Although ability partly explains why some students are eager to learn in school whereas others are disinterested, motivation is another significant factor. This newsletter discusses factors that affect students' motivation to learn, considers techniques that can increase motivation, and identifies schools that have developed activities to enhance…

Much about designing learning experiences and supporting environments has been learned from the New Designs for Learning process. Looking at the history of education in the United States and high school change initiatives in other countries, project staff have found that designing schools for the future is a learning process in which staff,…

The philosophy known as Total Quality Management (TQM) is frequently presented as a way to change and improve public education. This issue of "Focus in Change" examines Deming's original 14 TQM points and their application to education. Myron Tribus lays out the core philosophy of the movement and discusses its possible application to…

Learning style is the way people concentrate on, internalize, and remember new and difficult knowledge or skills. It is composed of cognitive, motivational, and physiological elements that affect each person's ability to perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment. Extensive research documents the hypothesis that when students…

This document is comprised of weekly newsletters, compiled by month, for family child care providers for the year 2003. Each theme-based four-page newsletter contains: (1) creative activities for use with mixed-age groups of 2- to 5-year-olds; (2) ideas on guiding behavior, organization tips, and Monthly Planning Calendar; (3) special sections for…

The two articles dealing with problem solving and technology in this publication should be useful to those developing the kinds of materials, experiences, and thinking that elementary school industrial arts offers children. The first article accepts problem solving as an educational goal and reports a timely and universally acceptable approach.…

A two-issue volume presents articles describing innovative schools, classrooms, and alternative learning arrangements found in some of today's schools. Issue one contains three articles offering glimpses of an elementary school committed to the Core Knowledge curriculum of E. D. Hirsch, a renovated school devoted to early childhood learning…

The theme of the 2000 issue of Pedagogy Journal is finding a "sense of place" within the higher education community. Articles contained discuss this issue as it pertains to different aspects of the postsecondary system. These articles include: (1) "The Role of Left-Brain/Right-Brain Learning Theory in Personal Computer Courses" (Jack Wakelin); (2)…

This volume offers an alternative diagnosis of the expectations gap that exists between students and professors. Professors' expectations often go far beyond students' assumptions about the nature of knowledge. It is not what students think but rather how they think that is important in the learning process. How students make meaning mediates how…

This report expands on earlier research that found evidence of strong links between school restructuring and improved learning among students in the first 2 years of high school. This report, based on 1992 National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) data, analyzes data collected for most of the same students in their last 2 years of high school.…

Learning strategies can be defined as behaviors and thoughts in which a learner engages and which are intended to influence the learner's encoding process. Thus, the goal of any particular learning strategy may be to affect the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge. Good teaching includes teaching…

Changes in work and the workplace are transforming the kinds of knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for successful work performance. Educators and school reformers are updating curricula and redesigning school programs to ensure that, in addition to academics, young people have opportunities to learn work-related skills and attitudes. A…

This newsletter reports on a project concerning the linguistic development of immigrant children in Sweden in upper secondary school. The project is part of an extensive program on immigrant children's schooling and attainment of bilingualism conducted by the SPRINS Group at the University of Goteborg (SPRINS in Swedish represents "linguistic…

The 52 abstracts in these 29 serial issues describe innovative approaches to teaching and learning in the community college. Sample topics include reading motivation, barriers to academic success, the learning environment, writing skills, leadership in the criminal justice profession, role-playing strategies, cooperative education, distance…

This book examines how nonnative speakers develop pragmatic ability in a nonprimary language, focusing on acquisitional processes, conditions, and sequential patterns. Nine chapters discuss the following: (1) "Introduction to Second Language Pragmatic Development"; (2) "Theories of Second Language Pragmatic Development" (e.g., the acculturation…