How do you motivate students to do their homework? Some instructors make students' homework scores a significant percentage of the final course grade. In that case, how much course credit is required? Some instructors do not grade homework at all, instead relying on students' intrinsic motivation to learn the course material. Will this actually…

Team projects can optimize educational resources in a laboratory, but also create the potential for social loafing. Allowing students to choose their own groups could increase their motivation to learn and improve academic performance. To test this hypothesis, final grades and feedback from students were compared for the same course in two…

This interpretive case study explored the effectiveness of listening strategy instruction that promoted self-regulated learning and gained insights into students' and instructors' perceptions of strategy-integrated listening instruction among second semester learners of Chinese as a second language at a military college in Northern California.…

The aim of this paper is to provide a cross-national comparative analysis of the introduction of calculus in Spanish and French military educational institutions through the works of Pedro Padilla y Arcos (1724-1807?) and Etienne Bezout (1730-1783), respectively. Both authors developed their educational work in the context of military schools and…

It's all about the relationships! How the librarian develops connections is key to the embedded process. This paper describes the path one librarian went through from January, 2010 through December, 2013 at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. With a little help … ok, a lot of help from coworkers, faculty, IT and most of all…

The researchers designed, implemented and analyze a project to teach the contents of First Aid and Waves in English as a foreign language in Brazil using the Content and Language Integrated (CLIL) approach. Seventy participants belonging to two intact classes in a Navy Boarding School took part in the study. Both content and language teachers…

Students at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) are required to study a foreign language. In order to place students into appropriate language courses, especially less commonly taught languages defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), effective language placement policies are essential. The author…

We examine how student aptitudes impact how much students learn from doing graded online and written homework in an introductory electricity and magnetism course. Our analysis examines the correlation between successful homework completion rates and exam performance as well as how changes in homework completion correlate with changes in exam…

Over the last 10 years faculty members in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the United States Air Force Academy have incorporated individual oral exams into mathematics courses. We have experimented with various approaches, shared results and ideas with other department members, and refined our techniques. We have found that this…

This study investigates whether information saved in the log files of a computer-based tutor can be used to predict the problem solving performance of students. The log files of a computer-based physics tutoring environment called Andes Physics Tutor was analyzed to build a logistic regression model that predicted success and failure of students'…

For the last 11 years, Angela Lee Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania has been conducting ground breaking studies on "grit"--the quality that enables individuals to work hard and stick to their long-term passions and goals. In this interview with "Educational Leadership," Duckworth describes what her research has shown…

According to the publications of Virginia Military Institute (VMI), leader development is a key tenet of the unique education offered there and the education of leaders is the Institute's reason for being. The college maintains that it produces leaders for society and that leadership opportunities are imbedded in every aspect of a cadet's…

In this commentary, the authors suggest that education should focus on better preparing our leaders using a broad survey framework instead of a single leadership approach as the only basis for their development. The modern environment in which leaders operate is complex, dynamic, and ambiguous. In such contexts, it is better to have a full toolbox…

The U.S. military-service academies--at West Point (Army), Annapolis (Navy), Colorado Springs (Air Force), and New London (Coast Guard)--are at the center of several debates, both military and civilian. The military is downsizing, and the federal budget is under scrutiny: Do the academies deserve to continue if they are not producing better…

This article deals with teaching listening in English for Specific Purposes and more specifically in Military English. There are presented different approaches on listening and ways on teaching it in ESP. Active listening it is seen as one of the most productive and applicable approach in teaching ESP students how to master the skill of listening.…