This preliminary case study examined the philosophical perspectives of mathematics teachers at a high school situated near the Texas/Mexico border along the lower Rio Grande river valley. Ninety-eight percent of the students and 69% of the teachers are Hispanic. The mathematics teachers were administered a questionnaire that gauged their…

This paper uses data from the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Trial State Assessment to describe educational opportunities for students in eighth-grade mathematics in 1990. The first section of the paper summarizes the methodology used here and in the 1990 NAEP Trial State Assessment. The second section summarizes findings…

This paper advocates for the improvement of presentational methods of teaching and expository learning, based on David Ausubel's theory of Meaningful Verbal Learning and its derivative, the Advance Organizer Model of Teaching. This approach to teaching enables teachers to convey large amounts of information as meaningfully and efficiently as…

This study examined the effect of cooperative learning on two female sixth-grade students' attitudes toward mathematics. The students (one Caucasian, one African-American) were individually interviewed to obtain background information relevant to the study. An initial survey was also given to 17 sixth-graders to obtain general attitudes of…

A research study conducted at Sam Houston State University (Texas) compared the final grades of students who chose the lecture method of instruction with the final grades of students who chose the self-paced method of instruction in introductory algebra classes. All students were required to take seven tests plus a comprehensive final examination.…

This report examines the effectiveness of four different instructional models used to deliver compensatory education in 1985-86 in Seattle (Washington) by analyzing "sustained gains" in student achievement. A student's "sustained gain" is the reading or mathematics achievement test score gain between spring 1985 and spring…

The problem of grade inflation and explanations for this phenomena are considered. Grade inflation is described as the positive change in grade point average of large numbers of students generally, over an extended period of time. The following array of causes or explanations are discussed: awarding high grades so that a student could go to…

This study examined the differences in student performance in two sections of a college management course--one of which used simulation as an adjunct aid, the other of which did not. (CD)

Project work involves content, products, and processes. Teacher educators may notice that those new to project work adopt ideas and practices related to content and products more readily than they adopt ideas and practices related to the processes embedded in good project work. To fully implement the Project Approach, teachers need to develop an…

A 9-month longitudinal study of two kindergarten classes compared two types of music instruction: a Kodaly-based developmental music program and a traditional public school music program. The class taught through the Kodaly method received instruction that emphasized the development of rhythmic and melodic perception through visual, aural, and…

The report documents a study conducted in 1979 by the University of Alaska's Cross-Cultural Education Development Program (X-CED) to use video tape to study the interaction of teachers and students and to look specifically at the teaching styles of the three Athabaskan teachers at an Interior Alaska Athabaskan community school. The study would…

This study explores and identifies patterns of teacher, student, parent, and administrator responses to letter grade evaluation systems. The study examined four main points: rationales for letter grades, interpretations of grading procedures and process, the consequences of letter grades, and alternatives to letter grades. The study involved an…

Telecourses differ in fundamental ways from regular college courses; i.e., faculty are not the only ones involved in telecourse design and production; colleges are not the sole funding agencies for their production; and telecourses are designed to be marketed, rather than to be offered by a single institution. These differences mean that…

A study examined students' achievement in vocabulary development under two modes, teacher directed instruction and computer-assisted instruction. The subjects--38 seventh graders who had a one to three year vocabulary deficit, according to the "Iowa Test of Basic Skills" pretest in vocabulary--were divided into two groups, Sample A (control) and…

This study investigated the effectiveness of a library program utilizing learning centers combined with cooperative learning groups to teach research skills. Thirty-four fourth-grade students were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Students in Group A, the experimental group, were taught research skills in the library by progressing through…