This study, part of the National Study of Student Learning, investigated the influence of differential exposure to postsecondary education, particularly the impact of type of institution, number of credit hours, and other factors on gains in critical thinking skills. the sample was 2,092 first-year students attending 13 four-year and 4 two-year…

The mission of this book is to facilitate effective instructor-student partnerships through the study of total quality management (TQM) principles and to demonstrate to instructors how they can make a difference in their classrooms, institutions, and communities. It uses an educational approach that actively involves students in the learning…

Rapid and escalating changes in labor market and post-secondary educational opportunities challenge adolescents to meet their personal and career needs. A recent study found that young people left high school unprepared for current career realities and that both the career and personal areas of the lives were in a state of change and uncertainty.…

Twenty-two abstracts of papers presented at a symposium on the psychological development of gifted children comprise this document. Abstracts typically include the title of the paper; the author's name, title, institutional affiliation, location, telephone number, and electronic mail address; and a summary of the paper ranging from a short…

The critical thinking curriculum used in the four-year business degree program at the Auckland Institute of Technology Faculty of Commerce in New Zealand is described. The design of the business program is modeled on the authors' view of critical thinking as concerned with the intellectual maturity of the whole person. Key intellectual standards…

This study was designed to assess the effects of a specific cooperative learning strategy in an introductory college business information systems course. The cooperative approach's impact on student achievement and on a number of personal and social attributes was examined. A total of 117 college sophomores and freshmen enrolled in 3 sections of…

This monograph presents data from a 1994 national survey on freshman seminars gathered from 1,003 accredited, two- and four-year colleges with student populations of over 100 students. The survey investigated the content and structure of freshman seminars in a mail survey of provosts/vice presidents for academic affairs at 2,460 institutions Among…

A practicum was designed to increase the literacy levels of first graders through writing daily for authentic purposes and self-assessing their work. A writing program was designed which allowed for daily authentic writing, and students were taught how to self-assess their written work. Subjects were 60 students in 3 Grade 1 classrooms in a city…

During the past several decades, educators have been experimenting with a variety of humanistic innovations to enrich students' academic, social, and emotional growth. These innovations include mainstreaming, inclusion, and detracking, and their intent is to reach out to all students, especially at-risk learners. To reach out, however, requires…

Academic departments exert a powerful influence on students by recruitment of distinctive personality types into academic disciplines, and by a socialization process in which departments reward students for the display of attitudes in accordance with the norms of their disciplines. This study examined the differential patterns of student growth…

This study investigated the impact of a "chilly campus climate" on women's first-year cognitive outcomes. The sample population of 1,636 women was selected from incoming first-year students at 18 four-year and five two-year colleges and universities located in 16 different states which had participated in the longitudinal National Study…

Empowerment implies that student teachers become more confident and autonomous learners, with more responsibility for, and control over, their learning. Traditionally, student teachers have been a disempowered group, as teacher educators have tended to emphasize the voice of experts rather than novices and the voice of theory rather than practice.…

This guide provides a reference to educators interested in helping students make the link between school programs and career opportunities after high school. Presented in two parts, it focuses on ways of infusing career education into the high-school curriculum. This approach reduces the gap between career education (usually relegated to guidance…

The Book Club project has a focus on research examining literature-based instruction with an emphasis on student-led response groups and this report describes the use of Book Club instruction within a special education resource room, in which elementary-level children incorporated the use of high quality literature, written and oral responses to…

A longitudinal study investigated developmental changes in moral and ethical decision-making among college students at three Christian, evangelical, liberal arts colleges. The three colleges had an "ethics across the curriculum" emphasis in place during the period of the study. The study began in 1987 with 99 freshmen from a total incoming class…