Describes class activities designed to broaden primary school students' perception of technology and its role in society. A guided discussion highlights technology's contribution to the children's lives and the difference between generations. Story telling concerning children, families, and technology of ages past provides a historical…

Teachers' ideas for quick classroom activities include creating a garden-in-winter bulletin board, writing a science story, playing a Valentine's game, graphing vowels, averaging students' sizes, creating lifesize figures of historical people, making picture books, creating an idiom bulletin board, and sending school valentines to local hospitals.…

This longitudinal study in London (England) examined changes in student attitudes toward school and schoolwork, ethnic and sex differences, and associations between attitudes and achievement. Black, and white urban students completed interviews, self-concept measures, and achievement tests from ages 7-16 years. Results found few direct…

The SNAPdragon (School Network Action Project) project investigated how elementary school children interact with the Internet by asking them to build an annotated directory of World Wide Web sites for other children. Describes instructional arrangements and development of searching skills; and discusses critical thinking skills and interschool…

A second-grade teacher helped her students improve self-confidence and self-esteem by making them active in their assessment. Using cooperative learning, portfolio assessment, surveys, and interviews, she examined whether students could assess their own abilities and improve classwork. Students gained pride in their work and participated more…

Examines a six-step "lesson plan" for teaching writing. Details the pairing of eighth-grade students with first graders about whom they will write a story, the collection of information about the main character, the composition and revision of the stories, and the sharing of the final product with the students participating in the project. (AA)

Performance-based, contextual assessments can highlight the academic and personal strengths of students that may be overlooked or judged pathological by traditional psychometric measures. This case study of a 10-year-old African American male special-education student illustrates how portfolio assessment improved the perception of his academic…

Studies the effects of social skills training on four behaviorally disordered male elementary school students. Finds that training effects decreased following training, and that there was no increase in positive responses from peers. Discusses the problems of social skills training in special education classes. (FMW)

Describes the use of cooperative learning centers (CLCs) in an inner-city fourth-grade classroom. These seven CLCs focused on mathematics, language, writing, learning with kindergartners, computers, interest group, and free reading, with students taking weekly turns at being the center "specialist" or group leader. The effectiveness of…

Critiques the concept of resistance in interpreting students' behaviors and attitudes, examining political, social, and psychological connotations of resistance and contradictory ways that educators employ the concept. The paper explains limitations imposed on education by the concept, noting the work of educators who reassess the implications of…

Examined six aspects of vocabulary instruction given to fourth and sixth graders prior to reading in two basal reading series. Found that words targeted for instruction were already known; instruction in the two series differed markedly; much of the instruction was not sufficient to improve comprehension; and instruction was not necessarily suited…

Reports a study of third- and fifth-grade students' perceptions of their physical education programs at two urban alternative schools. The students highlighted goals such as cooperating with others, challenging themselves, and taking risks. They reported several success factors, especially trusting each other, problem solving, attitudes toward…

Investigates the validity and reliability of performance assessments using data from over 300 fifth and sixth graders. Results demonstrate the gap between the reality of measurement through performance assessments and the political rhetoric that would institute these assessments in a national examination system in the immediate future. (SLD)

Presents profiles of Soviet elementary and secondary students, grades one through 10, based on the author's teaching experiences and informal discussions with other veteran teachers. Compares the contemporary profile with students from 20 years ago. Considers family, mass media, peer, and teacher influences. (CH)

Teacher ratings were obtained for 364 boys in elementary school special education classrooms using a rating scale of diagnostic criteria for disruptive behavior disorders from the revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals (DSM-III-R). Implications of prevalence, factor analyses, and conditional probabilities for school psychologists' practices…