Reports a study which looked for measurable differences between the vocabulary achievement scores of remedial reading elementary students (mostly Hispanic) taught with teacher instruction and those taught with computer assisted instruction (CAI). Although the differences were not statistically significant, consistent improvement was measured for…

The working memory hypothesis that the development of span in children is related to increasing proficiency in the use of an articulatory loop was tested in two studies with 120 Canadian children in grades 5 and 6 and 11 and 12. Some support was found for the hypothesis. (SLD)

Describes study that was conducted to evaluate fourth, sixth, and eighth grade students' use of an online catalog to gain bibliographic access to materials in a public library. Differences between online and card catalogs are examined, tests to measure students' skills and preferences are described, and implications for software design are…

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)

In 1995, rather than require seventh-grade computer literacy classes, Texas allowed school districts to integrate technology skills into curricula. This article, the first of three, describes technology integration for sixth grade. Includes unit ideas on nations; the Holocaust; Olympic diving; Christmas; probability; organisms; Antarctica;…

The long-term effectiveness of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) Program was assessed by contrasting 497 ninth graders who received the program in sixth grade with 352 who did not. Employing latent variables to represent the concepts, no significant differences were found between D.A.R.E. participants and comparisons. (SLD)

Unsupervised after-school peer contact was examined as a risk factor in developing externalizing problems among early adolescents. Longitudinal findings showed that unsupervised peer contact, lack of neighborhood safety, and low monitoring incrementally predicted grade seven externalizing problems, after controlling for family background factors…

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…

Used data from the Portuguese HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children) survey, which was conducted by one of the authors who is the national representative of the European Study HBSC, a World Health Organisation collaborative study (Currie, Hurrelmann, Setterbulte, Smith, & Todd, 2000; Matos, Simoes, Carvalhosa, Reis & Canha 2000),…

Change in middle school students' sense of school belonging was examined in relation to grade point average, motivation variables, and teachers' promotion of mutual respect in classes. Survey data from 618 students collected in three waves during the sixth and seventh grades were submitted to growth curve analysis. On average, students' sense of…

The concurrent and longitudinal risk of enemy relationships, using both nominations- and ratings-based methods of assessing enmity, were examined among elementary school children. After controlling for peer rejection, only ratings-based enemies were found to have negative developmental impact. (Contains 4 tables.)

This case study explores the interactions between a teacher, her students, and a culturally based math curriculum in a fifth and sixth grade classroom in rural Alaska. The case attempts to identify and illuminate factors that created a rich learning environment while implementing Star Navigation: Explorations into Angles and Measurement, a module…

In 2003 the first nationally-comparable science assessment was designed, developed and carried out under the auspices of the national council of education ministers, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). In 2006 a second science assessment was conducted and, for the first time nationally, the…

A study examined a program for increasing reading ability to reduce the academic failure of identified at-risk students. Subjects were 14 second-grade and 18 sixth-grade students in a middle class suburb, southwest of a large metropolitan area. Evidence for the existence of this problem was gathered from teacher observations, assessments,…