The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of (1) training the accurate completion of an assignment form, (2) providing feedback on accurate reporting of homework completion, and (3) consequences for completion or non-completion of homework. All students exhibited highly accurate recording of information on assignment forms and reports of what homework had been completed or not completed. Delivering consequences for completion or non-completion of assignments had a modest effect on homework completion. This package increased the proportion of homework assignments completed on time for all students in at least one, or as many as three, academic subjects. This package can be an efficient tool for teachers to monitor homework completion.

Handheld computers may hold the possibility for a one-to-one computer: student ratio. The impact of the use of Palm® (Palm, Inc.) handhelds on information acquisition and use by 5th grade students in a North Texas school during a class research project was investigated. Five research questions were examined using observation, interviews, surveys, and document analysis. Are there differences in information gathering and use with the Palm between gifted, dyslexic, and regular learners? What relevance criteria do students use to evaluate a web site to determine whether to download the site to the Palm and afterwards whether to use the downloaded site's information in the report? How do the Palms affect the writing process? Do the animations and concept maps produced on the Palm demonstrate understanding of the intended concepts? Are there significant differences in results (i.e., final products grade) between Palm users and non-Palm users? Three groups of learners in the class, gifted, dyslexic, and regular learners, participated in the study. The regular and dyslexic students reported using Web sites that had not been downloaded to the Palm. Students reported several factors used to decide whether to download Web sites, but the predominant deciding factor was the amount of information. The students used a combination of writing on paper and the Palm in the preparation of the report. Many students flipped between two programs, FreeWrite and Fling-It, finding information and then writing the facts into the report. The peer review process was more difficult with the Palm. Most students had more grammatical errors in this research report than in previous research projects. By creating animated drawings on the Palm handheld, the students demonstrated their understanding of the invention though sometimes the media or the student's drawing skills limited the quality of the final product. Creating the animations was motivational and addressed different learning styles than a written report alone. No statistically significant difference was found in the scores of the three 6+1 Traits categories, however the Palm users didn't meet the page-length requirement for the research project but the majority of the control class did.

A major change being advocated in education is that of making students more self-directing; that is, helping them become more responsible for their own learning. The focus of this investigation was on fifth grade students' use of self-directed learning strategies and self-directed perceptual skills. An experimental study was conducted using the nested design for analyzing data obtained from the Guglielmino Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale, the Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons1 Self-Regulated Learning Interview Schedule, and the Bradley-Lane Self-Directing Perceptual Scale. One hundred fifty-two fifth graders were involved in the eight week study along with their six teachers. Both students and teachers were immersed in a module of training that included emphasis upon self-directing behaviors and learning strategies. Two striking findings emerged; namely, (a) in comparing the average number of learning strategies acquired after treatment, the experimental group (low, middle, and high IQ levels) scored 40%, 50% and 29% higher respectively, than did the control group; (b) in comparing the fifth grade students use of learning strategies it was found that most students nearly doubled the number of learning strategies they had previously acquired. Thus, it was concluded that children who do not have actual teaching of information or data concerning learning strategies will likely never acquire the same repertoire of skills that students acquire when exposed to this critical information in some specific, systematic fashion. A primary product developed for the purposes of this investigation was the Bradley-Lane Self-Directing Perceptual Scale—a 132-item Likert Scale designed to identify the self-perceptions of elementary and middle school students. After field-testing, a chi-square treatment was applied to each item of the Perceptual Scale resulting in a reliability of p<.01 for the majority (79%) of the test items, while an additional twelve items (9%) were found to be reliable at the .02 level of significance.

This study investigated the problem that educators have throughout the state of Texas. The problem educators have is that reading scores continue to fall short of state expectations. This study investigated the effectiveness of 90 minutes of class time given for reading to students who use the Electronic Bookshelf Program and the effectiveness of the Electronic Bookshelf Program, which is being sold to school districts throughout the nation. The literature review focused on the effectiveness of independent reading on reading achievement, and the effectiveness of using computer-based reading programs to increase reading achievement.

The problem for this study was to enhance the development of higher order thinking skills and improve attitudes toward computers for fifth and sixth grade students. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a Technology Enriched Classroom on student development of higher order thinking skills and student attitudes toward the computer. A sample of 80 sixth grade and 86 fifth grade students was tested using the Ross Test of Higher Cognitive Processes. The Ross Test was selected because of its stated purpose to judge the effectiveness of curricula or instructional methodology designed to teach the higher-order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation as defined by Bloom. The test consisted of 105 items grouped into seven subsections. In addition, the students were surveyed using the Computer Attitude Questionnaire developed by the Texas Center for Educational Technology. The questionnaire assessed sixty-five questions combined to measure eight attitudes.

To examine parental attitudes toward sexuality education in the home and school, sealed packets were distributed to fifth and seventh graders (N = 609) for each to deliver home to a parent. Parents were asked to express level of agreement with a series of attitude statements and to indicate the content and timing considered appropriate for sexuality instruction in the home and school. Analysis of 246 returned surveys (40% response rate) indicated that most parents trust the school to address human sexuality, though a sizeable minority of parents hold very conservative attitudes toward sexuality instruction in this setting. Results suggested that the majority of parents view school-based instruction as supplemental to instruction in the home.

本研究旨在探討閱讀環境、玩興、父母創意教養與國小中、高年級學童科技創造力之關係。研究參與者來自台北市的國小中、高年級，有效樣本計374人。本研究所採用的研究工具包括「科技創造力測驗」、「家庭閱讀環境量表」、「班級閱讀環境量表」、「兒童玩興量表」及「父母創意教養量表」。資料分析所用之統計方法包括描述統計、單因子多變量變異數分析及線性結構模式分析。 本研究主要發現如下： 1.不同性別的三、五年級學童對家庭閱讀環境、班級閱讀環境、玩興的知覺皆無差異，但在父母創意教養的知覺上和科技創造力的表現上卻有差異。三、五年級女童對於父母創意教養的感知程度皆些微地優於男童；而三、五年級男童在整體創造力測驗上皆優於女童，且五年級男童比女童有更好的「視覺造型」表現。 2.不同年級的三、五年級學童在家庭閱讀環境、班級閱讀環境、玩興、父母創意教養的知覺程度上和科技創造力的表現上有顯著差異。五年級學童除了在科技創造力的表現上有高於三年級學童的傾向外，在閱讀環境、玩興、父母創意教養的知覺程度上皆有低於三年級學童的傾向。 3.三、五年級學童的家庭閱讀環境對其整體科技創造力表現分別有些微和明顯的正效果，而五年級學童在「精進力」指標的表現尤其顯著。 4.三年級學童的班級閱讀環境對其整體科技創造力表現有正效果，反之，五年級則無。而三年級學童在「視覺造型」指標的表現尤其顯著。 5.三、五年級學童的玩興對其整體科技創造力表現皆有正效果。三年級學童在「精進力」、「視覺造型」指標的表現較顯著，五年級則在「流暢力」、「精進力」上較顯著。 6.五年級學童的父母創意教養對其整體科技創造力表現有正效果，但三年級學童只對「視覺造型」指標之表現有正效果。而五年級學童在「精進力」指標之表現尤其顯著。 7.家庭閱讀環境、班級閱讀環境、玩興、父母創意教養似乎對三年級學童的「視覺造型」指標較有預測效果，而對五年級學童則是在「精進力」指標較有效果。 8.三、五年級學童皆透過閱讀環境、父母創意教養，先對玩興產生直接或間接效果，然後才對學童科技創造力產生間接的影響效果。 最後，本研究依據上述的研究結果進行討論，並提出相關建議，以供教育、心輔等相關人員在課程、教學與輔導上之參考。 / The main purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among reading environment, playfulness, creative parenting, and technological creativity of the third and fifth graders. The participants included 374 pupils from the elementary schools in Taipei City. The employed instruments in this study were the Test of Technological Creativity, the Inventory of Reading Environment in Family, the Inventory of Reading Environment in the Classroom, the Inventory of Playfulness, the Inventory of Creative Parenting. The employed analysis methods included Descriptives, One-Way Multiple Analysis of Variance, and Structural Equation Modeling. The main findings of this study were as follows: 1.While the girls of the third and fifth graders perceived higher degree of creative parenting than did the boys, the boys outperformed the girls in technological creativity, especially in the “visual design”. No gender differences in reading environment and playfulness were found, however. 2.There were significant grade differences in reading environment, playfulness, creative parenting, and technological creativity. More specifically, the fifth graders outperformed the third graders in technological creativity, but perceived lower degree of reading environment, playfulness, and creative parenting than did the third graders. 3.The third graders’ reading environment in family had a little positive effect on their performance of technological creativity. One the contrary, the fifth graders’ reading environment in family had a great positive effect on their performance of technological creativity, especially on that of “elaboration”. 4.The reading environment in the classroom had a positive effect on the third graders’ performance of technological creativity, especially on that of “visual design”. Such an effect, however, was not found among the fifth graders. 5.Playfulness had significant effects on both the third and fifth graders’ performance of technological creativity. More specifically, playfulness had positive effects on the scores of “elaboration” and “visual design” among the third graders and had positive effects on those of “fluency” and “elaboration” among the fifth graders. 6.Creative parenting had a positive effect on the fifth graders’ overall performance of technological creativity as well as on the score of “elaboration”. However, the positive effect of creative parenting was only found on score of “visual design” in the third grade. 7.While reading environment, playfulness, and creative parenting were effective predictors of the third graders’ performance in “visual design”, they were effective predictors of the fifth graders’ performance in “elaboration”. 8.The findings in this study suggest that the third and fifth graders’ personal trait of playfulness directly influence their development of technological creativity; meanwhile, their reading environment and creative parenting may influence their development of technological creativity directly or indirectly via playfulness. Finally, the researcher proposed some suggestions for educational instructions and future studies.

Объектом исследования явилась школьная адаптация учащихся пятых классов. Предметом исследования стала связь между академической, социальной и психологической составляющими школьной адаптации учащихся пятых классов. Магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, двух глав, заключения, списка литературы (111 источников) и приложения, включающего в себя бланки применявшихся методик. Объем магистерской диссертации 121 страница, на которых размещены 12 рисунков и 7 таблиц. Во введении раскрывается актуальность проблемы исследования, разработанность проблематики, ставятся цель и задачи исследования, определяются объект и предмет исследования, формулируются основная и дополнительные гипотезы, указываются методы и эмпирическая база, а также этапы проведения исследования, научная новизна, теоретическая и практическая значимость работы. Первая глава включает в себя обзор иностранной и отечественной литературы по теме школьной адаптации пятиклассников. Представлены разделы, посвященные исследованию показателей структурных составляющих школьной адаптации и их взаимосвязей у учащихся пятых классов. Выводы по первой главе представляют собой итоги по изучению теоретического материала. Вторая глава посвящена эмпирической части исследования. В ней представлено описание организации и методов проведенного исследования и результатов, полученных по всем использованным методикам: тесту (опроснику) школьной тревожности Филлипса, методике исследования самооценки личности «Лесенка», социометрической методике Дж. Л. Морено, методике экспертной оценки классных руководителей о поведении школьников, их социометрическом статусе в классе. Также в главе представлен корреляционный и факторный анализ результатов исследования. Выводы по главе 2 включают в себя основные результаты эмпирического исследования. В заключении в обобщенном виде изложены результаты теоретической и эмпирической частей работы, а также выводы по выдвинутым гипотезам, обоснована практическая значимость исследования и описаны возможные перспективы дальнейшей разработки данной проблематики. / The object matter of the study is the school adaptation of students in the fifth grade. The subject of the study is the interrelation between the academic, social and psychological components of school adaptation of fifth grade students. The master's thesis consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, a list of literature (111 sources) and an appendix, which includes the forms of the applied methodologies. The volume of the master's thesis is 121 pages, on which are placed 12 figures and 7 tables. The introduction reveals the relevance of the research problem, the development of the problematics, the purpose and objectives of the research are set, the object and the subject of research are determined, the basic and additional hypotheses are formulated, the methods and the empirical base are specified, as well as the stages of the research, the scientific novelty, the theoretical and practical significance of the work. The first chapter includes an overview of the domestic and foreign literature on the subject of fifth-graders school adaptation. The sections devoted to the study of the indicators of the structural components of school adaptation and their interrelationships in fifth grade students are presented. Conclusions on the first chapter are the results of the study of theoretical material. The second chapter is devoted to the empirical part of the study. It provides a description of the organization and methods of the study and the results obtained using all the methods used: the test (questionnaire) of school anxiety by Phillips, method of research of self-esteem of the person "Lesenka", sociometry method by J. L. Moreno, the method of expert assessment of class teachers about the behavior of students, their sociometrical status in the classgroup. Also, the chapter presents a comparative, correlation and factor analysis of the results of the study. The findings of Chapter 2 are the main results of the empirical study. In conclusion, brief results of the theoretical and empirical parts of the work are presented, as well as conclusions on the hypotheses. The practical significance of the study is substantiated and possible prospects for further development of the problematics are described.