The National Science Foundation (NSF) is providing funds for coalitions of engineering educational institutions to improve the quality of undergraduate engineering education. A hypothesis that is being tested is that people can learn better in environments that allow self-paced and/or collaborative learning. The main tools for providing this…

This final report describes the development of eight computer based science simulations designed for use with middle school mainstreamed students having learning disabilities or mild mental retardation. The total program includes software, a teacher's manual, 3 videos, and a set of 30 activity worksheets. Special features of the software for…

The Flex Lab at Santa Fe Community College, in New Mexico, is a self-paced, computer-assisted training center that allows students to accommodate college credit courses into their schedules. The Lab offers courses in introductory computers, keyboarding, and various computer programs and emphasizes several features of the Personalized System of…

This monograph offers six papers which present a model to assist in developing instructionally differentiated programming based on individual needs for students with behavioral disorders. The first three chapters focus on underlying philosophies. A paper by Myron Swize titled "Colorado's Needs-Based Approach" stresses that it is more…

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma was awarded a grant to provide education services to Cherokee adults in small, relatively isolated communities of northeastern Oklahoma. The program was designed to test strategies to reach and teach that population effectively. The staff of instructors were highly skilled, made the classroom less threatening to…

This guide, based on the Texas Education Agency's "essential elements," presents a model for providing differentiated instruction for gifted high school students in any area of content and within any educational setting. The guide provides strategies for changing the following dimensions of the curriculum: (1) content or subject matter,…

Since people learn in many different ways, and since the traditional style of teaching may not be the best way to teach many students, a 3-year program developed and implemented articulated, self-paced instructional materials in five vocational areas (automotive service technology, cosmetology, food laboratory technology, business education, and…

This paper: (1) demonstrates how computers can be a powerful and vital tool when combined with Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences to enable educators to reach students with a variety of learning styles; and (2) provides a model of using one form of technology, computers, in connection with the intelligences to help students learn to…

Divided into a major kindergarten to second grade section and a smaller primary school section, this book uses the comments of the elementary school teachers involved to describe the St. George (Australia) Writing Project's conference approach to teaching writing. Following a brief description of this approach as featuring adequate daily practice…

The second of a three-part series on computer-assisted instruction (CAI), this report focuses on the use of microcomputers in business education, English, social studies, foreign languages, bilingual education, and ESL (English as a Second Language). Since all these areas involve writing, a discussion of word processors and word processing…

Precision teaching is a useful tool for individualizing drills on a wide variety of foreign language skills. In 5 to 10 minutes per day, students can systematically practice specific skills in need of improvement. The technique has four major components: (1) a precise means of measuring performance continuously, (2) detailed records on behavior…

Arranged in two sections, this guide provides materials for adapting the "Learning About Social Behavior" program for learning disabled elementary school students. Section 1 contains the following specialized test instruments: the School Observation Scale, Cognition of Behavioral Relations, Cognition of Behavioral Systems, Cognition of…

This evaluation report describes a project that used an innovative approach called precision teaching to train personnel who provide services to identified emotionally disturbed, mentally retarded, and cross-categorical children. Precision teaching is a data-based behavioral instructional program which encompasses pinpointing target behaviors,…

This module on the purpose and use of the blindstitch machine, one in a series on clothing construction for industrial sewing machine operators designed for student self-study, contains three sections. Each section includes the following parts: an introduction, directions, an objective, learning activities, student information, student self-check,…

Seven sequential Basic Skill Levels (levels Q, QA, R, S, T, U, and V) of a self-paced, individualized mathematics program designed to improve the achievement of junior high school students are presented in this student workbook. Each level includes a pretest, five to 14 lessons, quizzes (checkpoints) after each fourth lesson, a posttest, and a…