Shows that, contrary to Piagetian Theory, formal thought in a variety of subject matters is not possible until sufficient requisite concrete background experience in each content area involved has been attained. (MH)

Tenth-grade students (n=144) received training on one of three processing methods: coding-mapping (simultaneous), coding only, or decision tree (sequential). The induced simultaneous processing strategy worked optimally under rule learning, while the sequential strategy was difficult to induce and/or not optimal for rule-learning operations.…

Concludes that on-site training that promotes continuous use of the school library can be a factor in improving student academic achievement. (FL)

Grade 10 students were taught a hierarchy of intellectual skills in three different contexts: skills taught in isolation; additional verbal instructions provided; and skills taught in relation to a relevant anchoring idea. Results showed that use of the anchoring idea context enhances meaningful learning of complex skills. (Author/GK)

Describes an approach to teaching narrative poetry writing to tenth-grade students. (RL)

Eighty tenth-graders studied a two-day unit on quadratic inequalities presented in one of four programmed-booklet forms: analytic treatment with advance organizer, analytic treatment plus introductory overview, graphical treatment with advance organizer and graphical treatment with introductory overview. No differences were found between groups on…

Describes how allowing students to follow their creative impulses led to a unit in the author's tenth grade English class that rekindled an appreciation for imaginative, even whimsical, thinking. Discusses her experiences with this project. Considers why it is important to imagine. (SG)

Notes that "Julius Caesar" is required in nearly every high school curriculum, but that making the play accessible to students is not easy. Tries new teaching ideas to see whether students would more readily take to "Julius Caesar" using a more interdisciplinary approach. Describes three of these ideas that were particularly…

Examined students' after-school pursuits by category (in- or out-of-school, academic or non-academic, organized or unorganized), considering the association of the pursuits with achievement after dis-aggregating the data by ethnicity. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study indicated that differing pursuits had differing levels of…

Argues the relative merits of using in-process and retrospective journals, during and after the writing process, to empower students to explore and use their own ways of constructing knowledge to make connections as they write. (KEH)

Investigates the effects which thematic preorganizers might have on secondary students' comprehension of prose fiction. Finds that the thematic preorganizers did not significantly affect secondary students' comprehension of narrative prose materials as measured over time by equivalent tests. (MG)

Findings suggest that academic achievement is enhanced by student participation in extracurricular activities and raise questions about the rationale behind rules excluding academically marginal students from participation in extracurricular and cocurricular activities. (Author/IAH)

Examined curious regressions on intelligence measure by forming high and low vocabulary groups for each sex within low-scoring subsample of general intelligence and obtaining means of groups on cognitive and self-report scales. High school students high in vocabulary relative to low intelligence composite scores had lower means than low-low…

Examines degree to which three types of tasks affect the selection of main points in instructional texts. Finds, on average, type of task did affect the number and kind of selected text fragments, but the variation between the students was large. Suggests findings provide more insight into three ways of identifying main points. (RS)