A Study of the Effect of Teaching Current Events on Students in Grade 5

The purpose of this study is to determine if a concentrated study of current events through television will affect fifth grade students\u27 knowledge of the news. The data was gathered from three weeks of pre-testing, one week of concentrated study, and one week of no study followed by a post test of 37 fifth grade children. The results of each test (pre-test, project test and post test) were tabulated and a mean score given to each raw score. The pre-test mean score was then compared to the project test and the post test score of each student. Group scores of boys and girls were also compared. The analysis of data revealed that upon completion of a concentrated study of current events, fifth grade students scored higher on the project test than on the pre-test and that the boys scored higher, as a group, than the girls. However, the gain in both groups from the pre-test to the post test was less than an average of one more correct response. The conclusion drawn from this study was that studying current events through television newscasts improved fifth grade students\u27 knowledge of current events with only a small gain being shown one week after the concentrated study