This paper describes a program implemented to improve student writing skills. Research data included teachers' observations and evaluations, student surveys, and student writing samples. Subjects were students in grades 1, 3, and 4 in 5 Illinois schools showing a need for writing improvement. Objectives were to increase writing abilities with…

This guide provides second language teachers at all educational levels with background information about educational psychology to assist them in daily classroom instruction and to provide a framework for viewing teaching and learning situations. The first two chapters are a brief introduction to educational psychology, noting important influences…

This booklet provides an overview of the characteristics and needs of children with emotional and behavior disorders during the elementary and secondary school years. Each section also includes examples of projects, programs, and interventions that practitioners have implemented with positive results in school settings. After an introductory…

This action research project evaluated a program for decreasing the gap in achievement levels among primary and secondary level students in the targeted schools. The subjects, from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds ranging from lower to upper-middle class, were students in Chicago city and suburban public and Catholic schools. The…

This guide contains activities from the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center programs for children ages 8 to 12 years. The multisensory activities help students improve their observational skills and utilize activity sheets, journals, and hands-on projects to involve them. Children observe, draw, and photograph animals in their natural settings and…

Two studies examining the role of present and possible (future) academic selves are presented. In the first study, the relations between present and future selves, and changes in grade point average between the sixth and seventh grades, were examined. Results indicated that positive present and future academic self-concepts were related to…

This paper discusses a praxis for increasing student learning using more andragogy-based techniques in the classroom. Today's public school students are not learning to full potential. This is due to old forms of education being used with 20th century students, teachers who still use a content-dominated curriculum, and students who come from…

Researchers have been slow to acknowledge the salient role communication can play in motivating people to adopt more healthy lifestyles. Because persuasive messages increase awareness and can increase health promoting behaviors, it is important to determine the most effective health promoting messages in various health contexts. Thus, the primary…

Service learning involves adolescent students in meaningful work within their community. This study examined the personal and educational motivations and expectations of 140 fifth through seventh graders from one middle school in New York City who were participating in a service learning program using the National Helper Network program model.…

This research tested a structural equation model of educational outcomes for three socioeconomic status (SES) groups of African-American students enrolled in a community college (total sample of 315). The structural model, which was based on a variant of Tinto's (1987) model, contained two exogenous constructs, educational intentions and…

Good books can help children develop pride in their ethnic identity, knowledge about cultural history and positive role models, and improved self-esteem. However, Mexican American students often do not experience literature in this way. This digest briefly reviews Mexican American children's literature, recommends classroom strategies, provides…

This study examined college students' proneness to dropping out, focusing on student success in developmental mathematics. The study investigated whether or not three groups of college freshmen taking developmental mathematics (completers, grade C or better; nonsuccessful completers, grade D or F; and noncompleters, grade W) were significantly…

One reason proposed for the persistent school underachievement of Navajo students is that school culture is based largely on individualism, interpersonal competition, and other Western norms and values that may be an anathema to Native Americans. Hence, school culture may predispose them to failure. Drawing on Western concepts of achievement…

This paper reports on a study that analyzed the links between child labor and poor school performance. Using data gathered in Ghana in recent years through the administration of tests, the study measured reading achievement and mathematics achievement to about half of the individuals surveyed as part of the Ghana Living Standards Survey. The paper…

This report describes a program for increasing motivation in writing that will enhance students' skills at a variety of grade levels. The targeted population consisted of first, second, and third grade classes as well as ninth through twelfth grade Learning Disabled students in a Midwestern state. The evidence of lack of motivation was documented…