A Comparison between Assigned Topic and Unassigned Topic Writing Compositions of Fifth Grade Students
Keyword
Self-Selected-Topic CompositionsAssigned-Topic Compositions
Topic Selection
Process Writing
Survey Test In Writing
Date Published
1990-04-01Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a statistically significant and important relationship between fifth grade students' writing products when self-selected-topic compositions were compared to assigned-topic compositions. The study was conducted over an eight-week period of time with 88 fifth grade students from a suburban school in western New York. There were 48 boys and 40 girls in the study. Each student was requested to write two compositions; the first composition was based on a topic of the student's own choice, the second composition was based on an assigned topic selected from a previous New York State "Survey Test in Writing." Scores comparing self-selected-topic compositions to assigned-topic compositions were analyzed using the point biserial coeffecient of determination. An analysis of the data revealed no statistically significant and important relationships between the scores of self-selected-topic compositions and assigned-topic compositions. While the statistics were not sufficient to reach the criteria deemed "educationally important", the general trend reflected higher mean scores for self-selected-topic compositions for both boys and girls. Girls acquired higher mean scores than the boys on both assigned and unassigned compositions. Students ranked as "satisfactory" writers by their classroom teachers exhibited the greatest increase in mean scores on unassigned-topic compositions. Based on this study, further research in the area of process writing and topic selection would benefit the educational system. Skills, acquired while writing compositions on self-selected topics, will transfer to other educational and content areas.Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Game Streaming in the Wake of a Pandemic: Topic: Live Streaming and BrandingThe purpose of this study is to determine what the key motivational factors for creating a live stream gaming channel in the wake of a global pandemic are. This is executed by generating a series of podcast interviews from live streamers, generating branding for the launch of a live stream gaming channel and launching the channel. With the world in a current state of emergency, the live streaming industry under Twitch.tv has boomed, giving streamers and viewers alike an opportunity to interact, communicate, and form communities like never before in the shadow of these pressing times. In light of this, we seek an escape from the harsh reality that is quarantine and find comfort in engaging with others all the while having fun indoors.
-
Authentic Topics as Organizers for InstructionContext based approaches including STS, STSE, and SSI instruction have the potential to promote student content knowledge, deepen student understanding of the nature of science tenants, strengthen student argumentation skills, and promote student motivation and interest in science. This capstone project is a compilation of forty meaningful, curriculum generated science topics, which can be used as a foundation for designing lessons that incorporate strategies to promote written or verbal argumentation in living environment courses. The topics were selected such that their implementation would not significantly disrupt the existing organization of science content within a district curriculum. The project demonstrates the potential for context based approaches including STS, STSE, and SSI to be used in courses where science content to be taught is dictated by state standards and a major reorganization of the curriculum is not possible.
-
The British Army in North America in the Mid to Late Eighteenth Century: Teaching the Topic In High School ClassroomsThis thesis has three parts, a historiography and original research into the British soldier and the British army in North America in the mid to late eighteenth century, followed by the development of a course curriculum to provide students with a general understanding of the chain of events that shaped; firstly, the lead up to war in North America between Great Britain a n d France in the mid eighteenth century; secondly, the war itself (in America, called the "French and Indian War", 1756-63); and thirdly, the lead up to the American Revolution.
