Phase I of a more comprehensive project examined the perceived incentives and constraints related to acceptance of new ideas and small-scale economic enterprises by low income families. Six counties of northwest Florida were selected on the basis of their rurality, racial composition, and incidence of poverty. A multi-stage sampling procedure was…

The failure to find strong instructional effects of simulation is usually attributed to poor measurement and faulty research design. However, weak implementation of simulation into the classroom, rather than methodological inadequacy, is presented here as the primary reason for finding insignificant effects. The types of environments under which…

The theme of this conference defined reading as the process of creating meaning for all sensed stimuli; reading is a broad form of behavior, not limited to interacting with the written forms of human language. With this definition as a foundation, the articles in this bicentennial report develop a phrase taken from one of Thomas Jefferson's…

In a study of the grading practices at Bridgewater State College, three research projects were conducted: (1) a questionnaire that compared faculty perception of grading in 1976 with their perceptions in a similar questionnaire in 1972; (2) a questionnaire for students adapted from the faculty questionnaire; and (3) a survey of the academic…

A review of research suggests that, for at least 70 years, teachers have interacted with their students using a relatively consistent pattern involving lecturing, seat work by students, and teacher/student interaction. Yet, after thousands of research studies, educators are unable to say that those interactions have any significant impact on…

Following a brief review of the history of interest in foreign languages in America, facts to be considered when interpreting falling enrollment statistics, such as a drop in the birth rate, are discussed. It is stressed that foreign language teaching cannot be neglected in a world having improved and extensive communication between people…

The third of a three-volume set, this career education instructional manual for grades 7-12 was developed primarily by teachers. The broad goals of the twenty-five teaching units presented are to provide each student with an awareness of the various career fields in the world of work and to instill in each individual the worthiness of work. Based…

An informal survey was conducted of high school and college English teachers to examine whether they taught writing the way they actually wrote or by some other method. In response to a question about the piece of writing each teacher regarded as his or her best, all considered the best pieces to be undergraduate or graduate school assignments,…

This compilation is drawn from the IDEAS section that has been a feature of the "Arithmetic Teacher" since 1971. The contents are arranged in the following categories: Numeration, Computation, Geometry, Measurement, and Problem Solving. All selections are reprinted just as they originally appeared in the journal. On one side of each page is the…

A year-long study designed to create a high school English course entitled "Guided Literature" is described in this report. The described course was intended to provide literature instruction for nonmotivated poor readers at the eleventh and twelfth grade levels, and was structured so that students could read materials they found…

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act requires an individualized education plan for all students identified as handicapped. While computer technology has application for greater individualization, no single method makes a perfect "fit" for all students. Social survival skills are vital elements of mainstreaming as well as academics.…

A practicum was conducted to design, implement, and evaluate an instrument measuring the relative strengths of task-and nontask-related motivation of child care employees. Designed for child care center employees and supervisors, the instrument consisted of a self-administered demographic checklist and 100 forced-choice pictorial items…

Four elements are essential for efficient, effective, and rewarding teaching of beginning reading. The first is the use of children's key vocabulary. Children are asked, in a prescribed fashion, what their very best word is of the moment. The teacher prints it in a prescribed fashion and uses it to help children acquire one-to-one correspondence…

The major articles in this journal issue deal with various aspects of young adult literature. Specific topics covered in the articles are (1) questions worth asking students about young adult novels, (2) the five major functions of adolescent literature in high school literature programs, (3) Southwestern literature for adolescents, (4) teaching…

The Supervisory Behavior Description Questionnaire (SBDQ), Form 2, is a modified semantic differential scale using five pairs of bipolar adjectives to describe supervisory behavior. Form 2 of the instrument was field tested to determine which supervisory behaviors 60 graduate students in education perceived as satisfying or motivating. These…