The eight contributions to this special issue provide an informative focus on many aspects of peer-based victimization in schools. Often using sophisticated quantitative and analytic procedures, they advance our knowledge in several important domains, pointing out important contextual variables, interactions, and mediating factors in the negative…

Two aspects of verbal ability are required for performance of verbal tasks: verbal comprehension (given the most attention); and verbal fluency (slighted by researchers). An information processing approach to how words are generated was used in two studies of 104 third and 61 sixth graders to clarify the relationships between verbal fluency and…

Describes a model of adaptable learning that takes into account the interaction between affective and cognitive variables in learning situations, introduces an instrument for measuring relevant aspects of this model, and presents initial results of the application of this instrument to (n=30) 6th-grade students. (53 references) (Author/MKR)

Sixth-grade class members met Washington state writing standards by creating their own newspaper and using rubrics to remind themselves of the requirements each article had to meet. Student activities were also linked to the Foxfire core practices. Student comments are included, demonstrating their development as independent, self-directed…

Provides one teacher's personal account of an ongoing learning process in a sixth-grade classroom, and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of allowing for diverse interpretations, perspectives, and points of view designed to aid student learning. The dynamic relationship between student initiative and unpredictability that can result in…

Argues that science may be presented as a continuing effort to improve existing knowledge. Analyzes a three-month discourse by sixth graders, showing that the basic commitments enabling scientific progress can be realized in elementary schools. Suggests that people need to be able to move freely between scientific and other modes of thought to be…

After completing a unit of study entitled "Reading the Daily Newspaper" under the leadership of a teaching team consisting of student teachers and cooperating teachers, sixth-grade pupils wrote a newspaper for their parents describing their experiences in different curriculum areas in the classroom. Guided by the teaching team, student…

Describes a difficult sixth grade girl who spent her elementary school years fighting to feel happy. The article focuses on a teacher's efforts to raise the child's self-esteem by examining her home life then taking appropriate steps to encourage success (e.g., tutoring younger students). (SM)