Immersive virtual reality (VR) is anticipated to peak in development this decade bringing new opportunities for 3D multimodal designing across all levels of education. The need for students to gain capabilities with multimodal texts--texts that combine two or more modes, such as spoken, written, and visual--is emphasised at all levels of education…

The benefit of homework (HW) has been the subject of ongoing debate among various stakeholders. Within this debate, and in relation to teacher development, prospective teachers' views of HW have received limited attention. In this study, we survey primary pre-service teachers' ('PSTs') views of HW use (n = 45 teaching grades 2-5; n = 39 teaching…

The purpose of this study was to understand cultural differences and similarities in children's creative characteristics in Korea and Australia. In this cross-cultural research, the Integrative Creativity Test (K-ICT, [13]) with identified validity and reliability for measuring elementary school students' creative ability and creative personality,…

As part of a 3-year longitudinal study, 136 sixth-grade students completed an engineering-based problem on earthquakes involving integrated STEM learning. Students employed engineering design processes and STEM disciplinary knowledge to plan, sketch, then construct a building designed to withstand earthquake damage, taking into account a number of…

The acquisition of spelling skills in English presents, for a substantial number of children, a significant challenge. Spelling skills do not automatically transfer from reading skills, and while many teachers are aware of the need to develop a separate word study program to assist with spelling development, time and confidence factors often…

Middle years' teachers in primary schools are increasingly required to teach curriculum-specific subjects at a depth requiring considerable content and pedagogical knowledge, as well as a detailed understanding of the particular literacy requirements specific to each subject. Science teaching, in the latter years of primary schooling, is…

There have been increasing expectations that all primary school students and teachers actively use information and communications technologies (ICT) in their learning. In order to achieve this it is important that appropriate environments are set up to support the varying needs and potential of the different groups within the school context.…

Compares attitudes of children toward the elderly in a cross-cultural study of children from the mainland United States (N=60), the Aleutian Islands (N=29), Australia (N=39), and Paraguay (N=69). Scores on Children's Attitudes Toward the Elderly (CATE) indicated children in Alaska, Paraguay, and Australia rated older people less positively. (JAC)

This article describes the Australian Informatics Competition (AIC), a non-programming competition aimed at identifying students with potential in programming and algorithmic design. It is the first step in identifying students to represent Australia at the International Olympiad in Informatics. The main aim of the AIC is to increase awareness of…

An initial study in teaching style was carried out among Tasmanian primary school teachers who responsed to a questionnaire regarding ten categories of teaching behaviors and attitudes drawn from research. A second study sampled 28 teachers and obtained achievement measures for their 574 pupils. Results of both studies are presented. (Author/MT)

The effect of free- versus no-talk conditions between target and peer subjects under vicarious reward conditions was examined. Data collected from fourth graders on an alphabet reproduction task showed that vicarious reinforcement effects occurred when verbal communication of reward enjoyment to nonreward subjects was possible. (Author/BW)

Describes a Costume Project wherein Australian Grade Six students and Prep students collaborated to produce costumes from paper, which were later paraded by the Preps at the school Opening Evening. (NH)

Speed of information processing was examined in relation to fluid and crystallized intelligence in sixth graders. Reaction time parameters (except slope) were negatively correlated with scores on intelligence tasks. Partial correlations failed to support any causal relationship between fluid and crystallized intelligence in either direction.…

From a group of 107 Australian sixth graders, a treatment group completed 10 weeks of career education activities. They had better understanding of occupational information sources, more interest in career information, and better perception of the relationship of school to potential jobs than did the control group. Many had gender stereotypical…

Comparison of the self perceptions of 146 gifted children in grades five through seven in Western Australia with those of nongifted children found that gifted students perceived themselves as more competent than nongifted peers in the cognitive and general self-worth areas but not in the physical and social areas. (Author/DB)