A unit on the study of Helen Keller is outlined to create awareness in gifted language arts students (grades 4-6) of the efforts and accomplishments of disabled individuals. (CL)

Discusses the efforts of a fifth-grade teacher and a visiting poet to rekindle students' sense of poetic passion and pleasure. Describes how the authors introduced students to poems for two voices (using P. Fleischman's "Joyful Noise"). The poetry unit culminated in a project in which students read and performed Fleischman's poems, then wrote and…

"Tax Whys: Understanding Taxes" is a series of six video/film instructional programs being produced for the Internal Revenue Service to provide middle school students with an understanding of the reasons for and effects of taxation. This report details both student and teacher evaluations of one of the first programs to be scripted: "Taxes…

A study investigated the effects of preteaching vocabulary on students' performance of a writing task targeted to the use of those words. Subjects were 50 fourth grade and 55 sixth grade students. Materials included a pretest narrative writing assignment, a 10-word vocabulary pretest and posttest, a vocabulary instructional booklet with teacher's…

Describes a sixth grade class in which students examined World War II throughout a school year. Identifies curiosity as the factor that helped children most in learning about the war. Reviews teaching strategies used and kinds of questions students asked. Discusses student problems with the vocabulary of the subject matter. Includes student…

Prior to a curriculum unit on European exploration of the New World, a class of fifth grade U.S. history students stated what they knew (or thought was true) about the discovery of America and what they wanted to learn about it. After the unit, they reported what they had learned about the general topic of European exploration of North America. In…

The study that is the subject of this document focused on how fifth-graders' knowledge and thinking about the westward expansion of the pre-Civil War United States was affected by students' participation in a curriculum unit on the topic. A stratified sample of 10 students was interviewed before and after they participated in the unit to…

Prior to a curriculum unit on Native Americans in a U.S. history course, three classes of fifth graders stated what they knew or believed they knew about these people and what they wanted to learn about them. After the unit, they reported what they had learned. In addition, a stratified sample of 10 students was interviewed concerning the details…

The unit presented in these materials is designed for alternative programs at or about the 4-6 grade level for use by teachers in the Northwest Territories (Canada) and their elementary school students. The unit uses the language development approach with the ultimate aim of giving students an understanding of the concepts related to law…

This report presents an examination of the analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of an instructional unit designed to help high risk sixth grade students become better problem solvers through the teaching of the decision-making process. The systems approach outlined in the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) Model was used to formulate…

Contends that students enjoy social studies instruction more when new information can be personalized and reshaped into original material. Reports on the content and teaching methods used in an ancient middle east unit designed for the sixth grade. Includes three charts and one table that illustrate the instructional strategies. (CFR)

The process through which the basic principles and concepts of computer programming language are acquired by children was investigated via the development and testing of a teaching unit for fourth and sixth grade students. This unit had three components: (1) basic programming without variables; (2) basic programming with variables; and (3)…

The unit which this teacher's guide and student notebook are designed to implement is intended for use with students in grades 4-6 in the Northwest Territories (Canada). The unit aims to develop in students an understanding of the concepts related to rules and laws; the need to deal with rules and laws in a constructive manner; and an appreciation…

Authors who have reviewed the literature on teaching and learning in U.S. history and in social studies have argued that a need exists for comparative case studies of teachers' history and social studies teaching practices and the influence that these practices have on students, especially at the elementary school level. This report, which is…

This report examines the biography, elementary school social studies teaching goals, and specific U.S. history-social studies goals and curriculum mediation practices of one fifth-grade teacher, Ramona Palmer. Daily lessons and classroom teacher-student interactions are described in detail as Palmer moved through a 6-week unit on the American…