In response to the ongoing war in Syria, displaced persons fleeing war and persecution transited in neighboring countries before going on to resettle permanently in countries of reception such as Canada. The overall purpose of the study reported on here was to inquire into Syrian refugee background children's early educational experiences in…

"Mino-Pimaatisiwin" is an Ojibwe term for life in the fullest, healthiest sense. Grounded in anticolonial theory, this case study explores the impact of infusing Indigenous perspectives into an elementary school curriculum on students, school staff, parents, and community. With a focus on building self-esteem and cultural connectedness…

Within the current standards-based framework of early primary education, teachers must negotiate the integration of assessment with traditional, developmental orientations to teaching and learning. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine teachers' approaches to early primary assessment within five different school contexts: public,…

There is a perceived shortage of male teachers in education, particularly at the primary/junior (P/J) level where male teachers in Canada account for a dwindling minority. Included among the many factors inhibiting males from becoming P/J teachers are perceptions that males might be unduly vulnerable to false accusations of inappropriate conduct…

The ability to identify the emotional content of vocal expressions was examined for Canadian and Mexican boys, ages 6-11. The Mexican children performed better overall, although children from both countries did better with the Mexican speech samples. Performance was found to improve with age. (JMB)

Reports research on children's conceptualizations of spelling. Researchers asked a combined grades 3-4 class and a combined grades 6-7 class to invent new ways of spelling words and produce written justifications for each alternate spelling. Most of the children gave phonological reasons for their creative spellings. (DR)

Considers the low incidence of active questioning by students in elementary school and points out techniques teachers can use to encourage active questioning. (Author/RH)

To determine whether classroom meetings, as a form of group counseling, could be used to improve the behaviors and self-concepts of fourth-grade students, 45 experimental group students and 45 control group students participated in 20 weeks of meetings. Results indicated improvements in behavior but not in self-concept. (BL)

This study explored the manifestations of what was called "dialogical critical thinking" in elementary school students aged 10 to 12 years as they engaged in philosophical exchanges among peers. The characteristics of dialogical critical thinking and how it develops were studied over an entire school year among eight groups of students…

Evaluates the effectiveness of double-immersion programs in which English-speaking children received instruction in Hebrew and French either before or along with first-language instruction. (Author/RH)

A total of 192 second- to sixth-grade children, showing three different levels of class-inclusion answers (failure, correct answer based on counting, correct answer based on logical reasons), performed four necessity tasks. Results are discussed with reference to individual and constructive generalization processes. (Author/RH)

Discusses theoretical developments in the nature of language and language acouistion as well as possible applications of those theoretical principles to teaching. (Author/RH)

Tested the hypothesis that academic self-concept is a better predictor of report card grades than is general self-concept. Subjects (N=198) were students in third through sixth grades. Results indicated that either children's academic self-concept affects their scholastic achievement or that children's successes and failures in school affect their…

Studied the reliability and validity of Light's Retention Scale (LRS) (H. Light, 1986), an instrument to evaluate whether a student would benefit from retention, with 93 Canadian students who had repeated an elementary school grade. Findings suggest that the LRS is not a reliable or valid instrument. Selected scale items did not predict…

Examines the relationship between the mental effort requirement of cumulative rehearsal and spontaneous utilization of the strategy by three groups of children (mean ages 7.6, 8.7, and 11.5 years). Results showed that the mental effort requirement of strategy use may influence children's strategy selection on memory tasks. (Author/CI)