Many teachers struggle with motivating students to learn. This is especially prevalent in social studies classrooms in which students perceive social studies as boring (Schug, Todd, & Berry, 1984; Shaughnessy & Haladyana, 1985). This article advocates the use of technology in social studies as a means to motivate students by engaging…

This paper reviews the hallmark studies of field dependence-independence and considers the evidence for sex and ethnic differences in cognitive style. Research has traditionally linked females' early verbal superiority with field dependence and males' superior visuospatial skills with field independence. Studies challenging this picture cite…

This study examines the North Carolina program for the academically gifted. Students (N=142), parents (N=83), counselors (N=70), teachers (N=71), principals (N=50) and superintendents (N=17) were surveyed. Findings report widespread interest in increased curriculum planning, academics, and science and mathematics. Many criticisms of the…

California law requires sponsors of standardized tests used for admission or placement purposes in higher education to report certain data annually. Data on each of the 10 batteries of standardized tests affected by the law in 1987-88 are reported, and mean test scores are displayed for students nationally and in California if those averages are…

This study was conducted to investigate the relative importance of social and academic factors in influencing the probability of transfer from a community college to a four-year college. The structural model used in the study was composed of the following constructs: the effect of social class, race, and gender on students' academically related…

Children are faced with an increased potential for academic failure due to less stable family lives and career-oriented parents. Cross-cultural reading instruction practices and programs can provide insights that could prevent such failure for children at-risk. One such program is the reading maintenance program used in Denmark, wherein groups of…

In 1985, for the first time, Pennsylvania's student assessment program included measures of a higher order thinking skills goal termed Analytical Thinking. These tests utilize a decision-making model to assess such skills as drawing inferences, identifying appropriate information to gather before making a decision, analogical reasoning,…

There are many unresolved issues in the education of exceptional children and youth. This report addresses four topics of current interest and concern: (1) Gifted education -- the gifted and talented are currently underserved and underachieving, in part because federal support is not available. Problem areas in this context include: defining the…

This study used multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) to assess differences among subgroups defined in terms of sex and undergraduate major area, and ethnic group and undergraduate major area, with respect to patterns of performance on Graduate Record Examination (GRE) item-type part scores. Special subscores based on item types included in the…

This paper outlines the current state of knowledge about how intellectual competence is acquired. Implications resulting from recent changes in the psychology of learning and development are beginning to revitalize the science of learning and instruction. Four broad topics illustrate the links between instructional experiments, fundamental…

Methods developed by faculty to involve students in the classroom are described in 13 articles, based on the experience of University of Minnesota faculty in the Northwest Area Program on Active Learning. Each article considers: how to get started, sample applications of the method, challenges and how to deal with them, rewards, and where to get…

The problems experienced by nontraditional college students and the responses by colleges and universities are considered. The new students on campuses are adults, students from lower socioeconomic levels, ethnic minorities, and women. Since many new students tend to have academic difficulties, colleges have offered remedial classes in each…

This collection is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The six titles deal with the following topics: (1) a comparison of mastery and nonmastery learning approaches to teaching reading comprehension to Title I students in second through sixth grade, (2) induced mental imagery and the comprehension…

The Proceedings Journal contains 13 articles presented at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting as part of the Arts and Learning Special Interest Group program. Individual articles and their authors are: "A Descriptive and Analytical Study of Art Criticism Formats with Implications for Curricular Implementation" by…

A study investigated the validity and usefulness of the Affective Communication Test (ACT) which measures a person's ability to project a nonverbal message to others. The ACT test was reduced to 10 items and administered to 130 college students. The results were analyzed for interpersonal display of effect, public display, and small group display.…