This report describes a program designed to increase students' knowledge in the science content area utilizing reading comprehension strategies. The targeted population consisted of grade 6 middle school students in a growing urban community in eastern Iowa. The students demonstrated poor comprehension of their science textbook. Data also revealed…

Most at-risk students do not know how to read, speak, or write, and those who know how, frequently elect not to. The problem for educators is thus two-fold, motivating the student to become engaged in the literary process and helping the teacher to engender such engagement. Music may be one way of fostering this engagement. A literature review…

This research synthesis identifies a number of important concepts regarding the teaching of problem solving skills to students in grades K-12. Studies investigated what problem solving skills are and whether they can be taught, as well as how problem solving can be organized in the curriculum and how it should be taught. Major findings from the…

A study of the status of the instruction of incarcerated aliens in English as a second language (ESL) was undertaken to learn what is known about the subject and to determine whether incarcerated aliens have unique learning problems associated with their status as foreign nationals. Information was gathered through interviews with professionals in…

This paper presents some observations on cooperative learning gathered from research in social and educational literature. Issues of educational reform are also addressed within the context of minority academic achievement. Studies comparing cooperation or greater competition in the classroom appear to be in agreement that cooperative modes of…

Part of a collection of papers commissioned by Foundations (a project designed to determine the career development needs of deaf postsecondary students), the paper reviews research on student motivation. The first section addresses research on normally hearing students in classrooms with different motivational orientations. Advantages and…

A model of the teaching-learning process identifies and describes varied behavioral dimensions of the classroom and how they relate to pupil achievement. The model is based on the assumption that the total amount of engaged time on a particular topic is the most important determinant of achievement and has the components of: (1) quantity of…

Meeting the needs of a wide range of student abilities in the classroom taxes the talents of educators. If mainstreaming is to be effective, interactions in the mainstreamed classroom should be supportive of students' learning abilities. Since they shoulder the major responsibility of effective mainstreaming, teachers need information and support…

Representing views on many facets of reluctant readers, the chapters in this book provide suggestions for working with students who function at a frustration level and those who have an aversion to reading. Specific topics discussed in the book's nine chapters are: (1) building language experiences for reluctant readers, (2) home remedies, (3)…

Designed for the practitioner concerned with motivating students to read, the 28 articles in this book are arranged in four sections. The articles in the first section, "Methodology," deal with how to motivate students to read. Among the topics covered in this section are the newspaper as a tool for teaching reading, comic books as motivators,…

Several social factors are posited for the lack of internal learning motivation in today's students. The authors suggest that teachers must make a special effort toward motivating students and they review classic theories of motivation and current practices in this area. (SJL)

This chapter furthers the discussion of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation by contending that learning and studying are multidetermined and that intrinsic motivation is typically accompanied by extrinsic motivation. The chapter begins with a discussion of the concept of future time perspective as a cognitive-motivational personality…

This is a book about effective elementary literacy instruction, intended for the many constituencies who have a need to know about what works to develop readers in elementary school. It suggests that since the initial publication of this book, the research support for balanced literacy instruction has continued to grow. This revised and updated…

This paper presents an expanded definition of school readiness that includes the skills children possess as they begin formal school as well as the ways that family backgrounds, preschool experiences, and primary-grade classrooms interact with children to point them toward school success or failure. The paper notes five dimensions of school…

This paper describes how a theory of intrinsic motivation can be adopted as an overall theoretical framework to guide a teacher education program. Teacher training institutions can apply concepts of personal causation theory within their faculties, with education majors, and for the future pupils of their graduates. (PP)