In order to analyse whether or not the characteristic of scientific inquiry activities of textbooks in China satisfy the requirements of China's new curriculum reforms, content analysis method was adopted to analyze scientific inquiry activities in junior middle school physical textbooks (grade 8) of five editions authorized by the Chinese…

There are racial/ethnic disparities associated with school punishment practices and academic progress. In addition, research suggests that urban schools have stricter school punishment practices and higher grade retention rates. What remains unknown, however, is the relationship between race/ethnicity, school punishment practices, and retention…

Background: This study examined students' perceptions of autonomy-supportive teaching (AST) and its relations to internalization of pro-social values and bullying in class. Aims: We hypothesized that: (1) teachers' AST, which involves provision of rationale and taking the student's perspective, would relate positively to students' identified…

The following is an abridged version of the author's original Master's thesis written in 2008 for LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York. This qualitative, structural, comparison determined if twelve Character Education studies of Brigham Young University, specifically the Positive Behavioral Support Initiative, assessed the same literacy program…

A classroom teacher reflects on the benefits of professional development leading to improved and energized student writing. Although traditional professional development sparked interest and encouraged modifications, the support of a teacher inquiry group as ongoing professional development provided the impact needed to effect significant change…

Describes how the author discovered practical, accessible ways of talking with her seventh and eighth graders about the considerations and decisions of fiction writers. Appends a fiction writing handbook. (SR)

Describes the creation of a theater-based program for eighth-grade students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (Georgia) Schools. Chronicles the efforts of playwright Ed Shockley to write a play focusing on teen violence and aimed at eighth-grade students. Concludes that the program and the play succeeded in accomplishing their goals. Relates three…

Uses data from the North Carolina End-of-Grade test of eighth-grade mathematics to estimate the achievement results on the scale of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Trial State Assessment. Uses linear regression models to develop projection equations to predict state NAEP results. (SLD)

Describes how one eighth-grade teacher, disturbed by students' ignorance of the variety of poetry available to them, developed a poetry anthology assignment, in which students immersed themselves in poetry for three weeks, each one choosing and creating a poetry anthology comprised of 20 poems. Notes students' enthusiasm for the project and pride…

Describes using music with eighth-grade students for generating story ideas to write about. (SR)

Discusses the 1997 NAEP "Arts Report Card," which, for the first time, includes theater arts. Relates that results confirm that large-scale assessment in theater is possible and that the assessment tasks and how they were scored should be useful for theater teachers seeking to refine their grading processes. Notes that the study was…

Describes a gifted student research activity in which historical novels are evaluated for their historical accuracy. Reports that students are able to integrate their own thoughts with several different sources of information. (RS)

Studied the meaning of caring as constructed by 25 eighth graders, based on interactions with their teachers in a southwestern suburban middle school. Found that students had six major interpretations of caring, centered on control, equality, forgiveness, talking and listening, knowing students, and good teaching. (KB)

Presents a problem included on the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress in mathematics at grade eight in the content area of algebra and functions. Collects and examines a set of responses to this problem and discusses some examples of strategies that students used to determine the answer to the problem. (ASK)

Examined test anxiety in 222 seventh and 188 eighth graders before taking the Metropolitan Achievement Test. Results showed race and test anxiety were significantly related to test performance in all five academic subjects, but there were no significant interactions between race and test anxiety, or sex and test anxiety. (Author/ABL)