Describes a writing assignment that uses the song "America the Beautiful" to point the following six reasons why America is beautiful: skies, mountains, grain, Pilgrims, heroes, and dreams. (NKA)

Describes two methods of invigorating student research in social studies. Showcase events are culminating activities or simulations which demonstrate student learning in an active, imaginative, and involving way. Snapshots are dramatic interpretations of specific moments in time. Examples of both methods are provided along with suggestions for…

Concludes that on-site training that promotes continuous use of the school library can be a factor in improving student academic achievement. (FL)

Grade 10 students were taught a hierarchy of intellectual skills in three different contexts: skills taught in isolation; additional verbal instructions provided; and skills taught in relation to a relevant anchoring idea. Results showed that use of the anchoring idea context enhances meaningful learning of complex skills. (Author/GK)

Describes an approach to teaching narrative poetry writing to tenth-grade students. (RL)

Eighty tenth-graders studied a two-day unit on quadratic inequalities presented in one of four programmed-booklet forms: analytic treatment with advance organizer, analytic treatment plus introductory overview, graphical treatment with advance organizer and graphical treatment with introductory overview. No differences were found between groups on…

Describes how allowing students to follow their creative impulses led to a unit in the author's tenth grade English class that rekindled an appreciation for imaginative, even whimsical, thinking. Discusses her experiences with this project. Considers why it is important to imagine. (SG)

Notes that "Julius Caesar" is required in nearly every high school curriculum, but that making the play accessible to students is not easy. Tries new teaching ideas to see whether students would more readily take to "Julius Caesar" using a more interdisciplinary approach. Describes three of these ideas that were particularly…

Examined students' after-school pursuits by category (in- or out-of-school, academic or non-academic, organized or unorganized), considering the association of the pursuits with achievement after dis-aggregating the data by ethnicity. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study indicated that differing pursuits had differing levels of…

Argues the relative merits of using in-process and retrospective journals, during and after the writing process, to empower students to explore and use their own ways of constructing knowledge to make connections as they write. (KEH)

Examines degree to which three types of tasks affect the selection of main points in instructional texts. Finds, on average, type of task did affect the number and kind of selected text fragments, but the variation between the students was large. Suggests findings provide more insight into three ways of identifying main points. (RS)

Explores the frequency with which students use background media in self-instructional home study settings, and the perceived effects of students' use of background media on their homework performance. Examines the results from 1,700 students in grades 8 and 10. Finds that there was variability in background media use dependent on assignment type.…

Investigates the effects of Science-Technology-Society instruction on a group of Taiwanese female 10th grade students' cognitive structure outcomes. Examines the role of student scientific epistemological beliefs on such effects. (Author/SAH)

Provides a qualitative description of what happened to 10th grade students' attitudes and cognitive development when learning algebra using Computer Algebra Systems (CAS). Chronicles the frustrations, changes in attitude, motivation, determination, and improvements in cognitive development of algebraic concepts over the course of the six-week…

It is noted that research concerning correlates of academic achievement has mainly concentrated on such variables as education and occupation of parents, student personality variables, school-related variables, and racial background of students. However, this study focused on the relationship between student achievement in a given subject with…