One of the ultimate goals of policy makers is to enable citizens to take advantage of a globalised world economy. This is leading them to focus on the improvement of education policies, ensuring the quality of service provision, a more equitable distribution of learning opportunities and stronger incentives for greater efficiency in schooling.…

This study investigated motivational factors that are related to engaging in conceptual change learning. While previous studies have recognized the resistance of students' scientific conceptions to change, few have investigated the role that non-cognitive factors might play when students are exposed to conceptual change instruction. In this study,…

This book is the second edition of a work drawn from a series of lectures given by a distinguished scholar and teacher in the field of adult learning at the University of Wisconsin in 1960. The subject of the lectures was adult continuing education--who continues to learn and why. Research was conducted through a series of 2-hour interviews with…

Reports on a study that tested whether the decision on the school that freshmen in Catholic high schools went to was made primarily by the students or the students' parents has an effect on the students' commitment to the school. (Author/IRT)

(Text is in French.)

Authors observed classrooms that served as models for open education and testified that what former observers have described is actually only part of the story. (Editor/RK)

Adult educators are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that adult learners, not institutions, initiate the process of adult education and that they determine the ends to be accomplished by their participation. Researchers have shown that the decision to participate in adult education comes about as a result of a variety of social and…

Goodenough's (1976) findings on field dependence/independence are extended here by focusing on the information processing stages of attention, encoding in short term and working memories, and storage and retrieval processes of long term memory. The reviewed research indicates that field independent and dependent individuals differ in the ability…

This paper is the second of a series of three which attempt to integrate categories of description aimed at characterizing the experience of learning in terms of the logical relationships that exist between them. The description of the qualitatively different ways in which various aspects of reality are experienced and conceptualized, and the…

To examine learning disabled children's intrinsic-extrinsic motivational orientation to their schoolwork, 90 LD students in grades 3-7 were administered the Scale of Instrinsic vs. Extrinsic Orientation in the Classroom and the Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Items were read to the students and a short interview based on the students'…

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship of birth order to achievement motivation and achievement-related variables employing a random sample of students enrolled in the courses offered through the United States Armed Forces Institute (USAFI) in 1970. (Author)

Addresses engineering educators on the nature of motivation, how it operates, and how motivation is acquired and modified. (JR)

addresses the topic of managing motivation in Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). Outlines the reinforcing features that are at the foundation of PSI theory, and examines methods used to ensure that these reinforcing properties are fu lly utilized. (JR)

This study examined the selflearning and educational patterns of selected respondents in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania who have used library resources on a continuing basis. The content of learning projects emerged from real-life negotiations and ranged across the transactional environment. Episodes--consulting people, reading, browsing,…

This scholarly report critiques and analyzes material on factors affecting motivation of black children. Different aspects of research in the area are explored. Of particular interest is the research on task-liking. This research indicates that blacks and whites have been shown to assume the same degree of effort orientation toward tasks of high…