Learning to learn should be a continual process of change. Learning skills are developed through conditioning in the learner's environment and their experiences in social environments. Students over time become dependent on their beliefs influencing decisions for how to engage with learning. Educator instructional strategy plays a significant role…

Life-long learning is a process. Learning skill ability is common to all as well as individually unique. A learner's beliefs are constantly susceptible to conditioning from external expectations. A discussion reflects on techniques for strengthening distance-learning skills in this technological age.

The first objective of this article is to increase awareness and understanding of individual decision-making biases. The second is to provide FCS professionals with strategies to improve consumer financial decisions. Individual decision biases are presented within the context of a seven-stage decision process. Proactive consumer educators using a…

The authors propose a paradigm for rigorous scientific assessment of study abroad programs, with the focus being on how study abroad experiences affect psychological constructs as opposed to looking solely at study-abroad-related outcomes. Social learning theory is used as a possible theoretical basis for making testable hypotheses and guiding…

While it is widely acknowledged that the family and childhood environments affect adult well being, why they matter is still an area of significant debate. Previous research concerned with this issue has focused on the influence of family income, family structure, and cognitive ability. Much of this research has focused on economic and social…

Self-efficacy, a core construct of Bandura's social cognitive theory, has wide appeal and usefulness in the health and social sciences. Self-efficacy is frequently used across disciplines to assess an individual's beliefs about her likelihood to engage in a certain behavior. Because of the behavioral-change approaches common in rehabilitation…

Life can be especially tough for those who always seem to manifest the "wrong stuff." However, things seem to go much better for those who employ the "right stuff" instead. So we must be sure to avoid the former and stick to the latter, if we really wish to make our lives happier, rather than sadder. To achieve this end this brief paper is…

Black males as a group experience disproportionate amounts of school failure. Compared to Black females and White males, for example, Black males have the highest dropout rates, poorest achievement, and lowest test scores. Further, they are sorely under-represented in gifted education and over-represented in special education. Of those Black males…

This article provides insight into how teachers can listen to students' stories about themselves and mathematics to understand the characteristics that students attribute to themselves. The article also explains how to use stories to inspire and motivate children in mathematics. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

Resilience is a set of attributes providing people with the strength and fortitude to confront overwhelming obstacles. The best way to prepare resilient youth for an uncertain future is to help them develop feelings of competence, belonging, usefulness, potency, and optimism via authentic, ongoing school experiences and critical examination of…

Describes and evaluates the Life Choices Program for girls (N=66) aged 9 to 12, which emphasizes empowerment as an intervention. Comparison of the Life Choices participants with controls (N=50) showed no significant differences in locus of control. Differences in values suggest Life Choices participants are more aware of role alternatives. (JAC)

Wellness, or holistic health, represents a positive attitude toward the integration of physical and psychological aspects of lifestyle. There have been few attempts to assess wellness that contain more than questionnaire items across several component areas. This paper describes a test battery that includes physical (nutrition, cardiorespiratory…

Black males and females are consistently underrepresented in gifted programs. Just as unfortunate, countless reports and studies indicate that too many Black males are not succeeding in school settings. A scholar identity model, grounded in various achievement-based theories, is shared in this article as one solution to addressing the educational…