Happy Sticks, the name given to the reinforcement system used in a classroom of pre-school autisitc children, is presented. Happy Sticks are decorated tongue depressors serving as token rewards; Happy Bags, or pouches are worn by the children around their necks to hold the earned Happy Sticks. Reinforcement can be immediate and occur throughout…

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that specific in-class behaviors of classroom teachers could be modified by training. Focused on were these four behaviors: (a) positive reinforcement (PR), (b) negative reinforcement (NR), (c) amount of time the teacher talks as a percentage of all talk in class, and (d) encouragement of…

This secondary analysis of De Wolff and van IJzendoorn's (1997) meta-analysis of maternal behavior and attachment reexamined their conclusion that sensitivity was not a preferred predictor of attachment security. The meta-analysis included 66 studies with 123 effect sizes sorted through a combination of personal choice and homogeneity analysis…

This paper explores behavior patterns that inhibit effective communication in everyday, educational, and business cross-cultural settings. Opportunities to change these inhibiting patterns, metaphorically referred to as "stumbling blocks," into building blocks or tools for successful intercultural understandings are discussed in the…

The problem facing Nigeria's teacher trainers is how to produce the right type of mathematics teachers from available resources. The mastery learning approach is seen as the solution to this problem. Bloom's Mastery Learning Approach and Carroll's Model of School Learning are discussed. (MLW)

Analyzes student use of a multimedia chemistry instructional program used in an undergraduate chemistry course. Examines student time spent on the software and student use of the software's media components. Finds that students have different usage patterns for completing the same assignment, indicating that students are able to use individual…

The user-friendly Classroom Ecobehavioral Assessment Instrument was developed to incorporate advantages of environmental assessment and functional assessment. Relatively simple behavior sampling procedures and scripted steps for summarizing and analyzing data lead to prescriptions for altering assessment and/or intervention practices. Results of…

Describes the characteristics of three primary groups of college students: traditional-aged Generation X; nontraditional; and community college. Descriptions cover demographic trends and factors important in each group: consumer mentality; factors related to education, career, and income; behavior patterns; and particular educational needs. The…

Shows how evolution-theoretical behavioral research may serve to influence the theory production of pedagogics. Questions which truths and securities are required by educational practice and which consequences can be drawn for the level of theoretical cognition of the respective discipline. An analysis of the relation between religion in its…

Despite the seminal studies of response differentiation by the method of successive approximation detailed in chapter 8 of "The Behavior of Organisms" (1938), B. F. Skinner never actually shaped an operant response by hand until a memorable incident of startling serendipity on the top floor of a flour mill in Minneapolis in 1943. That occasion…

Twenty-nine years ago Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (MLSPC) was launched at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. It was one of the first prospective longitudinal studies of how parent-infant attachment develops, how it changes over time, and how the quality of attachment in infancy influences…

A metacognition instructional strategy was employed to increase class participation and motivation in 21 seventh grade "at-risk" students at 2 schools in the context of the national problem of meeting the needs of "at-risk" students. A survey of the students' content area teachers and of the students themselves found evidence…

The National Environmental Education and Training Foundation commissioned a survey on environmental attitudes and behaviors of disadvantaged youth in America to identify the critical gaps in environmental education so that resources can be targeted more effectively. Phase 1 consisted of qualitative research among disadvantaged students through…

The Swedish Media Panel is a research program about children and young persons and their use of mass media. The aim of the ten-year (1975-1985) project is to explain how media habits originate, how they change as children grow older, what factors on the part of children themselves and in their surroundings may be connected with a certain use of…

Nutrition Education Today is a state-funded curriculum project that addresses the behavioral aspects of nutrition as well as the nutritional knowledge of secondary school students in California. The curriculum design for the Nutrition Education Today project is a result of the efforts of a statewide task force of specialists in the area of…