The authors used the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire to investigate the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) and traditional instructional approaches on various facets of students' self-regulated learning, including motivation and learning strategies. Participants included 61 tenth-grade students from 2 intact classes…

This paper takes the vigorous political debate unleashed in Germany by the results of the PISA study as a stimulus to take a closer look at the strategic aims and effects of the current education reforms, of which the PISA study is only one example. It shows that the reform measures underpin a powerful process of normalisation. In this context,…

With the recent rise of childhood obesity, teaching children with developmental disabilities about healthful lifestyle choices has important implications for special educators. Designing instructional interventions for children with developmental disabilities in the areas of nutrition and weight management poses challenges to educators, who must…

Behavioural family intervention is effective for the prevention and treatment of a wide range of emotional and behavioural problems in children. There is a growing need to address the accessibility of these services. This paper reviews the literature on self-directed interventions designed to help parents manage difficult child behaviours.…

Elementary school children in three grade groups (Grades K/1, 3, and 5/6) completed either the auditory or the visual 1/9 vigilance task from the Gordon Diagnostic System (GDS) as well as subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Third Edition and auditory or visual processing subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive…

The purpose of this paper is to present select findings from a case study of a single suburban middle school. The purpose of the investigation was to explore and describe teachers' and students' perceptions of the caring leadership practices that seventh grade teachers used in their classrooms and the differences between those perceptions. The…

Beland maintains that high school students will need a high level of skill in the social and emotional arena to be ready for competitive employment in the 21st century. In a 2006 survey, human resource professionals said five skills were most crucial to high school graduates' success: professionalism/work ethic; teamwork; oral communications;…

Case study learning was integrated into a course designed to improve students' potential for academic success and increase student retention. Case studies related to self-regulation of behavior, motivation, and cognition for academic tasks were used to prompt students' critical thinking and facilitate deep learning of self-regulation topics,…

Emotion scripts provide children with culturally meaningful emotional experiences and plans of action for managing feelings and the circumstances surrounding emotional experiences. In an effort to understand how developing children acquire these emotion scripts, two studies described here investigated how children deploy emotion scripts to manage…

This paper describes Project Self-Responsibility, an innovative approach to reaching African-American male at-risk students and helping them become more self responsible, self determined, self reliant, and self productive. This 1-year project involved 32 students from 1 elementary and 2 high schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The project utilized…

Children who may appear to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may actually be "activity hyper" because they are asked to attend to tasks or activities inappropriate for their age or circumstances. Such preschoolers exhibit overactivity or distractibility due to a number of ecological variables such as a problem with classroom…

Both a self-management approach, teaching the principles of behavior modification and self-control (n=36), and a group-discussion technique, involving discussion of study habits and problems (n=41), led to improvements in grade point averages compared with a no-treatment control group (n=36) for low-achieving junior high school students. (Author)

This article reviews some of the research applications of biofeedback techniques and suggests how these may be of use in counseling. The goals toward which biofeedback can be used are increased self-awareness, integration of the individual, and the freedom to make choices regarding states of consciousness. (SJL)

This discussion suggests ways to (1) improve parents' communication with their children; (2) provide students with the keys to freedom through self-discipline; (3) increase parents' involvement in their children's learning in the areas of reading, mathematics, science, social studies, creative arts, and health and physical education; (4) recognize…

This practicum addressed the problem of eighth grade students repeatedly being referred to the school administration because of their disruptive behavior. The maladaptive behavior resulted in diminished student academic performance and adversely affected the students' self-esteem. A group counseling program was implemented which focused on values,…