Describes how graduate students in architecture face some of the longest hours in higher education, but that some experts question whether they are learning what they need to know. (EV)

Determines the effectiveness of a structured free-time contingency for a 12-year-old male with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The overall outcome indicates increases in compliance and on-task behavior during the structured free-time condition. These procedures were effective and easy to implement in a special education resource room for…

Comparison of basic reading instruction by either computer assisted instruction or traditional book methods with eight children (ages 3-5) with autism found all children spent more time on task in the computer condition and that five of the eight children could reliably identify at least three words after the computer assisted learning. (Contains…

This study examined the relationship between opportunities to respond (OTR) to academic requests and teacher praise in 20 classrooms for students with emotional and/or behavior disorders using time-window sequential analysis. Results suggest that: (1) a summary-level relationship represented by a significant positive correlation and (2) a…

Describes benefits of small classes based on 28 years of experience as elementary teacher. Includes establishing a successful classroom community, more time for students, fewer discipline problems, personalized assessment, and more opportunity to use best teaching practices. (PKP)

The effects of variable-interval (VI) and fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement for work-related behavior and an organizer for the work materials (behavioral prosthesis) were evaluated with 3 adults with severe or profound mental retardation. The participants had been recommended for study because of high rates of off-task and aberrant…

The purpose of the article is to describe step by step procedures teachers can use to successfully engage their students in the development of science fair projects. The article further explains how the student should prepare their science fair project for science fair competition. It is expected that increasing student participation in science…

This paper explores what happens when students engage with mathematical tasks that make no attempt to be connected with students' everyday life experiences. The investigation draws on the work of educators who call for a broader view of what might count as real and relevant contexts for studying mathematics. It investigates students' experiences…

This manuscript reports on a preliminary study to examine the effect of teaching problem-solving skills on the task persistence of handicapped preschool children. Ten mildly handicapped children completed a series of lessons in which they were taught to use problem-solving strategies to complete fine motor tasks. Both qualitative and quantitative…

Engagement has become a buzzword in higher education. Research by Alexander Astin, George Kuh, and others has demonstrated that engagement in campus life contributes to students' learning, increases their satisfaction with their college experiences, and reduces the likelihood that they will drop out. The kind of engagement that transforms a person…

Assignments were altered to determine if interspersing additional briefer and easier mathematics problems enhanced students' accuracy on longer, more difficult target problems across two types of mathematics assignments. Students (N = 52) from three fifth-grade classes completed six math assignments incorporating two task demands and three…

This paper describes an interactive activity developed for illustrating hypothesis tests on the mean for paired or matched samples. The activity is extended to illustrate assessing normality, the Wilcoxon signed rank test, Kaplan-Meier survival functions, two-way analysis of variance, and the randomized block design. (Contains 6 tables and 13…

"Focus on Basics" is the quarterly publication of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. It presents best practices, current research on adult learning and literacy, and how research is used by adult basic education teachers, counselors, program administrators, and policymakers. "Focus on Basics" is…

Today's college students are less prepared for college-level work than their predecessors. Once they get to college, they tend to spend fewer hours studying while spending more hours working, some even full time (D. T. Smart, C. A. Kelley, & J. S. Conant, 1999). In this study, the authors examined the effect of both time spent studying and time…

Most colleges and universities have adopted course management systems (e.g., Blackboard, WebCT). Worldwide faculty and students use them for class communications and discussions. The discussion tools provided by course management systems, while powerful, often do not offer adequate capabilities to appraise communication patterns, online behaviors,…