One college mathematics teacher finds that asking students to write brief essays about their attitudes toward and experiences with mathematics offers insight into student motivation, perceptions and misperceptions, and emotional responses. The essay serves as a communication and motivational tool for both teacher and students. (MSE)

Suggests that music education by its nature is well suited to meeting the special needs of at-risk students. Discusses the role of music in motivating and enabling students to succeed. Defines the causes of failure as inability and lack of desire to learn when at-risk students receive the wrong kind of instruction. (DK)

Fulbright teachers from England, Germany, Denmark, and Canada aired their views about American education during a 1991 conference. The foreign teachers admired America's commitment to providing universal access to education and academic second chances. They deplored local school funding disparities; teachers' heavy workloads and low status; and…

Reports on a study of teacher burnout among 160 Swiss secondary teachers. Finds that teacher-student relationships are the most frequently mentioned reason for burnout, followed by feelings of being trapped in school routine and personal difficulties. Discusses the impact of burnout episodes on a teacher's career. (CFR)

Argues that effective marketing is essential for community colleges to keep pace with a changing environment. Presents a broad definition of marketing that includes delivery of educational services and maintenance of a student-centered college environment. Reviews award-winning two-year college marketing strategies and outlines a step-by-step…

Fourth grade Taiwan students (94 males and 97 females) completed 2 cognitive risk-taking tasks with variable payoff or fixed payoff in a game or test context. Both variable payoff and game context increased the level of academic risk taking. Results are discussed concerning interactions between ability and risk taking. (SLD)

A study of seventh and eighth graders in the southwest compared effects on exercise-intrinsic motivation and physical self-worth of taking either the President's Challenge or the Fitnessgram fitness test battery. Results did not support the premise that fitness test batteries would produce different motivational and self-perception outcomes. (SM)

This article defines, provides a rationale for, and describes the implementation of a classroom management level system in a middle school program for students with severe behavior disorders. The system is a motivational plan for behavioral improvement based upon a graduated series of levels with increasing student responsibility and privileges.…

Shared are two strategies that can be used to encourage and motivate students. The first uses innovative approaches to evaluating student achievement by offering retests and bonus problems. The second introduces music in the classroom to create an atmosphere conducive to learning and integrates the music into mathematics lessons. (MDH)

Presented is a teacher's guide for a hands-on activity challenging students to develop problem-solving behaviors by exploring the construction of a right-cylinder of maximum volume from an m x n sheet of metal. Reproducible worksheets leading students through the activity are provided. (MDH)

Critically responds to an article by Aleksandr Tsipko. Argues that Soviet economic development has been marred not by a failure to accommodate the human factor, as Tsipko suggests, but by a lack of individual self-evaluation. Contends that successful socioeconomic progress depends upon individual moral development. (CH)

Discussion of cooperative activities among libraries focuses on cataloging of Latin American materials among research libraries. Differences in motivation for cooperation in acquisitions and in cataloging are discussed; and a study is described that examined which libraries were providing online cataloging, and differences between OCLC and RLIN…

Urges exposure of college students to different philosophies and world views. Describes the reasoning, preparation, and experience of having a Marxist representative speak to a class on comparative education. Insists that the teacher cannot present an adversary's arguments as a believer would. Argues that exposure to other views produces critical…

Describes the English Educational System, and contrasts the way physics is taught in the U.S. system on the following points: maturity, graduation requirements, laboratory work, student motivation, availability to students, and passage to higher education. (MDH)

Reports findings of a study that investigated fifth and sixth graders' attending and participating behaviors during mathematics. Some students, especially low achievers, manifested passivity in cooperative small groups. Some possible reasons for this behavior are suggested, and a categorization of types of passivity is provided. (Author/SM)