Sooner Elementary Engineering and Science Clubs (SeeS) began less than four years ago at a single elementary school as an effort to bring more science education into our local elementary schools without increasing the burden on the school's teachers. Due to popular demand, the program expanded slowly at first, but is doubling to include eight…

This study examined five student characteristics with the expectation that if interactive characteristics could be established, attitudes could be improved by assigning students to classrooms with the appropriate degree of openness. It was hypothesized that some pupils might be happier in a traditional, or structured, environment. Five variables…

This study attempts to reinforce developmental theory concerning spatial Comprehension by building on the qualitative observations of art educators of the past, and by strengthening the empirical basis of contemporary investigations into the relationship between pictorial representations, intellectual maturity, and environmental stimulation.…

With traditional mentoring programs working hard to attract new kinds of volunteers and schools facing increased pressure to help students succeed, school-based mentoring is a promising--and increasingly popular--approach. According to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the number of school-based matches grew from 27,000 in 1999 to 90,000 in…

An anxiety scale was administered to fifth- and eighth-grade students in West Germany immediately after and three years after placement in a high, low, or middle school track based on achievement. Findings from this investigation are related to reference group theory. (Authors/CJ)

This study tested the impact of combining mass media interventions with school smoking-prevention programs. Students in two communities received combined interventions over four years, while students in two other communities received only the school program. Periodic surveys indicated that the combined interventions had a significantly greater,…

Five boys and five girls each in grades one through six (n=60 students) asked controversial questions in interviews, recognized the lack of social consensus on the controversial topics and made subtle distinctions between controversial and noncontroversial topics. Implications for discussion of controversial issues in the classroom are discussed.…

Explores academic self-efficacy of 382 male and 319 female Chapter 1 elementary school students using the Self-Efficacy for Academic Tasks scale. Factor analyses reveal no sex differences in factor structure. Verbal skills and compliance explain 66 percent of the covariation. Efficacy beliefs decline between second and fifth grades. (SLD)

Measures of Chinese character recognition, vocabulary, and interest in reading were administered to 92 second grade children in Hong Kong, while questionnaires on parental literacy practices were administered to their parents. In a hierarchical regression equation, maternal education, children's age and vocabulary skill predicted 18% of the…

The purpose of this paper is to report the cross-sectional relationship between educational achievements and the "health status" of the rural South African children in the Ellisras Longitudinal Study (ELS). The study followed a cohort design where 1033 children (569 boys and 464 girls) aged 7-14 were randomly sampled from 11 primary…

This study was designed to examine the effects of participation in regular outdoor schoolyard environmental education activities on environmental knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and comfort levels of fourth- and fifth-grade students. Results showed that the fifth-grade treatment group showed statistically significant differences in the measures…

The present study was conducted to predict bullying roles over a 6-year time period and across contexts differing in the degree of peer hierarchies. Out of two representative data sets from primary (N = 1525) and secondary school (N = 2958), 282 children (156 boys; 126 girls) were followed up longitudinally. Self-reports on bullying experiences…

This study represents the first to empirically validate the structure of social self-concept (SC) as proposed by the Shavelson model. For each of three age groups--preadolescents (252 3rd graders), early adolescents (290 7th graders), and late adolescents (335 11th graders)--analyses of covariance structures were used to test: (1) that social SC…

This study investigates the effect of curiosity in first and second grade children as an individual difference variable in learning in a computer-based interactive learner control environment and discusses the implications for instructional designers and educators. The instruction was an art education lesson containing both facts and concepts. The…

This study is based on data from a state-wide assessment that included both multiple-choice and constructed-response items. The intent of the study was to see whether item types make a difference in gender results. The items on both tests were categorized according to whether they assessed procedural knowledge, concepts, problem solving, or…