A collection of articles by seven teachers from varied backgrounds stresses the importance of teacher motivation. Flexibility, honesty, a good sense of humor, and an openness to new approaches are important motivating techniques. Practical suggestions are offered for stimulating motivation among students. (JN)

Ten conclusions about childrens' learning are presented from 15 years of research by the Educational Research Council of America. These include effectiveness of short textbooks, interest in learning technical words, need for social science curriculum to challenge, and detrimental effect of ingrained teacher attitudes to teach social studies by…

This article describes the authors' experience of teaching conversational English to students in Baotou in Inner Mongolia. Teaching in Baotou confirmed that students do not need to be entertained through the use of computers or theatrics. Intrinsic motivation, particularly that which comes from understanding the value of an education in changing…

Following the collapse of the USSR in 1989, educators in socialist countries such as Latvia not only had to establish democratic governance structures, they also faced huge uncertainty as they turned toward a postmodern Europe. Faculties of education and public schools were expected to relearn to reteach. They had to decentralize leadership,…

The purpose of this article is to review recent research on self-regulated learning and discuss the implications of this research for science education. We draw on examples of self-regulated learning from the science education literature to summarise and illustrate effective instructional methods and the development of metacognitive understanding…

The quality framework summarises and elaborates on the provisions in the Education Act and its regulations, including the National Curriculum, and must be considered in light of the legislation and regulations. The quality framework helps to clarify the responsibilities the school owners (the local and county administration authorities in…

This document summarizes the results of a study which evaluated whether school instruction with Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) keyboards improves memory skill and whether school instruction with MIDI keyboards improves sentiments toward school and instructional media. Pupils in early elementary grades at five schools were evaluated…

Developed as part of a symposium on alternative learning and teaching methods for high-risk learners at all grade levels, six papers are presented along with an introduction by Sharon La Pierre. "What the Arts Teach: Comments on the Arts, Cognition and Learning" (Elliot Eisner) discusses the ways in which the arts teach qualities not addressed in…

Collaborative learning strategies can improve the learning of subject matter in content area classrooms, but they are only one aspect among many that influence how much learning will take place in a class period. The Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DR-TA) is an effective teaching/learning strategy to use with content area material. Much of the…

Rural gifted students are often characterized in the literature as sharing many of the needs and problems of other culturally diverse groups. They are viewed as having problems related to self-esteem, level of aspiration, and frustration with an instructional program which often fails to provide for learning relevant to the students' interests and…

Failure in FL teaching is caused primarily by the theoretical view of language on which methodology has been based. A new theoretical base is required which is to be found in psycholinguistic research. The purpose of this paper is to inform the FL teacher of recent results of such research. (Author/KM)

An investigation was undertaken of end-of-course reactions of students who experienced varying numbers of test-taking failures during an introductory psychology course presented under two different formats: a mastery structure (multiple study/test options and absolute grading standards) and a conventional structure (one try on each midterm with…

Current research on the adult learner and on instruction through media has grave flaws, and reviews of research in five areas are needed to assist instructional developers and adopters in making wise decisions. These include a critical analysis of existing telecourse packages, as well as reviews of research on the motivation of various subgroups…

This paper discusses some generic humanistic principles and conditions of learning which should undergird a field based educational and staff development process designed to enable teachers in a variety of situations, circumstances, and schools to improve themselves personally and professionally. (Author/JD)

In this paper the most effective use of instructional time is discussed. In evaluating the efficient use of teaching time, the following questions are examined: (1) Is the instruction process proceeding toward a perceivable objective? (2) Is the instructional objective at the right level of difficulty for the learners who are investing time? (3)…