This activity is designed to build creative skills based on an everyday problem. The scenario that sometimes packages are dropped and letters get bent is used. How can a special delivery be protected from such unfortunate mishaps? Students use their creative skills to determine a way to mail raw spaghetti. A way to safely package the raw spaghetti…

In this activity, students investigate the accuracy of sundials and the discrepancy that lies between "real time" and "clock time". The position of the sun is tracked over the course of a relatively short period of time as students make a shadow plot, a horizontal sundial, and a diptych sundial. This activity requires…

This research intended to describe interventions to enhance students' motivation to read for enjoyment. Students' personal reasons for reading may include curiosity, social involvements, emotional satisfaction and/or necessity. Other reasons for reading may include: sustained involvement; challenge; compliance; recognition; competition; and work…

Project Look Sharp is an initiative to promote and support the integration of media literacy into classroom curricula at all grade levels and instructional areas, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of media literacy education in the schools. It provides the following 12 guidelines as basic principles for incorporating media literacy into any…

Remarks of Alaska Native researcher and educator Paul Ongtooguk are presented. Alaska Native students perform worse on exit exams than any other population in the state. In the past, formal education was offered to Alaska Natives only if they gave up being Alaska Natives. The current system is not designed to solve the problems of Alaska Native…

Many teachers hesitate to integrate film into English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classrooms because of the uncertainty of the educational efficacy of viewing an entire film in class and the motivational value of the repeated use of short film clips. However, both short film clips and longer films can be used in class to motivate ESL students and…

This report describes a program for increasing students' language arts skills by incorporating modeling and grade appropriate comprehension activities. The targeted population consisted of Kindergarten, 4th, and 6th grade students in a rural middle class community located in central Illinois. The problems with language arts skills were documented…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on motivation for learning and performance that was conducted as part of a conference on human resource development (HRD). "A Holistic Approach towards Motivation To Learn" (Constantine Kontoghiorghes) reports on a study that identified the following key variables within and outside…

This paper investigates the motivational profiles of students in schools that participate in a professional development program (the CASE project), which has reported remarkable success in raising students' academic achievement. On the basis of new work on the characterization and measurement of motivational orientation, beliefs, and self-view,…

This volume contains the four 1998 quarterly issues of this newsletter that present best practices, current research on adult learning and literacy, and information on how research is used by adult basic education teachers, counselors, program administrators, and policy makers. The following are among the major articles included: "Power,…

These three papers are from a symposium on individual learning issues. "A Quantitative Examination of the Feelings and Cognitive Processes of a Group of Adults Undertaking a Tertiary HRD [Human Resource Development] Program" (Bryan W. Smith) examines mental and emotional states of adults in a tertiary HRD learning situation by using stimulated…

This videotape generates enthusiasm by showing participants an overview of the goals and benefits of the Parents Sharing Books Program. It features parents, teachers, and principals who are involved in book-sharing programs in their schools. By watching the videotape, parents will see book-sharing strategies and motivational techniques and hear…

This study explored a preservice teacher educator's goals with technology in her teaching methods class at Southern Teachers University (Texas) regarding state and national teacher preparation technology mandates and possible motivational factors for including technology in current preservice education courses. Action research was selected as the…

This study investigated practices, attitudes, and behaviors that experienced teachers used to motivate middle school students. Participants were 10 teachers from one Virginia middle school. The teachers' classroom behaviors and teacher-student interactions were observed. Teachers completed interviews that asked about: their definition of…

Learning environments have an impact on acquiring skills in reading as well as developing positive attitudes toward reading. Another variable that affects attitudes and aptitude toward reading is the "climate" or "environment" in which children learn their skills. This paper concentrates on the phenomenon that is reaching epic proportions in the…