A self-report questionnaire on academic achievement, birth order, and family structure; the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire; the Parental Authority Questionnaire; and the Coping Humor Scale were administered to 257 first-year college students. Researchers examined the relationships among (a) authoritative parenting style, (b) family…

Several studies have examined the pedagogical implications and cautions concerning the use of humor in teaching. Humor has been associated with a host of positive physiological and psychological effects. Researchers have identified that educators who use humor in their instruction are more positively rated by their peers and their students; others…

Photocopy humor is defined as any facsimile, photocopy, or wire-copy line drawing, iconography, or textual material that was drawn or written for distribution to a larger select audience using the available technology to disperse material intended to be humorous. Professional humor is excluded from this consideration. The content of photocopy…

This research experiment studied the effect of humor versus non-humor on learning and retention of a computer-based instructional (CBI) lesson on tick identification. The experiment also surveyed the subjects' enjoyment of the lesson material, their personal experiences with ticks, and their concerns about ticks and tick-borne diseases.…

Observable teacher behaviors were identified, by teachers and students in English and physical education classes, as either enthusiastic or not enthusiastic. Teachers described their own behaviors and students reported teacher behaviors by describing, in detail, specific events when teaching was perceived as enthusiastic and when teaching was…

Elementary school students can learn to write creatively if the teacher offers stimulation through informative and enriching experiences and provides daily opportunities for writing experiences. Enrichment can involve books, field trips, radio, television, guest speakers, maps, and sense experiences--anything that broadens the knowledge of the…

The issue of updating teacher education to improve approach and attitude is discussed from the viewpoint of one professor. It is suggested that emphasis should be placed on improving an instructor's "transfer ability," by improving his capacity to build interest among students--causing their greater willingness to receive and their greater…

Two methods of analysis, logical and psychological (or, loosely, aesthetic and functional) are used to investigate the many kinds of languages man uses to communicate, the ways in which these languages operate, and the reasons for communication failures. Based on a discussion of the nature of symbols, since most languages of communication draw…

This mini-text is a set of classroom ready Latin readings, a selection of Martial's epigrams complete with Latin-English vocabularies and reading notes. The readings concern the Roman holiday Saturnalia, at which time the Romans exchanged gifts and favors. The first epigram, Xenia (gifts), gives the reason for the following epigrams, which are…

A guide for college instructors and part of an in-progress book, this document illustrates the effectiveness of humor and graphic art in enhancing presentations and promoting learning. Graphic aids and the combination of verbal and visual materials provide excellent supplements to college lectures and discussions, and help communicate concepts by…

This book contains the texts of a number of presentations from the 1999 NATCON conferences. These papers are: (1) "A Book of Surprises: Games, Stories, and Magic for Career Practitioners" (E. Sylvester); (2) "Academic and Career Choices for Lesbian and Gay Young Adults" (M. Schneider and J. McCurdy-Myers); (3)"Adolescent…

There is a distinction between girls and boys regarding the manifestation of sex-appropriate behaviour from an early age. There is evidence that boys and girls play and are reared differently, and also are reinforced differently to manifest behaviours regarded as playful. The purpose of this study was to identify if there were differences between…

This study looks at how the environment in an infant child care setting can have an impact on young children's humourous experiences and therefore their learning and development. With the use of multiple qualitative methods, participant and non-participant observations, journal writing, videotaping, interviewing, and document review this study…

This article profiles Toni Billingsley, an African-American teacher teaching Spanish classes at the Academy of Communications and Technology Charter School in the West Garfield Park section of Chicago. This article also describes her unique teaching methods. Billingsley uses clever puns, outright slapstick, sly references to black popular culture…

This article reports on a study regarding the school-identification of 1819 first-year students in secondary vocational education. We measured the school-identification of these adolescents and used the perspective of self-regulation to define three blocks of potential determinants, including the students' personal goals (1) their appraisals of…