In the context of Phase Four of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Science Attribute Study, this report includes a discussion of item attributes, an overview of the item attributes used in the study, some psychometric characteristics of the blocks analyzed, a general description of the rule-space methodology, the results…

Finding the number of cubes in rectangular solids provides a cognitive framework for understanding the measurement of volume. This study reveals whether the activities provided in the context of equal investing and equal sharing that emphasize both numerical and spatial aspects of cube configurations cause any improvement in student strategies…

It is generally well accepted in the adult literature that the quality of friendships correlates well with loneliness and the number of friends one has does not. This study investigated children's self-reports of quantity and quality of friendships as predictors of loneliness. Subjects (N=64) were third, fourth, and fifth-grade students enrolled…

Subjects in this study were 69 fourth-grade students enrolled in a Chapter 1 program who received low scores on a standardized reading comprehension test in the spring of 1982. One group (n=35) received 15 minutes of programed reading tutoring each day throughout the 1982-1983 school year as a supplement to classroom instruction. The Houghton…

The purpose of this study was to look intensively at two aspects of mathematics instruction--development and practice. It contrasted the Direct Instruction approach to the development phase of teaching problem solving with a Traditional approach taken from the teachers' manual of four widely used basal textbooks. Seventy-three fourth graders…

This study examines preadolescents' choice of admired individuals and the reasons given in support of that admiration in two different cultures. Students in the fourth and fifth grades of a public school in East Brunswick, New Jersey and in a Jewish parochial school in the same community comprised the American sample of 100 boys and 115 girls. A…

A study was conducted in an effort to better understand what assumptions and strategies students bring with them to the task of dictionary use as well as what knowledge they take away from it. Data were collected in three middle-class school systems in the suburbs of a large, Midwestern city. Participants were 55 fourth-grade students ranking…

A study examined whether the female superiority in reading achievement that exists in the United States is duplicated in a population that is genetically similar but culturally different from that of the United States. A sample of 4th and 6th grade students from Bielefeld, West Germany, and a sample of 4th and 6th grade students from Rialto,…

The hypothesis was tested that humor facilitates social attraction. Students in three fourth-grade classrooms responded to two different peer rating surveys, one measuring interpersonal perceptions of humorousness and the other measuring classroom social distance. Differences between same- and cross-gender ratings were examined. Statistical…

This experiment investigated self-modeling among 60 children, enrolled in grades 3 and 4, during cognitive skill learning. Children received training on addition and subtraction of fractions. Subjects in one condition (mastery self-model) were videotaped while successfully solving problems and viewed their tapes. Children in the progress…

The effects of wait-time, the pause following a teacher question and the pause after a student response, on the length and number of student responses were analyzed at different cognitive levels. Data were obtained from 95 students in grade 4 and from 5 teachers using a wait-time of 5 seconds. Four oral discussion sessions by teachers and students…

Two variables, expectations and self-efficacy, were investigated to illuminate their relationship with achievement. The school was the unit of analysis chosen, and three levels of subjects were evaluated--students, teachers, and principals. Students, teachers, and principals within high achieving schools were hypothesized to evidence significantly…

A home-based reinforcement program was instituted with three underachieving fourth graders who exhibited inappropriate behavior. Each day the children brought home a workbook assignment indicating percentage of correct responses and parents provided reinforcement for correct items and for improvement over time. Effectiveness on completion of daily…

A study examined the effectiveness of using volunteer reading tutors to work with students who have reading difficulties. Changes in academic engaged time, active responding time, achievement, and student attitude were assessed, along with information from tutor evaluations. Subjects, nine intervention and eight control students with mild…

To determine if measures of the frequency of English root words can serve as reliable predictors of knowledge of those words, a 98-item multiple choice vocabulary test, in which all of the items were English root words, was administered to 46 third graders and 45 fourth graders. The percentage of correct responses for the words was correlated with…