Elementary engineering, as an emergent or "contentious" practice, is fertile ground for cultural analysis. Contentious practice (Holland, D., & Lave, J. (2001). "History in person: Enduring struggles, contentious practice, intimate identities." School of American Research Press) highlights how historically enduring…

In recent years, there has been increasing awareness on the benefits of social-emotional competencies (SEC) on Israeli students. A self-report SEL measure tailored to the Israeli context, however, has yet to be developed. This research aims to validate the Social-Emotional Questionnaire for Grades 4-6 (SEQ [G4-6]), a new self-report questionnaire…

Students with emotional behavioral disorders often exhibit comorbid academic and behavior deficits and benefit from strategies that address those needs. Writing can be significantly difficult for students with EBD due to the complex requirements when completing written activities. Chapter 1 consists of two research to practice papers discussing…

Methods for facilitating students' standards-based consumer literacy are addressed via the use of problem solving with food and product labels. Fifth graders will be able to: (1) provide detailed analysis of food and product labels; (2) understand large themes, including production, distribution, and consumption; and (3) explore consumer…

Decision making, a complex mental activity underlying the act of choosing from among the alternatives in attaining a goal constitutes the core component of planning, a higher order cognitive process as per the PASS theory of intelligence. An attempt, therefore, has been made in the present study to examine the development of planning behaviour in…

High-stakes standardized tests in reading and limited instructional time are two powerful disincentives for teaching economics in the elementary classroom. In this article, integrating instruction in poetry and economic decision-making is presented as one way to maximize the use of scarce instructional time. Following a brief introduction to the…

A policy capturing approach was used in a study that investigated teacher judgment during the selection of instructional activities. This approach uses a simple (usually linear regression) model to reproduce the inferential responses of a particular judge. Central to the approach is the manner in which the judge weighs and combines information in…

Policymakers sometimes view arts education and experiential learning as distractions from the goal of enabling all students to master rigorous content standards. The three school programs described in this article, however, demonstrate that content standards can be integrated into engaging, motivating curriculums based on the arts and authentic…

This study assesses the School Health Curriculum Project's (SHCP) effect on fifth-grade students' (n=746) health knowledge level and their decision-making skills concerning cigarette smoking. No significant differences were found on the knowledge test, but analysis of all the decision-making variables revealed significant differences. (JMK)

This activity allows fourth- and fifth-grade students to integrate math, language arts, problem solving, decision-making skills, and art design in the creation of their own business. Includes teacher preparation and a step-by-step guide to the activity. (JOW)

Recognizing that enhancing the interpersonal problem solving skills of children as young as age four can reduce or prevent high-risk behaviors later on, researchers designed a competence-building model of primary prevention. The two criteria tested were: (1) the theory of interpersonal cognitive problem solving (ICPS) skills as mediators of social…

Describes the use of a token economy in a fifth-grade classroom that teaches students economic concepts and helps develop their decision-making skills. States that students learn about scarcity, savings, price, inflation, insurance, rent, and utilities. Includes additional resources. (CMK)

It is assumed that inference is at the heart of thinking and little is known about possible relationships between learners' decision-making styles and teaching strategies. Therefore, it was hypothesized that instructed children score higher on an inference test than those not instructed, and interactions occur between different decision-making…

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RISK TAKING WERE STUDIED IN A SAMPLE OF 162 MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN IN GRADE 5. MEASURES OF ANXIETY, CREATIVITY, DEFENSIVENESS, INTELLIGENCE, AND RISK TAKING WERE ANALYZED TO DETERMINE CERTAIN SELECTED RELATIONSHIPS. THE AUTHOR CONCLUDED THAT CREATIVITY BEARS A MORE POWERFUL RELATIONSHIP TO RISK TAKING THAN DOES…

Instruments to measure decision-making skills of grade 5, 8, and 11 students were developed as a part of Pennsylvania's statewide assessment program. A decision-making model was formulated based upon John Dewey's five major steps of the critical thinking process: (1) identify the problem; (2) establish the facts; (3) formulate the hypothesis; (4)…