John Wood Community College's Open Learning Center (OLC) offers an alternative to traditional classroom approaches using one-to-one instruction, a competency-based learning format, and flexible scheduling. Due to concern over the high attrition rate in OLC courses, a study was conducted to identify the characteristics and variables contributing to…

Health behaviors of all students, including adolescents, have direct impact upon both personal well being and actualization of potential for maximum learning. This paper reviews examples of concrete health behaviors that both positively and negatively influence the two factors, and summarizes present objectives for the nation in the health…

Since student ratings of teacher effectiveness are instrumental in faculty promotion and tenure decisions, the assets and limitations of such ratings must be understood. To investigate the impact of three personality factors (ability, locus of control, and self-esteem) and academic performance on expectation and attributions of performance, 212…

Research directed toward a better understanding of the computer user/computer machine relationship has increased in recent years. To identify what factors may predict success in computer programming, 286 college students from three computer classes (160 from introductory programming; 60 from Cobol programming; and 66 from senior level programming)…

Health care providers have become increasingly interested in involving individuals in health promotion activities and programs. To investigate those variables which might predict an individual's interest in becoming involved in health promotion, 84 male and 125 female undergraduates were administered paper and pencil measures to assess their…

Causal attribution has been found to have a great effect on future performance. Causal attributions were studied across two academic subjects and two outcomes using an open-ended measure. All 180 ninth-graders in a girls' high school in the Bay Area of San Francisco (California) stated their best and worst subjects and provided their perceived…

It has been noted that students have an influential role in determining the nature of classroom events in the middle grades and that their teachers adjust their classroom behavior in response to the characteristics of students in the class. This paper analyzes instruction as discourse between teacher and students and the collaborative nature of…

This guide consists of a set of activities to help elementary school students cope with fears and stress. Each activity includes the curricular areas in which it would fit (i.e., language arts, social studies, etc.), the grade level and group size for which it is suitable, and the approximate time necessary for its completion. The guide is divided…

This study investigated the cognitive styles, attributions, and self-evaluations of 40 gifted girls and 40 gifted boys, grades 6 through 8. Informational attributional ratings for task difficulty, luck, ability, and effort were studied in the context of: (1) an individual non-competitive goal structure; (2) a competitive goal structure; (3)…

This review of the research literature on the interaction between humans and computers discusses how man machine systems can be utilized effectively in the learning-teaching process, especially in secondary education. Beginning with a definition of man machine systems and comments on the poor quality of much of the computer-based learning material…

The paper develops a method for learning improvement which incorporates the learner in the development of the learning/instructional strategy. To this end, a rate limiting model using topographical brain mapping as an educational intervention is presented. It is suggested that such intervention programs focus on those factors which are…

Ten predictors of academic performance and persistence for adult college students were studied with 100 college juniors and seniors at Mercy College. The 10 variables are: time spent at work/employment, ability to pay for education, time spent at study, place of study, ability to get to school, ability to get course of choice, ability to get a…

The purposes of this study were to examine the importance that elementary principals place upon the terminal value freedom in relation to the development of teachers, and to examine the consistency of elementary principals' decision making along a teacher-supportive to supervisor-supportive continuum. One hundred elementary principals in Ontario…

The Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study (AMPS) presented an alcohol education program to fifth and sixth grade students based on social learning theory. The AMPS program introduced students to the concept of social pressure (especially peer pressure) to misuse alcohol and to strategies to effectively counter such pressure. The program was evaluated in…

The paper reviews research studies on identification and treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Studies investigating the three primary ADHD dimensions of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness are initially cited, followed by a review of research in the related dimensions of cognitive attributions/locus of control,…