The purpose of the study was to determine whether students' timbre preferences in the sixth grade remain stable through the tenth grade. The investigation also examined whether gender, band instruction, or musical home environment makes any difference in influencing the stability of students' timbre preferences from grade six through ten. Students' timbre preferences at the beginning of the study were compared to their preferences four years later. The students' timbre preferences were obtained by employing Gordon's Instrument Timbre Preference Test (ITPT). A questionnaire was also utilized at the conclusion of the study to determine which students had musical home environments and which did not. All sixth grade students enrolled in a single school district took the ITPT. Each student's scores were tallied and ranked in order to determine their timbre preferences; four years later they were retested and their scores were ranked again.

The importance of reading proficiency is unquestioned. Although the nation has set a goal for all students to be proficient in reading, many of the nation’s students are not proficient readers. The vast majority of research examining reading proficiency and reading achievement has concentrated on the cognitive aspects of reading and the use of scientifically based reading interventions. However, there is a body of literature that suggests that reading achievement is related to attitudes toward reading. The purpose of this study was to determine the recreational and academic reading attitudes of a group of sixth-grade students and to determine if their attitudes toward reading were related to measures of their reading achievement. This study was guided by seven research questions and utilized three research designs. Descriptive research was used to answer research questions one and two which sought to determine the recreational and academic reading attitudes of the sixth grade students participating in this study. Causal comparative research was used to answer research questions three and four which compared measures of academic and recreational reading attitudes by gender and ethnicity. Research questions five, six, and seven were answered using correlational research to determine if measures of reading attitudes were related to the scores on the language arts portion of the MCT2. The results of data analyzed to answer the research questions revealed that overall the sixth grade participants in this study had reading attitudes that were less than positive. The results also revealed that males had reading attitudes that were more positive than females. The results of the analysis of reading attitudes by ethnicity revealed that African American students had higher measures of positive recreational reading attitudes than Caucasian students and the students in the other ethnic group while Caucasian students had higher measures of positive academic reading attitudes than African American students and students in the other ethnic group. The only significant relationship discovered between measures of reading attitude and MCT2 scores was a very weak relationship between measures of academic reading attitudes and the language arts section of the MCT2. The study concludes with recommendations for further research.

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.