The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that contribute to individual differences in the school performance of 2nd-grade children born to adolescent mothers. The sample of this study was 90 low-income adolescent mothers and their children. Data were collected from the adolescent mothers and their first-born children, now in 2nd grade,…

Although there is extensive research into what constitutes second language learning motivation and how it works, most of the existing work is carried out in ESL environments, and is mainly concerned with motivation to communicate using the target language. However, in EFL environments such as Japan, students have quite limited contact with target…

We identify current stressors in the professional lives of South African secondary school educators. The study was exploratory, using a questionnaire, which listed 19 possible causes of stress and was completed by 987 educators from all racial groups and provinces in the country. South African educators in general currently experience the…

Web-based learning has been proposed as a convenient way to provide professional development experiences. Despite quantitative evidence that online instruction is equivalent to traditional methods (Russell, 2001), the efficiency of this approach has not been extensively studied among teachers. This case report describes learning in an online…

According to Keller's Model of Motivation, one technique for increasing learners' motivation, and thus their mental effort, involves increasing the personal relevance of the material. When instruction is perceived as relevant, learners perceive that important personal needs are being met by the learning situation. The purpose of this study was to…

A study examined what children do within a teacher/learner relationship as they learn about text. The two questions guiding the study are: (1) how does a child's relationship with his teacher help him learn to read and write, and (2) what qualities of this relationship stand out as essential to the meaning making process? An account of the…

A study investigated the role of bilingualism (Basque/Spanish) and motivation in third (English) language acquisition in Spain's Basque country. Subjects were 321 secondary school students in two programs, one with instruction primarily in Spanish and one with instruction primarily in Basque. The following independent variables were analyzed in…

A request for narratives concerning their most effective and most ineffective professors was sent to 222 graduates from Rollins College (Florida). The narratives covered a period of 26 years, from 1964 through 1990. The responses suggest three dominant characteristics shared by ineffective professors: (1) lack of passion for their subject matter;…

A study investigated adults' motivation for participating in Marshall University's off-campus credit education program in adult education. The 38 respondents (56 percent of those contacted) received their master's degrees during 1982-1992. Ninety-five percent of the respondents were white, and 5 percent were African-American. Seventy-four percent…

The efficiency of the butterfly catastrophe model for describing and predicting performance changes in an educational setting was studied. Subjects were 455 introductory psychology students. Changes in performance on the first exam and three subsequent exams were examined, plus extra credit for participation in psychology experiments. The…

College students in introductory foreign language courses (French, German, and Spanish) were the subjects of a study to determine what if any correlation exists between ability and motivation on the one hand and achievement on the other in learning a second language. The ability measure (predicted grade point average) was found to correlate…

This paper, presented at the 1979 meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), investigates the affective characteristics of 120 junior high school students who participated in one or both of the first two programs of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Project (MTYMP). The first year program of 1976-77 was in algebra I and…

A self directed learning system was developed, based on an earlier version of a computer based system; this revised system contains features designed to make it easier to use and improved pedagogical strategies. The experimental test described in this report was designed to separate the effects of training in self directed learning from the use of…

This report describes the work of the Study Methods Group, which uses qualitative research methodologies to determine how Open University students approach learning and why they adopt a particular approach. Research considers student orientation to learning, the relationship of learning outcomes to learning approach, and student development as…

The document contains a brief outline of the conference proceedings and the text of two papers presented at the conference. Alan M. Rubin's paper, "Give Me a Fish and I Eat for a Day. Teach Me to Fish and I Eat for a Lifetime" (from the Babylonian Talmud), examines the question of whether our institutions of higher education are providing the…