In three court cases: an Alberta school board's action was upheld in copying a response to the same parties copied in the original complainant's letter, because the complainant was requesting public scrutiny; an Alberta school board was faulted for not getting parents' consent before administering a questionnaire to elementary students; and school…

Surveys of 2,125 seventh-graders in eight urban Southwestern schools and interviews with 60 of them examined the role of family and school in Latino/a preadolescent substance use. Most respondents did not use hard drugs or alcohol. Strong ties to parents and school were protective factors. Recommendations for social work interventions that support…

Surveyed adult college students regarding their motivation for attending college and the relative importance of college choice criteria. Getting better jobs, gaining general knowledge, and enhancement of self-esteem were most frequently mentioned. Availability of desired programs, days/times of needed classes, locations of courses, cost, and…

Surveys undergraduates' experiences with and attitudes toward international teaching assistants (ITAs). Argues that students, who are coping with a difficult situation in which required courses are often taught by ITAs with different cultural and pedagogical expectations, are reluctant to seek help from the teacher. (38 references) (Author/CK)

Reports on a study at St. Olaf College (Minnesota) that was designed to measure students' research competencies and opinions, as well as other contributions to research skills, after four years of course-integrated library instruction. The Library Bibliographic Instruction Survey is appended. (Author/LRW)

In the euphoria about new technologies in distance education there exists the danger of not sufficiently considering how ever increasing "virtualization" may exclude some student groups. An explorative study was conducted that asked disabled students about their experiences with using computers and the Internet. Overall, those questioned…

A study examining the impact of ancestral cultural knowledge on student motivation surveyed 61 Mexican American students at a Southwestern middle school before and after a 3-day program on Mesoamerican culture. Findings indicated that students' sense of cultural awareness and voluntary reading preferences were enhanced. Culturally relevant…

A study examined multicultural attitudes of social work students. Surveys of 437 undergraduates at a rural Kentucky university indicated that student acceptance of multiculturalism was influenced by gender and their own stances on White privilege and institutional racism. However, students became more positive toward multicultural education after…

A survey of 357 final-year preservice teachers at a small Canadian university found that male and female participants did not differ in mathematics achievement or time elapsed since taking a mathematics course, but women had significantly greater mathematics anxiety and reported less positive beliefs about mathematics utility and more negative…

This study investigated the effects of teacher evaluation and the combination of teacher evaluation and student self-evaluation on student performance and attitudes. Participants were 189 Latvian high school students and six teachers. Students in the teacher-evaluation and the self-plus-teacher evaluation groups received significantly higher…

A survey of 163 students with disabilities at the University of Oslo (Norway) found that respondents expressed unmet needs, such as a lack of proximity in services and adjustments offered, lack of information about services to which they were entitled, difficult routines in relation to services and examinations, and problems specific to each…

A survey of online search techniques of 50 undergraduate and graduate students at Arizona State University's Hayden Library revealed heavy reliance on simple subject searching. The analysis included search types, use of library personnel and online help screens, exposure to library instruction, and length of time at the terminal for citation…

Describes a study of high school students that examined gender differences in mathematics experience and attitudes as well as the association between math attitudes and computer attitudes. Results indicate a positive correlation between math experiences and attitudes and computer attitudes; and boys had more math experience and more positive…

An ethnographic study of spontaneous conversations of elementary children and their accompanying adults during a zoo field trip was conducted. (LZ)

Identifies the attitudes of secondary school students toward several science-related topical areas (i.e., nuclear energy, environmental issues, energy concepts, science concepts, space exploration, and metrication) for the purpose of enhancing students' attitudinal development toward science-related topical areas. Discusses respondents attitude…