Employee absenteeism is a problem faced by all library and information service managers as it erodes both salary budgets and productivity. It can have an undermining effect on staff morale, and may be an indicator of low staff motivation levels. There are two types of absence, unavoidable and avoidable, which can be measured using lost time and…

Learning centers are special areas in the classroom where students can work independently or in small groups to build a concept, explore a topic, or refine a skill. Learning centers are a way to meet the academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of elementary school students through active involvement in the learning process by enabling…

The college level teacher is a critical variable in the shift toward acceptance of new technologies. Despite the recognized need for teachers to use and teach new technologies, and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education's new accreditation standards, there remains a large percentage of teachers unprepared to cope with technology…

This collection of 12 essays provides an overview of research on effective teaching in higher education. It includes: (1) "Perceived Control in College Students: Implications for Instruction in Higher Education" (Raymond P. Perry); (2) "A Motivational Analysis of Academic Life in College" (Martin V. Covington); (3) "Turning Work into Play: The…

This study describes an innovative alternative assessment program used in an undergraduate educational psychology course. Subjects were 60 undergraduate students enrolled in a teacher preparation program at a midwestern liberal arts college. Each student was required to demonstrate mastery of course objectives through a course portfolio. The study…

Findings of a 3-year study of the experiences of Black and African-Canadian students in the Ontario public school system are presented. The paper focuses on urban students in four schools and on their parents' perceptions of public schooling. Interviews were held with nearly 150 African Canadian students, including 22 dropouts, some of whom…

Educational research among indigenous peoples has often been flawed. Many studies on achievement motivation, cognitive development, and learning styles have failed to establish that the behaviors and responses being measured were functionally, conceptually, or metrically equivalent to those from which norms for comparison were drawn, and that the…

A middle school student helper teacher program based on some cooperative learning tenants provided alternative instruction to sixth grade instrumental students in music lessons that would have been severely curtailed due to budget reductions and increasing enrollment. Students were grouped on like instruments and divided into subgroups by ability.…

This collection of 19 papers offers an Australian perspective on behavior management and behavior change of children and youth with emotional and/or behavior problems. Papers are presented in two sections: national and regional perspectives, and programs and strategies for different contexts. Titles and authors include: "An Evaluation of…

This document is one of three in the "Skills for Life: Library Information Literacy" series designed to cover the entire curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12. The looseleaf notebook format allows librarians or teachers to add material in connection with different topics. This volume is devoted to the middle school grades 6 through 8, a…

Low self-esteem frequently impedes students' academic achievement. By incorporating different learning and teaching strategies, this practicum attempted to build self-esteem for fifth grade students who exhibited low self-esteem. Participants were selected based on their attendance, academic achievement, and/or behavior. The writer incorporated…

An approach to the teaching of English as a Foreign or Second Language (EFL/ESL) that uses Turkish shadow puppetry is described and discussed. The method uses traditional theater characters and contemporary scripts in the form of dialogues and group discussions to provide oral skill practice. The activity has the advantage that even shy students…

This study tested the hypothesis that cooperative learning practices in heterogeneous classes would enhance students' academic motivation and achievement. Half the seventh graders entering a junior high school were randomly assigned to hetergenous classrooms in which their teachers implemented Student Team Learning (STL) techniques (Slavin, 1986).…

The less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) have entered mainstream foreign language teaching only in the last decade. The LCTLs include all languages other than French, German, and Spanish and can be divided into several subgroups, including "truly foreign languages" (TFLs) that are not cognate to English. While TFLs have never been very visible…

This paper reviews findings from over 70 published studies investigating various facets of learner-control in computer-based instruction (CBI). General conclusions about the relative effectiveness of learner-control versus program-control are equivocal. Across these studies, however, are strong suggestions that individual learner differences can…