Describes a teaching activity in which middle school students draw maps based on map models used in ancient Babylon. Contends that this approach serves as a transition from the study of world civilizations in grade six to the U.S. history course in grade seven. Includes 10 student-created maps and student comments about the activity. (CFR)

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)

Disruptive behavior patterns are particularly challenging for parents, teachers, and peers as these behaviors often interfere with classroom instruction, frequently lead to academic underachievement, and are associated with social skills acquisition and performance deficits. Children who exhibit a combination of…

A survey of the parents at a middle school in central Florida indicated that parents believed homework should contribute to the student's grade and that 47% of the respondents felt that mathematics should have daily homework. Based on these results, a study was conducted to determine the effects of implementing an innovative automated…

To prevent children with reading difficulties from thinking of themselves as failures, academic experiences must include projects that will motivate them to be responsible learners, enhance their self-concept, and reinforce all the language arts skills. One class of sixth grade students with reading disabilities made minibooks from greeting cards…

The concept of the density of a material has an important role in elementary and secondary school science curricula, but it is a difficult concept to grasp. This project explores why this should be and whether there are some simpler, more accessible notions which can serve as the basis for building a concept of density in students' minds during…

The effects of student socioeconomic status (SES) and four teacher behaviors--teacher structure, teacher affect, cognitive level of questions, and group size--on student reading achievement were analyzed. Subjects were 36 fifth and sixth grade classroom teachers and their 820 students. Data were collected with the Reading Comprehension Subtest…

REVIEWED ARE (1) THE ACTIVITIES OF RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION (R AND I) UNITS IN TWO MILWAUKEE SCHOOLS DURING THE 1966-67 SCHOOL YEAR, AND (2) THE RESULTS OF FIELD TESTING OF R AND I UNITS. PART 1 PROVIDES A DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE PROGRAM. PARTS 2 AND 3 REPORT AND EVALUATE THE RESULTS OF TWO CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS OF MOTIVATIONAL…

This guide provides 11 basic lessons for the English monolingual and English dominant sixth grader. It may also be adapted for other grade levels. The guide may be used independently as introductory material or as a supplement to other Spanish-as-a-second-language (SSL) programs. The units are designed to develop first the listening and speaking…

This study took place in a sixth grade math class at Webber Middle School in Saginaw, Michigan. A literature review indicated that a classroom that students perceive as safe, supportive of their autonomy, and of their learning increases intrinsic motivation. With this in mind, the author created a study, which would look for connections between…

Reported is an approach to teaching the use of Macintosh computers to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students within the context of a simplified model of scientific research including proposal, data collection and analyses, and presentation of findings. Word processing, graphing, statistical, painting, and poster software were sequentially…

Presents an activity that integrates science, environmental education, art, and social studies. Students identify and research an endangered species and construct a totem pole depicting the species using a recyclable material. (MDH)

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…

Arguing that the development of a notion of sense-making is of critical importance to improving science learning, this paper examines science teaching in four Boston (Massachusetts)-area classrooms that participated in an experiment on ways of integrating technology into a sixth-grade science curriculum on the earth's seasons. The task of the…

To provide a differentiated language arts program to meet the needs of highly able and gifted readers and to encourage interest in reading and the development of state reading goals, students in the sixth grade of a middle school in Maryland were grouped by ability for their language arts/reading classes. Students were exposed to a wide variety of…