The present study evaluated the extent to which literacy skills (reading fluency, written spelling, and reading comprehension), together with nonverbal reasoning, prior knowledge, and gender, are related to students' online research and comprehension (ORC) performance. The ORC skills of 426 sixth graders were measured using a Finnish adaptation of…

This article presents an account of a practical outdoor science project using the larvae of antlions with year 5 and 6 (age 10-11) pupils from Sir Harry Johnston International Primary School in Zomba, Malawi. Aim: To conduct a science project outdoors using scientific enquiry and knowledge in a typical African school environment and to see whether…

This article describes a case study that is part of a broader research project in which schools set up processes of school improvement inspired by the proposals put forward by students. The project furthers the initiatives of the student voice movement and seeks to implement more participative pedagogical models. This as a whole represents a novel…

Observation data from 19 self-contained sixth-grade Canadian classrooms were analyzed to describe research process instruction. Most teachers used traditional approaches to research tasks. Findings suggest that students acquire topic-driven conceptions of the research process, encounter limited points of view about their research topic, and lack…

This unit for sixth-grade students provides a fuller understanding of Julius Caesar's significance. Before students delve into the sample topic, they need an understanding of Roman values, lore, republican ideals, and structure of early Roman history. The first few activities in this lesson are to be taught prior to beginning the actual study of…

The study described in this article investigated original student research using student-to-student telecommunications. Sixth graders gathered original data through Internet to answer their own questions about education in other countries. Student surveys and teacher observation indicated students found telecommunications highly motivating. (SM)

This model lesson for sixth graders about the beginnings of civilization in the Near East and Africa aims to have students focus on the cultural and geographical features of a region: landforms, climate, and vegetation. The lesson features three major topics: (1) Sumer and Mesopotamia, (2) Egypt, and (3) Kush. It addresses the uses and…

Provides an activity where sixth-grade students replicated the Egyptian art form of tomb painting. Explains that the students researched information about Egyptian culture and history in order to familiarize themselves with Egyptian wall-painting style. Discusses the process of creating tomb paintings in detail. (CMK)

Information and learning activities about Russia are presented in this sixth grade social studies unit. Among the unit's objectives are identification of political and economic effects of Communism, determination of the size of the Soviet Union and its latitudinal position, and comprehension of the causes and effects of the Sino-Soviet split.…

The problem addressed in the study was whether 10- and 11-year-old children, collaborating within a computer-supported classroom, could engage in progressive inquiry that exhibits an essential principal feature of mature scientific inquiry: namely, engagement in increasingly deep levels of explanation. Technical infrastructure for the study was…

Two social studies units for sixth grade provide information and learning activities about Africa and Russia. Both units contain lists of concepts to be learned, skills, objectives, learning activities, common misconceptions, vocabulary, maps, objective and essay tests, and bibliographies. The unit on Africa helps students understand the wide…