Assesses the value of looking at reading scores of cohorts of children to identify different changes in attainment. Analyses the reading standards of seven cohorts of Year 6 children from five British primary schools. Highlights the increasing numbers of poor readers and decreasing numbers of very good readers in upper-level cohorts. (DSK)

The causal network model of P. Van den Broeck and T. Trabasso (1986) was used to analyze the inferencing processes induced from verbal protocols from reading and thinking-aloud tasks. Results from 66 Dutch 10- and 11-year olds show no correlation between reading and think-aloud performance and comprehensive scores of a closed comprehension test.…

Uses a free-form questionnaire to explore 10- and 11-year-old students' ideas about the nature of air pollution and its biological and physical effects. Suggests that students hold misconceptions in this area. (DDR)

Illustrates the possibilities of critical literacy by discussing a project a class of fourth-grade students undertook to write and produce a play about the conditions of apartheid, the history of resistance, and the upcoming South African elections. Concludes that students felt empowered as social activists and believed they had a mandate and the…

Study examines the classes of variables identified in D. L. MacMillan and G. M. Morrison's (1984) multicomponent model for research on sociometric status in special education. Results are discussed with reference to social-exchange theory, as an integrative basis for research on children's sociometric status. Implications for mainstreaming…

Examines the relationship between bully/victim problems and the coping strategies used when confronted with a peer argument in Greek primary school children. Suggests that both bullying and victimization are associated with self-evaluations in diverse domains and emotional coping strategies in conflictual peer interactions. Includes references.…

Analyzes videotaped lessons of 5th grade students on equivalent fractions from seven American and six Japanese classrooms in terms of a recurrent pattern in public discourse among a teacher and students. Found two approaches to the teaching-learning of the criteria for evaluating mathematical arguments. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/ASK)

American and Korean fourth- and fifth-graders were administered the Student Social Attribution Scale (SSAS), designed to assess students' explanations for social successes and failures. Results reveal that Korean children showed significantly higher Failure Effort scores and American children showed significantly higher Success Ability scores.…

Demonstrated an experiment on the properties of air to 2 groups of Swedish fourth graders (total n=45), using familiar materials in one case and unfamiliar, "scientific," materials in the other. Written explanations by students show that the unfamiliar materials were a barrier to understanding and may have actually obstructed students'…

Poor readers and reading age level controls performed a primed picture naming task and a lexical decision task. Additionally, vocabulary performance was assessed for both groups. Subjects were 42 Dutch children--mean age for the poor readers was 145 months and for controls was 117 months. In the picture naming task there were three priming…

Defining better implicit models of children's actions in a series of situations is of paramount importance to understanding how knowledge is constructed. The objective of this study was to analyze the implicit mental models used by children in complex change problems to understand the stability of the models and their evolution with the child's…

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the largest and most ambitious international study of mathematics and science achievement ever undertaken, with more than 500,000 school students in 45 countries being tested in mathematics and science at five different school year levels. South Africa is the first country in Africa…

A practicum report addressed the problem of lack of interest in the literacy of young readers and the need to motivate them to want to read. A cross-age peer-tutoring program was established where primary students were paired with upper intermediate grade students who displayed positive reading attitudes and habits. The tutoring pair worked…

A pilot case study addressed how a reader engages aesthetically with text. The main thrust theoretically is from the notion that "there are possible worlds other than the one we inhabit." Four subjects were chosen out of a total of 63 subjects in grades four through six in an elementary school in Western Canada. Out of the four subjects,…

This material describes curriculum specifications for grade 6 science in Alberta. Emphases recommended are: (1) process skills (50%); (2) psychomotor skills (10%); (3) attitudes (10%); and (4) subject matter (30%). Priorities within each category are identified. (YP)