When successful teachers were interviewed concerning strategies for helping students believe in themselves, they suggested that teachers break through minority students' skepticism and distrust, use peer recruiters, welcome everyone, generate class participation, set high expectations, use attention-getting projects, look beyond the classroom, and…

Reports the findings of 2 surveys given to students and teachers at 4 schools of Pepperdine University (California) that substantiate the importance of name recognition and social interaction between instructors and students. Lists techniques teachers use to remember names. Introduces Names, a 12-option computer program, designed to assist in name…

Education in the United States differs from that in other countries in the attitude of U.S. students and their lack of motivation. Americans must override the differing education values held by distinct social classes, races, and language groups and recreate the sense that education is valuable. (MLF)

Reviews cultural differences between American Indian and European-American educational values, and educational concerns related to being caught between two cultures--biological deprivation, dissonance in cognitive style and motivational systems, and poor self-concept. Discusses implications for vocational and career counseling. Contains 26…

Describes a lesson plan that instructs third graders to use graphs. Explains learning objectives, motivating students, conducting a class activity that includes graph construction, and concluding and evaluating the lesson. Lists materials needed. (GG)

A Maryland teacher used Alaska's Iditarod sled-dog race to spark learning and bring adventure into a fourth grade history and geography course. Students followed the Iditarod, conducted reading races on related material, studied race strategies, and considered necessary mathematics. They learned about Alaska while experiencing cooperation and…

Describes activities that industrial/organizational psychologists engage in as they seek to improve the competitiveness of organizations through effective human resource planning. Presents a model for describing human resource short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term planning. (JS)

Examines the theory of a causal relationship between classroom environments and junior high school students' attitudes towards the social studies, replicating the research methodology of a high school study. Environmental dimensions found to be related towards positive attitudes include teacher support, affiliation, innovation, and involvement,…

Summarizes the findings of a project that investigated the use of learning strategies by foreign language students and their teachers, and suggests classroom applications for learning strategy instruction. The project identified the differences in strategy use among effective and ineffective language learners and the ways in which teachers could…

Described is an approach to the teaching of thinking and problem-solving for gifted and regular education students, based on R.J. Sternberg's "Suggested Criteria for the Development of Thinking Skills Programmes." The program provides specific skills training and ample practice, emphasizes cooperative learning and motivation, and…

Describes differences between a middle school in a low socioeconomic neighborhood and a high school in an affluent suburb. Suggests four ways to create language arts classrooms that have basic literacy as the primary focus yet are vital, dynamic places where students interact with the subject matter and with each other. (MM)

Explains a model of drop-out from distance education courses and illustrates it with quotations from case studies of students in Australia; Papua, New Guinea; and the United Kingdom. Topics discussed include individual student characteristics, home and family circumstances, employment situation, educational background, motivation, and cost benefit…

Examines student attitudes toward the use of audio cassette tapes in a distance education course at Massey University (New Zealand) that used tapes to supplement printed study guides and readings. Highlights include the value of course evaluations for distance education courses; instructional effectiveness; motivation; and retention of…

A study compared students' orientations toward learning Spanish to their orientations toward learning English or French as a second language, and examined other variables, including interethnic attitudes and contact, motivation, self-confidence, and Spanish competence. Results do not permit a clear delineation of a sociomotivational basis for…

In a study of the accuracy of Tinto's model of student attrition among 253 underprepared community college students, 4 exogenous variables (family background, precollege schooling, getting ready, and encouragement from significant others), 3 endogenous variables (initial commitment, academic integration, and social integration), and previously…