A study determined the effects of a pedagogical approach using rap music on the learning of musical forms among urban African American youth and whether there were differential effects among students of different levels of self-esteem. Urban African American youth (n=66) from the St. Louis County Public Schools who were enrolled in general music…

Although specific definitions and approaches vary, social studies generally involves some form of citizenship education conducive to promoting the greater good of society. Such education is limited neither to academic subjects nor to formal educational processes. In addition to learning the discipline's body of knowledge, citizenship education…

In 1991, Ohio received National Science Foundation (NSF) funding through its Statewide Systemic Initiative (SSI) program. One aspect of the reform effort involved evaluating the performance of middle school students with a test item bank of items from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). This paper presents the results of…

This book targeted especially to those who counsel middle-school through high school students, shares experiences, concepts, happenings, and anecdotes of a school counselor. Concepts are presented for those interested in developing functional orientations in the area of helping relationships. The first chapter discusses the concept of help and…

Young people need help in learning how to use alternative dispute resolution skills at school. Methods for teaching these skills are presented in this manual. The training centers on the following major themes: The Mediation Process, Cultural Diversity, Communication Skills, Feelings, Mediation Techniques, Dealing with Difficult Situations, and…

The feasibility of the administration, scoring, and reporting of an on-line concept mapping system has been studied in collective research in which concept map construction systems were designed to allow students individually and collaboratively to construct concept maps on the computer to measure content understanding and collaboration. The study…

A study examined the effect of three different prereading vocabulary development strategies on sixth grade science test results. Subjects, 81 sixth-grade students from a suburban, middle-class school in Union County, New Jersey, were divided into four heterogeneous science classes and given a pretest of 40 vocabulary words taken from the science…

Teaching strategies that foster academic achievement for special and regular education students in the same classroom are crucial for successful student integration. One such approach is creativity training, which may aid all students in the development of concept mapping, a metacognitive strategy that allows students to integrate creative…

This manual describes the activities of an educational program that is specifically designed for middle-school students with the purpose of providing steps whereby teachers can introduce the process of conflict resolution and the skills necessary for mediation to students within a classroom setting. It also encourages students, teachers, and…

This booklet presents descriptions of 19 reading programs that encourage Indiana middle-grade students to read. The programs described in the booklet were part of the Middle Grades Reading Network and were funded with competitive $5000 "minigrants." Essays (descriptions of the reading programs) in the booklet are: "Building a…

Student Study Teams were established at the middle and junior high school levels to address the needs of at-risk students not being served by special education programs. Also, communication and cooperation between existing Student Study Teams (SST) and other referral teams had been lacking and needed to be improved. The goals were to strengthen…

Service learning has been proposed as one strategy to empower youth, engage students, and provide real-life applications for classroom learning. One model of service learning, "The Helper Model," which was designed specifically for use with middle school students, is presented here. Data to test the model were collected from over 500…

This study examined the validity and reliability of the Back Saver Sit-and-Reach test for middle school students. Students completed the test during physical education class. Results indicated that the test was moderately related to hamstring flexibility, but its relationship to lower back flexibility was quite low for both sexes. (SM)

Two studies examined relationships of the number of reciprocated friendships, peer acceptance, and group membership to academic achievement in two samples of sixth graders. Found that group membership was the most consistent predictor of grades over time. Longitudinal analyses found that peer relationships were related indirectly to classroom…

Describes the Rapid Retrieval of Information technique used with middle school students in order to satisfy students' desire to read aloud, achieve a purpose from oral reading, and teach adult silent reading patterns. Focuses on the strategy of oral rereading to answer a question, prove a point, or provide an example from the text after silent…