The efficacy of a keyword mnemonic strategy to teach word meanings was evaluated with 64, 12-year-old learning disabled poor readers. Subjects were instructed via either keyword-image, picture context, sentence-experience context, or control. Results indicated that the students in the keyword condition significantly outperformed other students…

Presents a collection of teaching activities suitable for middle grade students. They include a program for an Apple sketch pad and a Logo procedure to determine what angles produce polygons. Comments related to inputing variables, replicating patterns and figures, and using electronic spreadsheets are included. (JN)

Determined if the number of operational questions asked by fifth- and sixth-grade students (N=72) increased by teacher modeling or by practice at writing such questions. One finding is that students experiencing two types of teacher modeling asked more operational questions than students in a control group. (JN)

Presents a collection of computer-oriented teaching activities for the middle grades. They focus on Logo activities to sharpen visualization skills, use of spreadsheets, various uses of Apple microcomputer paddles, and writing a program from program output. All activities may be adapted for lower or higher grade levels. (JN)

Describes computer-oriented teaching activities for the upper grades. They focus on the use of databases in history classes, checking taxes, examining aspects of the joystick button on Atari microcomputers, printing control using Logo, and a Logo program that draws whirling squares. All activities can be adapted for lower grades. (JN)

The use of mind mapping (MM), a visual tool developed by T. Buzan (1983; 1996) to improve note-taking, foster creativity, organize thinking, and develop ideas and concepts, was studied in a sixth-grade classroom with 16 students as an instructional and learning tool. In MM, a central focus or graphic representation of the problem is placed in the…

This guide, designed for fourth- through sixth-grade classrooms, contains information teachers will need to teach an educational unit on indoor air quality. It draws on a variety of students' skills, including science, vocabulary, reasoning, math, and basic biology. Each lesson comes with suggested activities that highlight and reinforce what is…

Miniperformances require less extensive preparation than formal concerts and offer performance opportunities to children with a wider range of abilities. Among those who have the most to gain from giving miniperformances are junior high and middle school students. (AM)

Describes techniques used by a sixth-grade teacher to introduce students studying Greek culture to the methods of inquiry used by social scientists. For example, playing the role of archaeologists, students gathered wastebaskets from all parts of the school. They sorted through the containers as they would historical evidence. (RM)

Presents a six-step problem-solving process which the author has used to present creative science investigations to fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. (Author/SJL)

Describes techniques and cites materials to use with gifted children in creative reading instruction. (MKM)

Intermediate students scored better on reading comprehension tests when questions on content were interspersed in the text. (JD)

Engaged a class of 23 diverse fifth graders in historical investigation of U.S. colonial history to help their thinking skills and understanding of the past. Focused on a teaching dilemma provoked by history's interpretive paradox and showed how the teacher/researchers found his pedagogical thinking changed by that encounter. (SLD)

Eight students (aged 9 to 14) with learning disabilities were placed in a variety of spelling programs and followed a variety of study schedules. Results showed that students averaged more words spelled correctly when they used planning and self-recording strategies than when they did not use these student-directed strategies. (JDD)

Discusses how picture books can be used in the classroom with intermediate grade students. Provides examples of books and projects that have been used on the following topics: issues of war and peace, the environment, relationships between generations, and the development of self. (MG)