The effects of a task-focused goals (TFG) treatment in mathematics were studied with low-achieving students with or without learning disabilities. Results with 40 elementary classrooms showed that TFG students enjoyed the approach, but that increased effort was associated with greater learning only for those without learning disabilities. (SLD)

Examined Reciprocal Peer Tutoring (RPT) and parent involvement interventions on mathematics achievement of academically at-risk fourth and fifth graders (n=84). Found that students who received RPT plus parent involvement displayed higher levels of accurate mathematics computations than either RPT Only or control students and that students in RPT…

Reports on a study in which students with and without learning disabilities wrote persuasive essays about controversial topics. One group of students was given an elaborated goal that included explicit subgoals based on the elements of argumentation. Sixth-grade students in the elaborated goal condition produced more persuasive essays and included…

Among 28 upper elementary learning-disabled students in a summer remedial program, those that were taught spelling with explicit rule-based strategies out-performed students presented with a visual imagery mnemonic on unit tests, a posttest, and a standardized spelling test. Contains 20 references. (SV)

Investigates the effects of group personalization of instruction on the mathematics achievement and attitudes of 72 fifth-grade Taiwanese students. Personalization was accomplished by incorporating personal information and preferences provided by students into their mathematics word problems. Students were blocked by ability level, then randomly…

Two experiments involving 90 primary and intermediate-grade students studied how the COPPERS computer-based mathematical learning environment advances children's understanding that multiplication problems have many different correct solutions. Factors affecting learning and theoretical implications are discussed in terms of scaffolding learning.…

This study compared the effectiveness of a diagrammatic and a keyword method of teaching mathematics problem solving to 70 learning-disabled junior high school students. Results indicated no significant difference between problem-solving performance by students taught with different methods. Potential factors explaining inconsistencies between…

Two experiments involving 60 fifth graders and 40 fourth graders investigated how goal setting and progress feedback affect self-efficacy and writing achievement. The process goal with progress feedback had the greatest impact on achievement outcomes. Self-efficacy was highly predictive of writing skill and strategy use. (SLD)

Intermediate grade students with learning disabilities learned to work in pairs to help each other with editing and revising of their compositions. The 13 subjects made more revisions and produced papers of higher quality when revising with peer support than did 16 students in a process-approach control group. (Author/JDD)

One hundred forty fourth graders were asked to solve proportion problems about juice-mixing situations both before and after an intervention that used a manipulative model or other materials in three experiments. Results indicate different approaches appear to be necessary to facilitate children's proportional reasoning, depending on the reasoning…

The purpose of this research was to design and evaluate a computer based adaptive strategy for teaching mathematics. Results indicated preference for materials with personalized examples for motivation and meaningful learning of problem solving procedures. Practical advantages of the computer-based model for adapting instruction are also…

Research in self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) in composition was extended by comparing 43 learning-disabled fifth and sixth grade students in 4 conditions of SRSD instruction. Posttests indicated greater improvement for SRSD conditions with and without goal setting and self-monitoring than for the practice control condition. (SLD)

Describes a study of the effect of teachers' verbal feedback on the ability of bilingual sixth graders to solve mathematical word problems. Treatment was based on Mayer's model of problem solving. Results indicated that theory-based feedback targeted to bilingual students' individual and class needs improved student mathematics performance. (GH)

Effects of heterogeneous peer response groups (heterogeneous for language proficiency and ability) on the writing of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students was investigated in fourth-grade language arts classes. After one month, significant improvements on two measures of fluency were found for LEP students assigned to peer response groups, but…

Studies the effects of listening to and discussing different qualities of children's literature on fifth grade students' writing. Finds that stories written by children who heard and discussed higher quality literature were rated significantly differently on traits related to literary quality and genre development than those written by children…