlay. Such activities should help children better understand art and encourage them to talk about art. Specific examples of such…

Ways in which student assessment in the arts and humanities might be conducted in primary (elementary) schools in the United Kingdom are suggested. Characteristics of instruction in the arts and humanities that impede conventional assessment and recordkeeping are discussed. Assessments concerning students' skills, concepts, and aesthetic responses…

Examines the different kinds of singing competency of children aged 4 to 8 that were evinced by a range of singing tasks. Suggests that: (1) vocal pitch accuracy is task-specific; (2) a greater homogeneity in vocal pitch matching abilities between boys and girls; and (3) sex difference emerge at age 7 favoring girls. (CMK)

This paper examines children's and adults' attitudes to virtual representations of museum objects. Drawing on empirical research data gained from two web-based digital learning environments. The paper explores the characteristics of on-line learning activities that move children from a sense of wonder into meaningful engagement with objects and…