This practicum was designed to address the need for the intermediate and upper grade level English as a Second Language (ESL) students to become independent learners in the literacy process. The subjects, 13 boys and 3 girls from Pakistan, Philippines, Jordan, Israel, Korea, Turkey, and Thailand were dependent on the teacher when they had…

This study evaluated Vincent Tinto's longitudinal model for student attrition by examining recent college dropouts' perceptions of their experiences and their decision to leave college. Tinto's model argues that individual departure arises from a longitudinal process of interaction between a student's attributes, skills, dispositions, and other…

Students learn little about some aspects of U.S. history, such as the history of science, technology, art, religion, and everyday life. What they most often learn about are the "big events" of political and military history. This document seeks to address that problem through its 30 lessons. The first two lessons, "There's an Old Trunk in My…

Eight vocational and academic classes taught by four different teachers at three comprehensive high schools were studied to identify classroom practices that facilitate teaching and learning generic skills. The teachers studied had a mix of instructional goals for students, including subject matter knowledge and skills, complex reasoning skills…

In this workshop, the concept of marketing was applied to school library media programs by examining the relationship between library media programs, the marketing plan, public relations (PR), and promotion. Reachable goals, targeting the audience, advertising, and motivation and commitment of the staff were also considered, and successful…

This study investigated the role of subject matter expertise on the pedagogical content knowledge of physical education teachers. Data were collected through multiple interviews on 10 teachers with expertise in at least one physical education subject area. Each teacher was interviewed four times, with each interview lasting approximately 1 hour.…

This paper examines, via an exploratory approach, the factors in doctoral programs that may potentially guide, motivate, and influence African American doctoral students to pursue careers in higher education. Interviews with 42 participants, 23 current students and 19 former doctorate recipients, were conducted, placing emphasis on interviewing…

This paper introduces the Learning Outcomes Study at the University of Virginia, an ongoing 2-year investigation of over 1,000 elementary school children who entered one of 16 different gifted programs (or no program) in the fall of 1990. The study will compare effects of four examples each of four types of program delivery arrangements: (1)…

In the practicum reported in this document, the self-esteem of low achievers in a high school science class was improved through the use of strategies such as personal self-referent verbal statements (PSRVS), group activities, incentive programs, motivation techniques such as computer assisted instruction (CAI) and parental involvement. A…

This document presents a collection of specific ideas addressing 24 teaching practices appropriate for developing Personal Teaching Improvement Guides, an individualized approach to improving teaching in colleges and universities. The ideas came from teachers at the University of California (Berkeley) whose teaching was highly rated by students.…

These two documents present (1) a user's guide to the Personal Teaching Improvement Guides Program developed at the University of California, Berkeley and (2) a sample guide. The program uses results of student evaluations (keyed to 24 teaching practices) and descriptions of successful teaching practices to individualize instructional improvement…

The theoretical perspectives of school and family partnerships discussed in this report are based on the influences of families and schools on children's learning and development. A review of research deals with three topics: (1) the importance of family environments and involvement; (2) the influence of school environments on family involvement;…

A project developed, delivered, and evaluated a science inservice program for K-8 teachers of hearing impaired children. Twenty-five participants were selected for this project from a pool of 200 licensed hearing impaired teachers in the State of Indiana. The inservice program included a 5-day summer session and two follow-up workshops during the…

Older learners are often led into adult education by a quest for self-development and the wish to make meaning of the human experience. Adult educators should explore and appreciate the process of human development in the last stage. In old age there can be a merging of the knowledge of the body (life's stories) and of the spirit (developmental…

Since attrition is often a problem in adult training programs, a study was conducted to investigate the relationship between locus of control and course completion of adults enrolled in a retraining program. Rotter's Social Learning Theory of Personality was used as a starting point for the study. The study population was a sample of 108…