University professors gave inservice workshops for intermediate grade teachers and continued to support teachers by modeling reading instruction techniques and monitoring implementation of reading strategies in the teachers' classrooms. Results for 82 fifth and sixth graders showed significant gains in Metropolitan Achievement Test reading scores…

Profiles typical characteristics and behaviors of sixth graders. Highlights physical development, including energy and growth, motor development, physical activities, and health; mental development, including Piagetian stages, academic development, mental limitations, and effective classroom rewards; and psychosocial development, including…

Substantial research and theory suggests that smoking initiation is socially mediated, with both peers and parents playing important roles. To learn more about how parenting behaviors influence smoking initiation, students (n = 1002) from four middle schools were surveyed at the beginning of the sixth grade (T1), and the end of the sixth (T2) and…

A survey measured the attitudes of sixth-graders in one school district concerning the school's elementary foreign language program, with the intent of improving the program's design and content. Students identified these program strengths: organized and prepared teachers; respectful teachers; interesting lessons; positive student attitudes toward…

A social skills training program for improving student behavior in art and music classes and in unstructured situations was developed and implemented during the second quarter of the 1993-1994 school year in two schools in Elgin, Illinois. The targeted classes included grades six through eight at St. Laurence School (part of the Rockford Catholic…

This user's guide provides an overview of an approach to learning about different cultures that is based on an understanding of young adolescent development. It highlights three teaching methods that are considered of particular importance to the educational process: (1) the integration of materials in social studies and language arts classes; (2)…

One hundred and forty students in grades 6 and 7 were asked to process 32 science statements. Half of the statements were consistent with their prior knowledge, whereas the remaining facts were inconsistent with it. Half of the students were instructed to read the sentences for understanding (reading controls). The remaining students were…

To analyze a student's conceptual changes, analyzing transcriptions of writing and verbal statements may not provide enough information. In a study of 25 sixth graders learning about matter and molecules, concept mapping of students' stated ideas was used to analyze the kinds of organizational changes the students made to use new science…

This case study addresses the need for qualitative descriptions of effective music teaching and explores exemplary elementary general music teaching. An elementary general music teacher with 23 years of experience was observed teaching sixth graders for 10 weeks of instruction and was interviewed before and after each observation. Patterns in…

This curriculum guide encourages students to learn behaviors that will reduce the potential for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection when confronted with choices at a later age. The curriculum is designed for integration within a comprehensive program of school health education (in grades 6-8, lessons on communicable disease, including…

An essay to test writing skill has been administered to North Carolina sixth and eighth graders for 10 years. In 1992-93, fourth graders were also tested. Each year compositions are graded by readers trained to apply a uniform set of criteria to the essays. Composition criteria are main ideas, supporting detail, organization, and coherence. A…

The New Mexico Portfolio Writing Assessment for grades 4 and 6 (optional for grade 8) is to be conducted in the 1991-92 school year, with a call for "best piece" in April of 1992. All students in New Mexico in grades 4 and 6 will participate. This manual provides instruction for procedures to be followed in the school year. Guidelines…

This Education for Self Responsibility (ESR) curriculum guide is designed as part of an extensive effort to curb the problem of drug use among school-age youth. Three major objectives provide the framework and focus for an instructional emphasis on an alcohol and other drug use prevention program. These objectives are: understanding the…

This guide provides descriptions of the social studies courses that are offered in Florida schools for students in grades six through eight. Specifically, the guide presents broad guidelines for course content and outcomes and is intended to assist educators in developing specific instructional plans for given subject areas. The guide is designed…

This report presents a description and evaluation of the MacMagic Program, a computer-facilitated core program in language arts and social studies in its fourth year of operation at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael, California. The program consists of two sixth- and two seventh-grade classrooms that use computers and cooperative learning…