The focus in this article is on integrating instruction in reading fluency with mathematical concept development in the primary grades. Procedures are described herein for having students engage in hands-on mathematics while reading children's literature. In addition, students produce an audio compact disk and engage in performance reading in a readers' theater ormat with stick puppets. The strategies presented can be adapted in a variety of learning environments.

The problem of reading continuity through primary and intermediate grades in Garfield County has been one of growing concern to our supervisors and administrators for some time. It has been felt that, because of the high correlation of good reading and success of other school subjects, all possible effort should be made in developing a reading program which would insure continuous progress. The slow child would then be assured of meeting only school work of which he would be capable of doing.

Over the past decade, technology has become a prominent feature in our lives. Technology has not only been integrated into our lives, but into the classroom as well. Teachers have been provided with a tremendous amount of technology related tools to educate their students. However, many of these technologically enhanced tools have little to no research supporting their claims to enhance learning. This study focuses on one aspect of technology, the iBook, to complete homework relating to fractions, decimals, and percents in a sixth grade classroom. An iBook is a digital textbook that allows the user to interact with the book through various features. Some of these features include galleries, videos, review quizzes, and links to websites. These interactive features have the potential to enhance comprehension through interactivity and increased motivation. Prior to this study, two pilot iterations were conducted. During each pilot study, students in two sixth grade classrooms used the iBook to supplement learning of fractions, decimals, and percents. A comparison group was not included during either iteration, as the goal was to fine-tune the study prior to implementation. The current study was the third iteration, which included a comparison and treatment group. During this study, three research questions were considered: 1) When learning fractions, decimals, and percents, in what ways, if any, do students achieve differently on a unit test when using an interactive iBook for homework as compared to students who have access to the same homework questions in an online static PDF format? 2) What are students' perceptions of completing homework regarding fractions, decimals, and percents with an interactive iBook compared to students who complete homework in an online static PDF format? 3) In what ways does students' achievement on homework differ when completing homework related to fractions, decimals, and percents from an interactive iBook and a static PDF online assignment? Thirty students from a small charter school in southeast Florida participated in the third iteration of this study. Fifteen students were in the comparison group and fifteen were in the treatment group. Students in both groups received comparable classroom instruction, which was determined through audio recordings and similar lesson plans. Treatment group students were provided with a copy of the iBook for homework. Comparison group students were provided with a set of questions identical to the iBook questions in a static digital PDF format. The comparison group students also had access to the textbook, but not the iBook nor the additional resources available within the iBook. The study took place over three weeks. At the commencement of the study, all students were given a pretest to determine their prior knowledge of fractions, decimals, and percents. Students were also asked to respond to questions regarding typical homework duration, level of difficulty, overall experience, and additional resources used for support. During the study, both classes received comparable instruction, which included mini lessons, manipulative based activities, mini quizzes, and group activities. Nightly homework was assigned to each group. At the conclusion of the study, both groups were given a posttest, which was identical to the pretest. Students were asked identical questions about their homework perceptions as prior to the study, but were asked to respond in regards to the study alone. All participating students completed a questionnaire to describe their perceptions of completing homework regarding fractions, decimals, and percents with an iBook as opposed to static digital PDF homework. Lastly, six students from the comparison group participated in a focus group and six students from the treatment group participated in a separate focus group. Data were collected from the pretest and posttest, pre and post homework responses, collected homework, mini quizzes, audio recordings, teacher journal, questionnaires, and the focus group. No difference in achievement was found between the two groups. However, both groups improved significantly from the pretest to posttest. Based on the questionnaires and focus groups, both groups of students felt they learned fractions, decimals, and percents effectively. However, the questionnaire data showed the treatment group found the iBook more convenient than the comparison group did the textbook. Data from this study provide a baseline for future studies regarding iBooks in middle school mathematics. Although the data show no difference in achievement between the two groups, further studies should be conducted in regards to the iBook. Questionnaire and focus group data suggest, with modifications, students may be more inclined to use the resources within the iBook, which may enhance achievement with fractions, decimals, and percents.

This study set out primarily to investigate the nature of reading comprehension instruction in Saint Lucia, and to examine the explanations of teachers with regard to the factors that they perceive contribute to Grade 6 students' failure in the main idea comprehension test in the national Common Entrance Examination in Saint Lucia. Four effective Grades 5 and 6 teachers (two per grade) from two Saint Lucian primary schools participated in a total of four individual semi-structured interviews and were observed in their regularly scheduled reading comprehension lessons. A total of 27 lessons were observed and audio tape-recorded to examine the nature of reading comprehension instruction in the classrooms. From this cohort of lessons, a sample of 16 lessons was randomly selected and transcribed to determine the presence of direct instruction in comprehension strategies, and the quality of instruction that took place. This quality was measured and described in terms of the elements of the Direct Instruction Model (Pearson Dole, 1987), the nature of questioning, and time allotted to instruction. This data was also used to make comparisons between Grades 5 and 6 classes. The results show that the four teachers perceived that there are four areas of blame for students' poor performance in reading comprehension: the teacher's inability to instruct, the students' poor decoding and comprehension abilities, the inadequacy of the main idea test, and the teaching materials available for teaching comprehension. However, the main factor perceived by teachers as contributing to the students' poor performance is teachers' inability to instruct. Nonetheless, the observation of the Grades 5 and 6 effective teachers' reading comprehension lessons showed that these teachers were indeed teaching a number of comprehension strategies. They relied predominantly on the question answering strategy in all their lessons which was mainly taught in combination with other strategies. However, it was the teaching of summarization through the main idea that was the dominant strategy more explicitly taught in 7 of the 16 lessons observed, appearing more frequently in the Grade 6 classes. An assessment of the quality of the reading comprehension instruction revealed that 11 of1 6 lessons, included all the four elements of direct instruction, and were rated as 'excellent' in quality. None of the lessons had fewer than two elements identified on the model. An assessment of the types of questions asked also showed that questioning was used both for the purpose of assessment and as an instructional strategy. The timing of the lessons support the quality of instruction, as 90% of the total time observed was allotted to instruction. The greater portion of that time went to guided practice (38%) and independent practice (33%) of reading comprehension strategies. This study shows that explicit comprehension instruction of strategies is evident in the reading comprehension classes of the 4 effective Saint Lucian Grades 5 and 6 teachers. It is therefore recommended that educational officials ensure that similar practices are maintained in other Saint Lucian classes, that the reading comprehension instruction practices of a wider cross section of Saint Lucian teachers be examined, and that future research looks into other probable causes of students' failure on the main idea comprehension test.

<p>This examination project focuses on the pupils and teachers experience of written assessments and grades.  To highlight the significance of assessments and grades we will present the background to the development of the current educational view of knowledge, assessment and marking models.  Today’s current laws and policies are described as is a proposal for a future law and grading scheme.</p><p>The project is based on literature we have read and the empirical material is derived from interviews with eight students and two teachers. Four of the students are eleven years old, the other four are between seventeen and nineteen. The teachers teach years four and five. Each sex is equally represented.  The interview questions are based on the students memories and personal development discussions in which the written assessments were presented. The results are based on interviews that have been studied and categorized. The purpose of the study is to determine if the written assessment is a help, or otherwise, for the individual student.  Furthermore, it reflects on similarities and differences between girls and boys and examines students with strong and weak knowledge of their written assessment and grades. It also examines the teachers understanding of the student’s experience.</p><p>The result indicates that the biggest difference in how the students react to the written assessment and grade is related to the sexes. Girls take the assessment more personally. All girls in this study felt anxious and nervous ahead of the assessment, while the boys did not take it personally. The results showed no big differences between students with strong and weak knowledge of the assessments. The formulation of the assessment is a critical factor    for the student. An informative assessment gives the student more information and helps to improve their academic result and leads to a satisfactory summary and conclusion of the assessment. All students expressed a positive attitude to written assessments and grades. All sources, including the students and teachers, think that a new seven point scale would be a fairer grading structure leading to a fairer grading system overall.</p> / <p>Detta examensarbete handlar om elevers och lärares upplevelser av skriftliga omdömen samt betyg. För att belysa betydelsen av omdömen och betyg ges en historisk presentation av skolans utveckling gällande kunskapssyn samt bedömningsmodeller. Dagens aktuella lagar och förordningar beskrivs samt framtida lagförslag om en ny betygsskala.</p><p>Examensarbetet grundar sig på läst litteratur och det empiriska materialet utgörs av en intervjustudie med åtta elever och två lärare. Fyra av eleverna är elva år och de övriga fyra eleverna är mellan sjutton och nitton år. De båda lärarna undervisar i årskurs fyra och fem. Fördelningen mellan könen är lika stor. Intervjufrågorna utgår från elevernas minnen och upplevelser av utvecklingssamtal där de skriftliga omdömena presenteras. Resultatet baseras på inspelade intervjuer som bearbetats och kategoriserats. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om skriftliga omdömen och betyg hjälper eller stjälper den enskilda eleven. Vidare granskas likheter och skillnader mellan flickor och pojkar samt mellan kunskapsstarka och kunskapssvaga elevers upplevelser av skriftliga omdömen och betyg samt lärarnas uppfattningar om elevernas upplevelser.</p><p>Av resultatet framgår att den största skillnaden i hur elever uppfattar skriftliga omdömen och betyg är könsrelaterat. Flickor tar sitt omdöme mer personligt. Alla fyra flickor i denna studie kände oro och nervositet inför utvecklingssamtalen och omdömena medan pojkarna inte berördes personligen. I resultatet framkom inga stora skillnader mellan kunskapsstarka och kunskapssvaga elever. Utformningen av bedömningen är av betydelse för eleven, en formativ bedömning ger eleven mer information och hjälp till att förbättra sitt studieresultat och den avslutande summativa bedömningen. Alla elever ställer sig positiva till skriftliga omdömen och betyg. Samtliga informanter, såväl elever som lärare anser att en ny sjugradig betygsskala kan leda till en mer rättvis bedömning.</p>

<p>Grades and assessment are a natural part in the school's everyday existence, deliberations about equivalent assessment is discussed all the time between teachers, students, home and school. They that in front are influenced of a grade or a judgement are in first hand the students and therefore are the important for the students to know which objectives and grade criteria that apply for them to achieve at the end of years 9. The aim with this survey is to get the knowledge about how a tutor grade family’s student in a preparatory class in stopped of years 9, in Swedish as a second language. Do the students in a preparatory class's get grades or a judgement? This is interesting also in order to know to which grade criteria students in a preparatory class have to achieve in the compulsory education’s later years and to know how a tutor assesses these students on the basis of those objectives and criteria that apply. In my survey, I have been paid from the tutors ' perspectives on how a grade or an assessment gives equivalent for students in a preparatory class and in order to few a better understanding to how man that teachers sets a grade or gives an equivalent judgement to students that possibly have difficulties to achieve the grade criteria in Swedish as a second languages, because of the language. The procedure in this work has been to interview different tutors that work in a preparatory class, from differently multicultural schools in municipality places in Stockholm. During the result account, the tutors' obvious replies are expressed on the basis of those interviews and research questions as been used as aids and that an important basis in order to can to implement this survey. The result in this survey is that students in a preparatory class not sheep a grade since they do not achieve the requirements for validated in Swedish as a second language without the students’ sheep instead a written judgement. This can cause misunderstandings between teachers and students, then the school has a grade criteria for students in a preparatory class's man knows that they cannot to achieve at the same time as these grade criteria is not any teachers strives after. This can contribute to that the students possibly sheep hopes about a grade when one actually know that they can’t because of the language does not have possibility to achieve.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

<p>Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur elever klarar att lösa problem som inte kan lösas rutinmässigt och där de inte har tillgång till hjälpmedel. Dessutom vill jag undersöka hur elevens betyg och antal matematikkurser eleven har läst påverkar resultatet. För att få svar på detta lät jag eleverna i två klasser ifrån det naturvetenskapliga programmet, en ifrån årskurs ett och en ifrån årskurs tre, svara på ett frågeformulär bestående av uppgifter som inte går att lösa rutinmässigt.</p><p>Resultatet visar på att eleverna i årskurs tre klarade testet poängmässigt klart bättre än vad eleverna i årskurs ett gjorde och i båda klasserna visade elever med höga betyg ett bättre resultat än elever med lägre betyg. Det mest överraskande var att båda klasserna trots höga matematikbetyg visade på vissa brister i taluppfattning.</p> / <p>The purpose of the paper is to examine how students are capable of solving problems that can not be solved routinely and where they do not have access to facilities. In addition, I want to examine how the student's grades and number of Mathematic courses pupils have read affect the result. In order to get the answers I let students in two classes from the natural sciences programme, one from grade one and one from grades three, respond to a questionnaire consisting of problems that can not be solved routinely.</p><p>The result shows that students in grade three passed the exam clearly better than students in grade one did, and in both classes’ students with higher grades performed better than students with lower grades. The most surprising was that both classes despite high grades in Mathematic revealed some shortcomings in number sense.</p>

<p>Avsikten med detta examensarbete är att få en uppfattning om hur elevers läsvanor på fritiden påverkar deras betyg, naturvetenskapliga begreppsförståelse och språkbehandling. En grupp om 75 elever i år 8 fick skriftligt redogöra för sina läsvanor och förmodade höstterminsbetyg i svenska samt i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena. De ombads även förklara några vetenskapliga begrepp och sätta de naturvetenskapliga ämnenas svårighetsgrad i förhållande till övriga ämnen i skolan samt gradera sitt intresse för de olika naturvetenskapliga ämnena.</p><p>Undersökningen visar en varierande kvalitet beträffande elevernas skriftspråk utan egentlig koppling till läsvanor. En majoritet har svårt att förklara de angivna begreppen ens ur vardaglig synvinkel. De elever som inte läser alls eller endast seriemagasin har dock till övervägande delen svaga prestationer i undersökningen och låga betyg, medan kopplingen är tydlig mellan goda läsvanor och höga betyg. I fråga om begreppsförståelse och språkbehandling tycks det inte spela så stor roll om eleven läser ofta eller ibland. Den tyngst vägande förutsättningen verkar istället vara intresse.</p> / <p>The purpose of this diploma work is to investigate how leisure time reading habits of students affect their grades, understanding of concepts of science and language handling. A group of 75 pupils in the 8th grade gave written answers to questions about their reading habits and presumed autumn grades in the subjects Swedish and Science. They were also asked to explain some scientific concepts, compare the difficulty level of science to that of other school subjects and rate their interest in science</p><p>The survey shows a variation in writing skills that has no actual connection to reading habits. The majority fails to explain the given concepts even from an everyday point of view. Students who don’t read at all or only read comic books achieves poor results in the survey as well as low grades and students who read every day achieves high grades. In the matter of understanding of concepts of science and language handling it doesn’t seem to matter whether a student is reading every day or more seldom. It appears that the most important factor in this case is the student’s interest in science.</p>

<p>Erfarenhet från min musikundervisning främst inom grundskolan har motiverat en undersökning av eventuellt samband mellan elevernas erhållna betyg i ämnet musik och gruppstorlek. Undersökningen begränsades till att omfatta elevernas betyg i ämnet musik åk 9, gruppstorlek samt om flickors och pojkars resultat skilde sig.</p><p>Av undersökningens resultat gick det inte att bekräfta något samband. Skillnaden mellan undersökningens resultat och skolverkets medelbetyg skilde sig på det viset att skolverkets betyg var något högre i snitt. Fler aspekter hade behövts undersökas för att påvisa ett eventuellt samband mellan de deltagande elevernas kunskaper och deras erhållna betyg.</p> / <p>My experience from teaching music in elementary school has motivated this study, the purpose of which is to evaluate the relationship between pupils’ grades and the size of classes in the classroom. The investigation was limited to only include grades from the 9th (last) year of elementary school in the subject of music, the size of the class, and the differences between girls and boys.</p><p>The results of the study demonstrated that no correlation between higher grades and smaller classes was established. The differences between the results and the statistics from the Swedish National Agency for Education were too small to prove any connections. Additional aspects must be evaluated to be able to show any relationship, and prove a connection between given grades, the size of classes, and their skills</p>

This examination project focuses on the pupils and teachers experience of written assessments and grades.  To highlight the significance of assessments and grades we will present the background to the development of the current educational view of knowledge, assessment and marking models.  Today’s current laws and policies are described as is a proposal for a future law and grading scheme. The project is based on literature we have read and the empirical material is derived from interviews with eight students and two teachers. Four of the students are eleven years old, the other four are between seventeen and nineteen. The teachers teach years four and five. Each sex is equally represented.  The interview questions are based on the students memories and personal development discussions in which the written assessments were presented. The results are based on interviews that have been studied and categorized. The purpose of the study is to determine if the written assessment is a help, or otherwise, for the individual student.  Furthermore, it reflects on similarities and differences between girls and boys and examines students with strong and weak knowledge of their written assessment and grades. It also examines the teachers understanding of the student’s experience. The result indicates that the biggest difference in how the students react to the written assessment and grade is related to the sexes. Girls take the assessment more personally. All girls in this study felt anxious and nervous ahead of the assessment, while the boys did not take it personally. The results showed no big differences between students with strong and weak knowledge of the assessments. The formulation of the assessment is a critical factor    for the student. An informative assessment gives the student more information and helps to improve their academic result and leads to a satisfactory summary and conclusion of the assessment. All students expressed a positive attitude to written assessments and grades. All sources, including the students and teachers, think that a new seven point scale would be a fairer grading structure leading to a fairer grading system overall. / Detta examensarbete handlar om elevers och lärares upplevelser av skriftliga omdömen samt betyg. För att belysa betydelsen av omdömen och betyg ges en historisk presentation av skolans utveckling gällande kunskapssyn samt bedömningsmodeller. Dagens aktuella lagar och förordningar beskrivs samt framtida lagförslag om en ny betygsskala. Examensarbetet grundar sig på läst litteratur och det empiriska materialet utgörs av en intervjustudie med åtta elever och två lärare. Fyra av eleverna är elva år och de övriga fyra eleverna är mellan sjutton och nitton år. De båda lärarna undervisar i årskurs fyra och fem. Fördelningen mellan könen är lika stor. Intervjufrågorna utgår från elevernas minnen och upplevelser av utvecklingssamtal där de skriftliga omdömena presenteras. Resultatet baseras på inspelade intervjuer som bearbetats och kategoriserats. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om skriftliga omdömen och betyg hjälper eller stjälper den enskilda eleven. Vidare granskas likheter och skillnader mellan flickor och pojkar samt mellan kunskapsstarka och kunskapssvaga elevers upplevelser av skriftliga omdömen och betyg samt lärarnas uppfattningar om elevernas upplevelser. Av resultatet framgår att den största skillnaden i hur elever uppfattar skriftliga omdömen och betyg är könsrelaterat. Flickor tar sitt omdöme mer personligt. Alla fyra flickor i denna studie kände oro och nervositet inför utvecklingssamtalen och omdömena medan pojkarna inte berördes personligen. I resultatet framkom inga stora skillnader mellan kunskapsstarka och kunskapssvaga elever. Utformningen av bedömningen är av betydelse för eleven, en formativ bedömning ger eleven mer information och hjälp till att förbättra sitt studieresultat och den avslutande summativa bedömningen. Alla elever ställer sig positiva till skriftliga omdömen och betyg. Samtliga informanter, såväl elever som lärare anser att en ny sjugradig betygsskala kan leda till en mer rättvis bedömning.