This study aims to find out the dominant factors that cause students' difficulties in learning abstract algebra. The factors investigated in this study focused on attitude, motivation, prior knowledge, lecturer performance, learning methods, as well as teaching materials. This study is a descriptive research using a survey method. We involved 30…

Writing is very important for learners; it is a dynamic and creative skill. Although studies on students' problems when writing a dissertation among Native Speakers (NS) are widely done, studies on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) are limited, especially those which examine problems faced while writing dissertations among Ph.D. EFL learners, in…

This article aims to investigate reasons underpinning academic help-seeking behaviours of Chinese students in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Data were collected from 23,563 secondary students. The study found significant differences both in attitudes and reported behaviour among secondary school students from the three locations, however, the effect…

Undergraduate course withdrawal at the University of Washington has risen from 3.5 percent in fall 1964 to 7 percent in spring 1973. In an attempt to understand the dynamics of withdrawal, the Faculty Council on Academic Standards arranged a survey of students dropping classes in the spring quarter of 1973. It was found that, typically, students…

Black respondents to a questionnaire identified lack of motivation and lack of quality education as major problems of Black Duval County students. Busing for desegregation purposes, although not liked, was regarded as the least serious problem. (CMG)

Models of self-regulated learning and of children's coping both consider help-seeking an adaptive response to academic problems, yet students do not always seek help when it is needed, and help-seeking generally declines across early adolescence. A study of 765 children in elementary and middle school (Grades 3-6) during fall and spring of the…

Describes a study using two open-ended, in-class surveys to determine the reasons students gave for missing social science classes. The five most important reasons given were "I was sick,""I needed to prepare for a test/assignment in another class,""I was tired/sleepy," and "I overslept." (DMM)

The learning disabilities monograph contains five brief articles dealing with various aspects of learning disabilities as they related to business education. "Learning Disabilities: A Challenge for the Vocational Business Educator" (Dorothy Munger) concerns screening students with learning disabilities into rather than out of business education…

The purpose of this study was to compare differences in alcohol use and associated problems between two Hispanic youth groups. The subjects, from two different southwest sites, were self-identified Hispanics. Seventh and 12th graders from a northern New Mexico (NNM) (N=64) school and from a school on the U.S.-Mexico border (USM) (N=88) were…

Returning adult students enrolled in graduate programs at the University of Wisconsin's School of Education and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences were studied. The sample of 25 male and 48 female students were 25 years of age and older, U.S. citizens, and had been out of school for 3 years. Students completed a biographical assessment,…

Women who had been out of the educational system for some time and who had returned to a variety of college situations were interviewed in depth regarding their reasons for returning and the degree to which the colleges were meeting their needs as returning students. From the interview data, discussions with women's reentry program staff, and a…

Studies conducted by the University of California and California State University, concerning the time students take to complete the baccalaureate degree, are synopsized and reported. The methodology, findings, and conclusions of each report are provided separately, and the reports themselves are appended, along with the survey instruments. A…

Descriptive data about mature, full-time students enrolled in three postsecondary nonuniversity institutes in Saskatchewan, Canada, were gathered. Information was sought about the personal characteristics of these students, about the decision making process they followed when deciding to return to school, and about the difficulties and benefits…

Findings from five main projects in the National Center on Effective Secondary Schools, which operated from December 1, 1985 to February 28, 1991, are presented. Projects investigated different aspects of engagement and achievement problems through literature reviews, analyses of existing data sets, and new studies of students and staff in 32…

This research investigated the impact of personalizing mathematical word problems using individual student interests on student problem-solving performance. Ten word problems were selected randomly from a mathematics textbook to create a series of two assessments. Both assessments contained problems exactly as they appeared in the textbook and…