The 2008 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, a joint conference with the Michigan World Language Association, focused on learning about the diverse backgrounds and needs of today's students and discovering new ways to help them succeed in reaching the goal of language proficiency. A wide variety of workshops and…

The purpose of this manual, which accompanies a video program, is to provide general background information for foreign language teachers who are, or soon will be, teaching in total, partial, or two-way immersion classrooms. Part of a series of video programs, this manual highlights current theories, issues, and questions about second language…

This collection of 15 essays is designed to help improve college instruction through reflection that results in better practice, to make teaching more student-centered, and to further a more connected view of teaching and learning. It includes: (1) "Why Scholarship Is the Bedrock of Good Teaching" (Maryellen Weimer); (2) "Teaching and Today's…

This study explored why students attempt to please their teachers, the link between the self-reported desire to please teachers and academic performance, and the various ways students go about the task of pleasing teachers. The research focused specifically on the range of reasons students have for wanting to please teachers, what students do to…

Ninety parents of children (mean age 9.3 years) with Down syndrome and their children's teachers were surveyed to investigate the success of inclusive practices. This study examined responses on parent and teacher questionnaires and parent anecdotal records. Several factors influenced parent reports of successful inclusion experiences, including:…

Educational research has shown that technology can enhance student acquisition of discrete skills through drill and practice. This document describes the research design of a study that examined whether technology could provide significant support for constructivist, project-based teaching and learning approaches. The study also identified the…

This report summarizes a panel discussion among five college administrators who have initiated or taken part in restructuring efforts in their states: Herman Blake, vice chancellor for undergraduate education at Indiana University-Purdue University; Ronald Carrier, president of James Madison University (Virginia); Gordon Davies, director of the…

This study describes the use of VaxNotes, an electronic conferencing software, in a 16-week graduate distance learning course at a large Midwestern university. The seminar was taught at two campuses, by two instructors, connected by video and audio distance learning technologies. Discussions held outside class were conducted initially by…

With the 1964 Civil Rights Act, school segregation was to come to an end, but it may be that black students are still receiving a "colored" education. There are inequities and prejudices in U.S. institutions, and these have tremendous influences on how African Americans are perceived and accepted. The nation's African American students…

Work is a key part of an individual's identity. As such, an important part of effective and caring leadership is to care for the worker's mind, body, and spirit. An administrator has responsibility for making child caregivers feel valued, respected, and understood. The workplace should be an environment which fosters professionally and personally…

Much can be learned from California's Puente Project Model that would help students' success in classrooms as well as in college in general, and in their daily lives. Puente, which means "bridge" in Spanish, began in 1982 at Chabot College in northern California and is now in 38 colleges and 19 high schools statewide. Originally designed…

A teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL) to adult migrant workers from Central America describes the evolution of her efforts to create a sense of community within the classroom and Latino center and to empower students to bring about social change in the long term. While students were pressuring the teacher to teach grammar, the teacher…

The cognitive processes students use in doing the 1996 science assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were studied using two booklets from the 1993 NAEP science field test. Blocks of items from these booklets, a hands-on task block and either a conceptual/problem solving block or a theme block, were administered to 16…

Personal writing is not only valid in such places as the academy, it is vital--even though Daniel Horowitz, in his essay "Process, Not Product: Less Than Meets the Eye," said that "teaching students to write intelligently on topics they do not care about seems to be a more useful goal than having them pick topics which interest them." But…

Student effort, the campus environment, and student age and full- or part-time status have significant effects on outcomes for university students. This study employed the same three sets of independent variables to predict gains in general education and in personal and social development for community college students. The study analyzed data…