This book presents a philosophical and pragmatic approach to the teacher's active role in fostering a developing understanding of painting in 1-11 year-old children. Cognitive processes behind children's painting are explored; each phase of imagery is seen as emerging from and building on the thought processes of the previous phase. Tasks are…

There is a strong popular belief that self-concept and motivation are intricately related to performance. To test this theory, a study was conducted to determine if increases in student self-enhancement and intrinsic motivation would explain increased academic performance. Students (N=472) in experimental groups completed interest inventories,…

Previous research has suggested that extrinsic rewards operate to decrease intrinsic motivation to perform a task when they are offered for an initially intrinsically motivating task and then removed. To determine the initial intrinsic motivation of studying, 170 Canadian community college students were divided into one control and four treatment…

Disadvantaged secondary school students with special reading needs can be motivated in the reading room. The school year can start with "popcorn" reading involving materials that are funny, interesting, and exciting. The teacher reads to the students or the students read silently, using materials on the students' independent rather than…

The effects of college attendance by working adults on educational motivations of their children were studied. A total of 740 parents in the Detroit area who attended a college program combining in-home televised instruction with weekend decentralized seminars were surveyed along with 211 of their children and 75 respondents from Kansas City. Many…

A modified impress approach to teaching reading has been successfully used in a program involving first grade students. The program was multisensory and included aural, oral, visual, and kinesthetic learning experiences gained through listening, group discussions, dramatic play, art activities, audience reading, and recorded oral reading. These…

During the last two decades of work in predicting and explaining school achievement, much research has emphasized the identification and measurement of student cognitive and affective processes which predict and also promise to help explain and facilitate school achievement. This review focuses on modifiable cognitive and affective processes, as…

The eight chapters in this book relate the experiences and reflections of six researchers/teachers who set out to teach five students who had failed to acquire a useful degree of literacy. The book also provides a great deal of information about many of the central topics of teaching literacy: children's motivation, the influence of social and…

Teachers are primarily motivated by intrinsic rewards such as self-respect, responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment. Administrators can therefore boost morale and motivate teachers to excel through participatory governance, inservice education, and systematic, supportive evaluation. (TE)

This paper describes some of the historical background for current practices in local curriculum development, the major participants and their roles in local curriculum development, some of the processes involved, and the major conditions necessary for successful local development. Using a broad literature base of both published and unpublished…

Research was reviewed to identify the characteristics of effective university and college-based programs for educating prospective teachers. Programs were considered effective to the extent that they enhanced the capability of teachers to contribute to student learning. The research reviewed was almost exclusively concerned with the learning of…

Andrew Wrenn describes his work with Barry Williams and the teachers of the history department at Ailwyn School (11-14 comprehensive), Ramsey in Cambridgeshire. Devoting equal attention to the "what" and the "how" of history assessment, he shows how this group of teachers developed a fresh approach to assessment out of the…

Concept mapping was investigated as a learning strategy to motivate 82 high-ability, 10th-grade students to take a more meaningful approach to learning biology. The study employed a quasi-experimental, prepost mixed methodology design to assess the relationship between concept-mapping proficiency and changes in motivational and learning strategies…

This study examined the effectiveness of a training program designed to help disadvantaged teenage mothers promote their infants' early cognitive development. Subjects were 127 mothers whose babies were less than 6 months old at the start of the program; most were white women near the poverty level, and many were unmarried. The control group…

A study was conducted to relate the revised Occupation Analysis Inventory (OAI) interest- and need-requirement estimates for a sample of jobs to the interest, need, and satisfaction scores of job incumbents. (The OAI is an instrument containing 622 work elements which are descriptions of work activities and conditions on which jobs and occupations…