Fourth- and fifth-grade students' motivation and engagement during classroom discussions were investigated in 2 studies. Study 1 examined students' moment-by-moment engagement during collaborative peer-managed small-group discussions in comparison to conventional teacher-managed whole-class discussions. Study 2 evaluated the long term effects of…

Alumni and enrolled students from 22 university departments responded to items concerning instructional, curricular, advising, and operational aspects of their major departments. Comparisons of department means showed differences between alumni and enrolled students on several items, particularly vocational guidance. (Author/GK)

Attitudes toward cooperation and competition were virtually independent across grades 2 to 12. Cooperativeness was consistently related to a broad range of positive attitudes toward schooling experience at all grade levels. Competitiveness changed its pattern of correlates, showing relationships to several positive attitudes only in school. (BJG)

A factor of generalized teacher competence is strongly associated with student intention to take further course work with an instructor. (Author/DEP)

In designing a personalized system of instruction (PSI) personality course, the locus of control literature was surveyed in attempts to answer two questions: 1) Whether differences in locus of control would be predictive of PSI course performance; 2) whether changes would result after exposure to a PSI course. (Author/DEP)

Results showed that students high on internal locus of control performed better under low discipline classroom conditions, while high external control students performed better under high discipline classroom conditions. Data indicated that students assigned to a preferred discipline condition showed greater satisfaction than those who were not.…

Two questions were investigated: (1) would rewording items on a questionnaire for evaluating faculty teaching effectiveness substantially affect students' ratings? and (2) would students' ratings of professors' teaching quality be totally consistent with their ratings of benefits derived from courses? (Author/RC)

Students' evaluations of teaching were validated against both cognitive and affective criteria of effective instruction. End-of-term ratings correlated more highly with the criteria than did the midterm ratings. Both cognitive and affective criteria were correlated with different components of the student ratings, but not with each other.…

Two educationally acceptable models explaining the correlation of grades with satisfaction are delineated in two studies. Both demonstrate that the relationship between grades and student satisfaction might be a result of important causal relationships among other variables rather than evidence of contamination due to grading leniency. (Author/GK)

One hundred and seven same-sex pairs were formed so that the tutor had greater (the status-congruent condition), equal, or lesser initial math competence than the tutee. Two weeks were devoted to tutoring; then, partners exchanged roles for two weeks. Satisfaction and perceived achievement were greater on becoming the tutor than the tutee.…

College students responded to a questionnaire designed to measure students' satisfaction with their academic major programs. Hierarchical factor analyses producted four factors in both undergraduate and graduate samples: perception of value in program; satisfaction with instruction; satisfaction with faculty mentorship; and overall satisfaction…

Under individual reward conditions, sociometric groups were found more likely than random groups to function outside the classroom, whereas under shared reward conditions both types of groups were equally viable. Working in groups did not affect subsequent individual test performance; however, on a joint project, teamwork resulted in better…

One half of the subjects were introduced to a professor using a written biographical description including a positive teaching evaluation, while with the other subjects a negative evaluation replaced the positive one. Following the lecture, subjects completed a teaching evaluation. The two lectures differed only in the material presented.…

Traditional measures of academic performance, attitudes, expectations, self-esteem, and learning transfer were compared at formal and informal schools. Informal school students showed more positive attitudes toward school and teachers and greater transfer of training of learning to nonschool settings. No differences were found for academic…