No description available.

Purposes and Procedures: According to many scholars (Huck et al., 1983; Chambers, 1983; Trelease, 1985; Kimmel and Segel, 1988), reading aloud is a powerful way to reach children academically and emotionally. Because reading aloud has the potential to affect children and because reading aloud occurs most often at the elementary level, this study was designed to investigate the factors that influence teachers' selection of trade books for use in readaloud sessions in their kindergarten classrooms. Participants included six kindergarten teachers with varying levels of experience, and data were collected in the naturalistic setting through means of interview, focused book review, and think-aloud procedures designed to approach the participants' thinking from a variety of angles. Fieldtesting was conducted to help strengthen the inquiry design and provide an opportunity for realistic application of the method chosen for analysis (Rubin and Rubin, The Art of Hearing Data, 1995). Analysis included color-coding for identification of concepts and themes both in individual interviews and across cases. Findings: All six participants readily acknowledged the importance of reading aloud in the classroom, and, though time and length of readaloud sessions in their classrooms vary, each of these teachers includes it in her daily program. Further, these teachers indicated that there are a variety of factors which influence their choices, factors falling within several categories: purpose for reading, students' needs and desires, characteristics of books themselves, books' potential to enhance literacy growth, and issues of controversy. Further, these participants indicated their use of a variety of pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading strategies which they believe helps enhance the readaloud session for their students. Conclusion: The results of this study promote the idea that kindergarten teachers recognize the importance of reading aloud and that they consider carefully their trade book selection. Perhaps also the results could provide a springboard into further, more issue-focused or specific research regarding the factors found to influence teacher choice. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to compare the environmental literacy of 11th and 12th graders who participated in an eighteen-week environmental education program using trade books versus 11th- and 12th-graders who participated in an eighteen-week, traditional environmental education program without the use of trade books. This study was conducted using a quasi-experimental research technique. Four high school aquatic science classes at two suburban high schools were used in the research. One teacher at each high school taught one control class and one experimental class of aquatic science. In the experimental classes, four trade books were read to the classes during the eighteen-week semester. These four books were selected by the participating teachers before the semester began. The books used were A Home by the Sea, Sea Otter Rescue, There's a Hair in My Dirt, and The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo. The instrument used to measure environmental literacy was the Children's Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Scale. This test was given at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. The scores at the end of the semester were analyzed by 2 X 2 mixed model ANOVA with the teacher as the random effect and the condition (trade books) as the fixed effect. The statistical analysis of this study showed that the students in the experimental classes did not score higher than the control classes on the Children's Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Scale or on a subset of "water" questions. Several limitations were placed on this research. These limitations included the following: (1) a small number of classes and a small number of teachers, (2) change from the original plan of using environmental science classes to aquatic science classes, (3) possible indifference of the students, and (4) restrictive teaching strategies of the teachers.

Many students feel that studying social studies is boring and not relevant to their lives. In social studies, the most common method of instruction is the transmission model in which the textbook becomes the curriculum and the teacher transmits knowledge through lecture. In the participatory model of instruction, the teacher facilitates student-led literature discussion groups utilizing narrative and expository trade books with the textbook as a resource. Previous research has indicated that instructional methods may affect student attitude and achievement; however, there is limited empirical research that is definitive on which instructional method is significantly better for students. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of literature-based instruction with lecture-style instruction on student achievement and attitude toward social studies. Participants included 76 Grade 8 U.S. History students from two middle schools in a southern state of the United States. Of these 76 students, 28 were in the experimental group and 48 were in the control group. All students were administered a content knowledge test and an attitude toward social studies survey before beginning the unit of study and again after the conclusion of the unit. To analyze the data from content knowledge, a repeated-measures analysis of variance was used with the difference scores serving as the dependent variable. Results showed that there was not a significant difference in content knowledge difference scores from pretest to posttest between students taught through literature-based instruction and those taught through lecture-style instruction. To analyze the data from the attitude survey, the two groups’ difference scores were compared on a repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance. The results indicated that two of the nine constructs tested showed a significant difference from the pre-study survey to the post-study survey which were: (a) attitude toward social studies and (b) student perception of the usefulness of social studies. The findings from this study suggest that when students are taught social studies through literature-based instruction, they are more likely to have significantly higher attitudes toward the subject and find relevance to their own lives than when they are taught through lecture-style instruction using only the textbook.