The report describes an experiment for increasing retention of foreign language vocabulary by using multiple intelligence approaches and memory enhancement tools. The targeted population was approximately 100 seventh- and eighth-grade Latin students. Student difficulty with vocabulary retention had been ascribed to the teacher's emphasis on…

A program was developed for improving listening skills so as not to interfere with the cognitive processing of directions. The targeted population consisted of third, fourth, fifth, and eighth grade students in a growing middle class community located in the Midwest United States. Problems of decreased listening ability were documented through…

Through the administration of standardized tests, questionnaires, and an inventory of educational progress designed to assess the application of skills, an effort is made to analyze the literacy, functional literacy, and factors related to achievement in a population of 181 eighth-grade students selected from an inner-city population and a…

A masters degree action research project implemented a program for higher order thinking skills through the use of journaling art history, elements, criticism, materials in the production of art. The targeted population consisted of 19 middle school students (grade 8) in a suburban area in northern Illinois. The problem of filling the need for…

The fastest-growing sector of the American school population is the limited English proficient (LEP) students, those students whose native language is not English. When mainstreamed they are usually enrolled in physical education, art, and music classes first. The students then enter mathematics classes under the assumption that mathematics is…

This report addresses the problem of apathy and the unwillingness of middle level students to meet basic standards, evidenced by a lack of student performance and participation and by an attitude of indifference. The targeted population for this study consisted of seventh and eighth grade general music students in an economically and culturally…

This action research project involved implementation of a program designed to minimize inappropriate student behavior that interfered with instruction. The target populations were students in three third grades in an elementary school, one third grade in an intermediate school, and one eighth grade social studies class in a middle school. All…

This report describes a program for improving reading comprehension skills in order to heighten understanding of materials covered in class and performance on activities and exams. The targeted population consisted of first-, fifth-, and eighth-grade students in a large, lower- to middle-class community located in central Illinois. The problems in…

This study described a program designed to increase student reading comprehension in order to improve academic achievement. The targeted population consisted of third and eighth grade students in two schools located in Northern Illinois. Evidence for the existence of the problem included scores from the Stanford Test, low academic performance on…

This is an abstract for an action research project report on improving student motivation. Students struggle with motivation to perform well in school. This study was designed to increase student motivation in the classroom setting. The targeted population consisted of one third grade classroom, one fourth grade classroom, and three periods of…

The purpose of the study was to compare the achievement, retention, and time to complete the required sequence of activities, of eighth-grade science students receiving instructions by means of audio tapes with those receiving the same instructions by use of printed materials. The sample was formed of 72 students designated as below average, or…

Instruction in one eighth-grade history teacher's classes varied between use and nonuse of vocabulary recognition materials for difficult words to study the possible effect of such materials on test scores. The vocabulary recognition materials were used to augment four chapters of the history textbook that the students studied, while four chapters…

This study examined the differences in reading and mathematics achievement and the discipline records of eighth grade students who lived with both of their biological parents and those who did not. Participating were 199 eighth grade middle school students in rural Georgia. The 103 students in the traditionally parented group came from their…

This report describes a plan that was developed for improving middle school student writing skills and attitudes toward writing. The targeted population consisted of seventh and eighth graders in a low to middle class community located in western Illinois. The problems of weak writing skills, ineffective use of the writing process, and poor…

The free writing responses of 120 gifted/average Australian high school students (grades 8, 10, and 12) to a short story and a poem were coded according to Alan Purves' categories--engagement, perception, interpretation, evaluation, or miscellaneous--to detect any patterns of differences. The students also provided data about their preferences for…