America's public education system still holds the best promise to provide educational access to all children. However, public education has come under fire within the past two decades for not serving all student needs. Therefore, increasing demands are being placed on public schools to reform in order to improve achievement. Critical to the…

The purpose of this paper is to present data demonstrating the potential efficacy of Personal Learning Plans (PLPs) as an instructional tool in early childhood teacher preparation. One hundred and thirty-nine undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory course offered within a unified early childhood education program over a period of four…

The authors do not quarrel with the assumption that increasing financial aid would boost college going. Yet a conundrum exists. Some state agencies have the potential to provide more resources than what college-bound students request. The federal government also has an excess of money in various aid programs. Of course, the authors do not ignore…

Teachers receive direction from national commissions, researchers, staff developers, state education personnel, superintendents, parents, private pressure groups, the courts, commercial vendors, federal regulators, and politicians. This direction overload depletes energy, blurs individuality, and erodes confidence, causing many educators to either…

Educators are regularly challenged to design instruction that motivates learners. If interest is lacking, the challenge can be even greater. Tailoring is a message design technique that could help to stimulate interest and consequently, motivation to learn. Effective tailoring requires the formal assessment of learner characteristics and the…

Social cognitive theory emphasizes a dynamic interactive process to explain human functioning. This theory ascribes a central role to cognitive processes in which the individual can observe others and the environment, reflect on that in combination with his or her own thoughts and behaviors, and alter his or her own self-regulatory functions…

In this paper we describe an instructional tactic of individually assigned homework that promotes and strengthens individual learning processes. We claim that current emphasis on the benefits of collaborative learning belittles the importance of individual learning processes and reduces the opportunities to require and assess individual learning…

Forum theater is an interactive theater method in which audience members become active performers, taking advantage of the opportunity to explore multicultural dimensions of teaching in a "safe space" and receiving feedback from colleagues. Forum theater methods derive from Theater of the Oppressed, an interactive approach founded by the Brazilian…

Youth workers operate within a professional climate in which competence is perceived to be linked to a worker's ability to respond quickly and effectively to whatever situations clients may present. Many youth workers perceive their own inability to respond in moments of stuckness as indicative of their own failing and lack of professional skill.…

Children often overestimate their contribution to collaborative activities. Across 2 studies, the authors investigated whether this memory bias supports internalization of the actions of others in the context of joint exchanges. After taking turns with (high collaborative condition; Studies 1 and 2) or working independently of (low collaborative…

Developmentalists state that children are born with the intrinsic motivation to learn, but studies show that this intrinsic desire to learn begins to wane during the early school years, around third grade, and continues a steady decline through eighth grade. Intrinsic motivation is at the core of information literacy, the foundation for a desire…

This report aimed to measure the impact of a unique professional development program entitled Project ASTER III (Active Science Teaching Encourages Reform) on teachers' self-efficacy and perceptions about inquiry-based science teaching. Project ASTER III enabled teachers to explore inquiry-based science teaching through exhibit-based…

Black males as a group experience disproportionate amounts of school failure. Compared to Black females and White males, for example, Black males have the highest dropout rates, poorest achievement, and lowest test scores. Further, they are sorely under-represented in gifted education and over-represented in special education. Of those Black males…

Traditionally, research in the area of online learning has focused primarily on group comparisons; that is, studies which compared the attitudes and academic achievements of online learners versus traditional classroom students. Taken together, results from these investigations have generally found no statistically significant differences in…

Among youth workers who experience moments of not-knowing what to do, many often describe their thoughts and reactions to the phenomenon in vocational and existential terms. They ask what right they have to work in the helping professions if they find themselves simply unable to be helpful. In many cases, the vocational crises following…