A practicum was designed to interest and motivate students to participate in social studies, an area in which lack of motivation has caused many elementary students to do poorly. An active learning, cooperative, and collaborative approach to social studies was taken with a class of 30 fourth graders. Through cooperative learning, simulated…

This study examined the effects of participation in Chapter 1 programs on students' educational outcomes. A total of 52 students at an elementary school in Maquoketa, Iowa, were divided into a primary group of students who participated in a Chapter 1 program during grades 1 or 2; an intermediate group of students who participated in a Chapter 1…

In general, studies investigating sex differences in mathematics performance have empirically analyzed students' responses from standardized tests. This paper reports a study to extend the investigation of sex differences related to mathematics performance by examining cognitive and motivational factors as well as standardized test scores. Boys…

The interests of two different at-risk populations in Pennsylvania are compared. Both urban minorities and rural youth participated in programs designed to motivate them to continue their education. Participants (52 rural and 30 urban middle school students) completed an interest survey as part of the program orientation. Although the rural youth…

The Multidimensional Motivation Instrument and the Classroom Environment Scale were used to examine the effects of the variables motivation (achievement motivation, academic self-concept, social self-concept, and emotional self-concept) and the classroom learning environment (involvement, affiliation, teacher support, task orientation, order and…

This booklet contains ideas about how families can help children in school in the following basic ways by: (1) teaching their children; (2) learning new things to help their children learn; (3) supporting children and the school; and (4) making decisions about what and how children learn. For each of these areas, a chart is included so that…

This career planning handbook is designed to help high school students to set goals and plan their lives. Its 11 sections cover the following: personal data, personality type, skills, discovering values, the world of work, goal setting, life plans, preparing for college, basic necessities, meeting college costs, and job prospects. Each section…

This document sketches topics considered by a 1990 conference on student motivation sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education. Educational reforms of the past decade have not produced higher test scores for American students. Rather, American students score lower and study less than…

Drawing from the personal experiences of faculty members from Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC), this paper presented by three panel members explores methods of publishing student work, some of the problems and rewards inherent in doing so, and ways in which other composition instructors may provide a broader audience for the writings of…

This paper describes a mainstreaming model implemented at a high school in the Richardson Independent School District (Texas) for about 15 years. Implementation of the model has resulted in full mainstreaming of all special education students. The model's emphasis is on empowering students who have disabilities with the skills to be successful in…

This booklet introduces techniques and concepts that can be used for alternative styles of lesson delivery within the context of the autonomous learning approach and self-managing teams that are characteristic of resource-based learning. Much of the information is designed to help teachers enable learners to make good use of information resources.…

This study examined the relationship of ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), age, and self-perceived academic achievement to students' academic motivational orientations. Groups of 333 American students in Wisconsin and 375 Chinese students in Hong Kong in grades 8, 10, and 12 completed questionnaires that gathered demographic…

This paper explicates methods to motivate African American students to exhibit attitudes and behaviors that are conducive to high academic achievement. In particular, it argues that educational models must acknowledge and correct students' sense of academic futility. Academic futility measures student perceptions of the extent to which factors in…

Recognizing that all learning must on some level be voluntary, the author draws on his experiences as an educator to explore not-learning as distinct from failure. The refusal to learn can be a reaction to the conditions of schooling, which many learners, particularly those from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds, find irrelevant at best or…

By studying the process by which disadvantaged and low-achieving high school students are assigned to classes and special programs, how and why disadvantaged students are placed in inappropriate programs can be understood. Reasons exist to question the assumption that students are assigned to programs rationally on the basis of information about…