This paper examines the place of contextual teaching and learning (CTL) in career and technical education. CTL is a much-discussed concept for integrating real-world experience and academics, and appears to show that students learn better when they are taught knowledge within the context of actual experience, rather than abstractly. Studies…

We propose that a brief take-home syllabus quiz can be a catalyst for students to read and refer to their syllabus as a source of essential information about the class. In this article, we detail the development of such a quiz and provide evidence that students who complete a syllabus quiz have a better understanding of course policies than…

Demographic variables, findings from the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (Schraw & Dennison, 1994), the Learning Strategies Survey (Kardash & Amlund, 1991), and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991), as well as accuracy ratings of test performance, were examined in 2 studies. Findings…

Every developmental education teacher would probably agree that motivation to complete assignments is one of the biggest obstacles to getting students to practice necessary skills. Short stories and other types of recreational reading might help motivate students, but they need to learn specific skills to help them cope with college textbook…

Research on college students found limited support for Morton's (1995) hypothesis that students have a preference for one distinct type of service orientation (i.e., charity, project, social change). The findings did replicate previous findings that college students prefer the charity paradigm. A measure of integrity was developed and two…

This report provides evidence that the first semester in community college is a pivotal point in students' academic careers. Students whose first academic experience in college is positive and successful are more likely to remain in school, and to sustain their aspiration to transfer to a four-year college. Those whose first experiences are less…

Electronic response systems ("clickers") are used in introductory astronomy classes as a real-time assessment tool. Different reward structures for student responses to clicker questions are used to motivate individual participation or group collaboration before responding. The impact of two reward structures on student behavior and learning is…

This study presents an application of a measure of learner involvement developed by Paas, Tuovinen, van Merrienboer, and Darabi (2005). These authors combined learners' performance scores with their perceived mental effort invested in instruction and used it to assess learner involvement in instructional conditions. The present study examines the…

Erick Gordon, founding director of the Student Press Initiative, illustrates collaborations with teachers and students that have motivated students to invest themselves in the process and product of writing, including research, oral history, revision, and an immersion in and commitment to community.

The aim of the 2018 International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA) conference was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive…

Achievement goal theory suggests that goal orientations and the perceived motivational climate may influence one another and other motivational variables over time. Therefore, the purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to examine the relationship between perceived motivational climate and goal orientations over time (b) to investigate how goal…

The University of Wisconsin--La Crosse offers the first web-based medical dosimetry program in the nation. There is no data to research a program of this type. This research consisted of the evaluation of other distance education programs including health profession programs in addition to face-to-face medical dosimetry programs. There was need to…

There is a great need for professionals trained to work in the field of nanotechnology, particularly in food and agriculture. However, the general public knows very little about nanotechnology; therefore, few students entering college seek out educational opportunities that will lead to careers with a focus on nanotechnology. This study was…

This paper introduces several hands-on projects that have been used to motivate students in learning various computer networking concepts. These projects are shown to be very useful and applicable to the learners' daily tasks and activities such as emailing, Web browsing, and online shopping and banking, and lead to an unexpected byproduct,…

This article describes a mathematics and literature interdisciplinary project for preservice elementary teachers that was implemented in several urban middle school classrooms. This project, based on the novel Chasing Vermeer by Balliett (2004), involved a dramatization of one of the chapters from the book and a follow-up mathematical exploration.