Used data from Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study to assess how objective physical attractiveness (PA), indexed by appraisals from others, and subjective PA, indexed by self-appraisals, related to each other and to early adolescent adjustment. Findings indicated low relationship between objective and subjective PA; only subjective PA…

Investigated relationship between anxiety and self-esteem of a group of middle school children, many of whom were Black. Findings from 53 sixth and seventh graders support hypothesis that there would be significant inverse relationship between measures of anxiety (state and trait) and measures of self-esteem of preadolescent students. (NB)

Compares use of two decoding strategies in fifth-sixth grade normal and dyslexic children, and younger normals reading-aged-matched to the dyslexic students. Finds dyslexics lag behind age-matched normals in use of both strategies, and behind reading-age-matched normals in use of analogies, but not rules. (RS)

Presents an episode in which a conflict arose as sixth-grade students attempted to create nonstandard units of measurement. Discusses the conflicting requirements of language and symbol use in mathematical communication in the activity. (MKR)

The relative effectiveness of practice and motivation was studied with 18 sixth grade classes learning English usage. Results suggest that the most effective device for learning is to increase the amount of practice, while the prime function of motivation is to make the practice more palatable. (SLD)

Studied pairs of preadolescents who were close friends and pairs who were acquaintances. Coherence in friends' behavior states and in acquaintances' vocal activity suggested that friends more often shared the same behavior state and acquaintances more often paid attention to turn-taking signals. (GLR)

Describes how a survivor of the Holocaust helped a sixth grade class understand the experiences of the Holocaust and how the class helped the survivor to reach into his own repressed pain. (PRA)

Describes a joint effort in a school/university partnership to develop, implement, and evaluate a literature-based approach to sixth grade social studies. Discusses theory and rationale; designing the unit; addressing prior knowledge; think sheets; head, hand, and heart of citizenship; developing personal responses; and program effectiveness. (SR)

Examined gender stereotypes among sixth-grade students whose teachers had or had not participated in intervention to decrease gender stereotypes. Findings supported hypothesis that students in experimental group would show greater preference for more prestigious professions than would students from control group. Hypothesis that experimental group…

Describes a storytelling project in the midst of a language arts unit on folk tales in a sixth-grade class, how the classroom teacher and the media specialist worked together, how the students' storytelling was assessed, and students' enthusiastic response. (SR)

Task involvement and ego involvement were studied in relation to depth of information processing for 126 fifth and sixth graders in 2 experiments. Ego involvement resulted in poorer word recall at deep rather than shallow information processing levels. Implications for the study of motivation are discussed. (SLD)

Explores journal writing exchanges through the observations of a classroom teacher and a college professor as their students connected with one another in an authentic literary experience. Offers four suggestions for helping a journal exchange to proceed smoothly. (MG)

A teacher of sixth grade social studies classes describes how he implemented the core practices of the Foxfire approach, including student ownership, problem solving, and decision making; connections to the community; small-group teamwork; the teacher as facilitator and collaborator; and ongoing reflection and group self-evaluation. (SV)

The effects of various gifted programs on the self-concepts and depressive symptoms of 82 gifted and talented fifth- and sixth-grade students were evaluated. Sixth-grade gifted groups (pull-out and self-contained) scored higher on self-concept than did nongifted groups. No effects on depressive symptoms were found. (DB)

A study investigated the effect of reward on sixth graders' self-correction inaccuracy and monitored the effect of improved self-correction on mathematics homework achievement. There was a low baseline rate of student self-correction inaccuracy. Offering a reward for improved accuracy caused the rate of inaccuracy to decrease significantly.…