In this action research project report, the teacher researcher focused on the problem of lack of achievement of students in middle school social studies classes. The purpose of the project was to increase motivation and engagement of students by incorporating the use of technology; thereby, increasing achievement. A total of 105 sixth-grade…

This report described how implementation of differentiated assignments provided documentation of how students' motivation increased. The volunteers that participated in this study were 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Students struggle academically to meet the expectations of their instructors. These struggles impact how students learn academically,…

This report investigated to what extent a curriculum designed to actively teach critical thinking skills resulted in students utilizing higher-order thinking skills (e.g., analysis, synthesis and evaluation). An intervention strategy was designed for a sixth grade class located in a diverse suburban community in northern Illinois. The intervention…

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of Batch Computer-Supported Instruction (Batch CSI), an inexpensive method of involving ordinary classroom groups with the computer, on students' cognitive skills in mathematical computation and comprehension and on affective attitudes toward mathematics and the computer. Additionally, a…

This study surveyed the teaching practices of instructors of grade six language arts in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Teacher characteristics of (sex, number of university courses in language arts, length of teaching experience, and number of language arts inservice courses) were correlated with the frequency of use of selected teaching practices. One…

Comprehension levels necessary to the acquisition and retention of facts, concepts, and rules and the facilitating effects of the use of orienting directions and postadjunct questions were investigated in a study involving 105 sixth-grade students. Four treatment groups each received a version of a six-page fictional passage, differing in the use…

A total of 272 children participated in a study of the effectiveness of three support systems for cuing sixth grade students in interpreting the metaphoric language of poetry. The first system involved regular classroom teachers who applied their own verbal cuing, the second included external instructional support through media and the teachers'…

This study investigated the influence of two approaches to teaching poetry, an aural-visual discussion program and an aural discussion program, on the understanding of and attitudes toward poetry among sixth grade students. The schools, teachers, and 10 classrooms (divided into 20 experimental treatment groups and 5 control groups) were selected…

The purpose of this study was to develop a reading program using dramatic literature, informal dramatization, and a series of related written exercises to increase reading comprehension skills. It was also the purpose of this study to determine if such a program would produce a more favorable attitude toward reading on the part of the students in…

Twelve sixth grade classes were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group. Experimental group one contained three classes which received 27 cloze lessons containing a systematic deletion count of every tenth word. Experimental group two contained three classes which received 27 cloze lessons with an every tenth word deletion…

The purpose of this study was to determine what kind of feedback would be most effective in helping students improve their writing and in what manner it should be provided. Feedback was provided on a specific writing task, the short autobiographical narrative. Improvement was measured by scales of the three variables: completeness, development,…

Investigating the effect of a resident outdoor experience on the attitudes of 300 sixth grade students exposed to two different teaching methods, students from the Brownsville School District in Pennsylvania were randomly assigned to a week-long camp experience. Teachers in the control group (N=3) were given 20 hours of training in outdoor…