This study was undertaken to understand a motivation model in the context of the Korean elementary school mathematics class. The sample consisted of 178 fourth graders (boys=95; girls=83) from 2 Korean elementary schools. This study showed that a goal mediational model could be modified and successfully applied to the context of the Korean…

This paper reports on a visit to an interactive science center by a class of 10-year-old children planned and implemented by a teacher identified as exemplary by the science center staff. The visit was planned to be an integral part of the science program for the term, extending the range and type of science activities which were a feature of the…

A goal mediational model to conceptualize the effects of students' motivational beliefs on their learning strategies was modified with the three goal orientations: task, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. Questionnaires were administered to 161 Korean fifth graders (boys = 88; girls = 73) in an elementary school math class.…

Two studies addressed the relationship between elementary school students' knowledge of specific words and their comprehension of passages involving those words. In the first study, 39 students in grades 5 and 6 read 4 passages, answered comprehension questions, and defined words that were included in the questions. Most of the words in the…

Four students participated in a two year study (fifth- and sixth-grade) focused on the development of their understanding of multiplication of fractions. During the first year, all students received individualized instruction designed to encourage them to build on their informal knowledge of partitioning to solve problems involving multiplication…

This study focuses on one preservice mathematics teacher in her first mathematics methods course who constituted a special section of the course. This was field-based with most of the course spent in a fourth grade classroom observing mathematics instruction, conducting task-based interviews with individual children, and teaching small groups. It…

Although children often receive classroom opportunities to retell and summarize information, they must also learn how to critically examine what they read. Critical reading of multiethnic literature helps children develop understanding, respect, and value for the diverse cultures and people in the world. This paper discusses the value of…

This study explored the cultural influences on children's self-reported environmental actions, perceptions, and understandings; investigated the relationships among the behavioral, affective, cognitive, and demographic variables; and developed models of children's responsible environmental behavior (Huang, 2001). The cross-cultural comparison…

Researchers have pointed to cultural diversity as a major source of conflict in our nation's schools, noting that these conflicts have the potential to escalate into violence. This study seeks to identify the types of intercultural encounters that young people themselves find troublesome. Participants were 906 sixth graders in 12 elementary…

The "Think It Through" videodisc and computer program is designed to develop independent thinking skills in intermediate-age hearing impaired students. The program combines a videodisc (visual storage medium) and a microcomputer to present interactive problem solving tasks. (CL)

A study examined whether the need for feedback varied with students' metacognitive knowledge monitoring abilities. Subjects were 59 fifth-grade students--35 females and 24 males. Students were given a list of 25 words with instructions to check off whether they knew or did not know each of the words; a multiple choice vocabulary test containing…

This study involved 3 days of teaching in two fourth-grade classes. A pretest and a posttest were given consisting of (1) a NAEP item asking for the length of a line drawn next to a ruler, (2) a Piagetian unit-iteration task, and (3) the measurement of an object with a ruler that had the "0" mark away from its edge. It was found in the…

One fifth grade student, Martha, was encouraged to develop her informal ratio and proportion strategies during a 6-month teaching experiment. The challenges Martha faced during the teaching experiment are described. The current study supports the claim made by Kaput and West (1994) that initial instruction on ratio and proportion based on…

This paper reports on a teaching experiment involving decimal instruction conducted with a class of elementary students (n=20) in a public school of a small city. After doing extensive work with multiplication, division, ratio, and fractions through an innovative mathematics curriculum, fifth grade students were introduced to decimal numbers. To…

This case study was carried out with a student who was 9 years old and in the fourth grade when the study began. She was selected after the administration of an exploratory questionnaire to 66 pupils in primary school. The main features of the case were the absence of a common referent and a corresponding unit to the free generation of references…