Frequent reprimands, low expectations, and infrequent praise characterize the daily school experiences of many students who display problem behaviors. This review evaluates preference and choice-making as possible interventions for improving these school experiences. Findings from 15 studies suggest that preference and choice-making may improve…

Commencing in 1985, a small body of experimental studies on the effects of test taking on delayed retention learning of technical subject matter has been completed in technology education settings. Much of the learning in technology education courses, especially the hands-on aspects, are best assessed via instruments and techniques other than…

In this research note, the authors report on an exploratory study of the profile of an engaged sociology major. The purpose of this note is to assess which factors relate to senior majors' self-perceived, overall engagement in the discipline. Possible factors include demographic variables, attitudes about learning, and academic or study behaviors.…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between time-related variables of the physical education lesson and skill concepts acquisition and retention. One hundred and four students aged 6.4 to 7.9 years, and their six physical educators participated. The motor behavior of thirty-six selected students was videotaped during a…

Eight students were observed during classroom instruction. Comparisons were made of how they spent their time in resource and regular classrooms. In general, opportunities for differentiated instruction were available in resource rooms. However, no practical differences were noted in the amount of time students were actively engaged in instruction…

A structured reinforcement system, in which learning disabled students earn tokens for on-task activities, is an effective way of managing classroom behavior. An 11-step process of initiating such a program is described. (CL)

Systematic observation of four elementary students at time of referral and one and two months after special education placement revealed considerable variability among students in amount of academic time allocated and engaged in. Changes in instruction and student responding as a function of special education intervention were inconsistent across…

Goal-directed persistence of 44 mentally retarded young children on tasks used to assess mastery motivation among nonretarded infants was examined to determine whether retarded children were motivated to solve or work on tasks that were slightly challenging to them. Results indicated significant age-related increases in children's goal-directed…

An environmental modification involving a portable partition designed as a distractor shield was found to increase the mean level of on-task performance of four profoundly retarded adults in the classroom. Additionally, the increase in on-task behavior was accompanied by increases in student task productivity. (Author/CL)

Using a minute-by-minute observational chart, classroom activities and student involvement may be recorded. Such a record is valuable for noting students' and teachers' time on task. (JW)

Fourteen mildly retarded adolescents who participated in a mathematics program involving games (dice, cards, dominoes, boards, and spinners) performed significantly better than 14 Ss in a control group who completed traditional drill and workbook exercises. Experimental Ss also had higher time-on-task scores. (CL)

ALT (academic learning time) was obtained on 60 nonhandicapped and 60 mainstreamed handicapped students in elementary physical education classes. Results indicated that Ss in individualized instruction settings engaged in a significantly greater amount of ALT than Ss of nonusers, with no significant difference between mainstreamed handicapped and…

Three procedures for increasing the disabled students' academic learning time(ALT)by maximizing allocation time, engagement time, and success rate are discussed, and a direct instructional model for enhancing ALT in both regular and special education environments is described. (CL)

Investigated the feasibility of adding haptic and auditory displays to traditional visual geographic information systems (GISs). Explored differences in user performance, including task completion time and accuracy, and user satisfaction with a multimodal GIS which was implemented with a haptic display, auditory display, and combined display.…

Uses alternating treatments designs to compare on-task levels in 4 students diagnosed as emotionally disturbed while working on control and experimental independent seat-work mathematics assignments. Control and experimental assignments were similar except experimental assignments contained additional briefer mathematics problems interspersed…