One of 10 reports in a longitudinal study of Project Head Start submitted by NTS Research Corporation to the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, this document presents the individual testing battery used for the fall 1979 cohort. The first chapter identifies the skill areas to be tested in an analysis of Project Head Start's…

Reports on a study done at Aberdeen University (England) which assessed the learning styles of first-year medical students. Results indicated that these students scored higher than other students in achievement (including study methods and competitiveness) and prediction for success. Includes the instrument used. (TW)

Discusses seven basic principles related to instructional design for adult trainees in a business environment. Topics discussed include objectives of instructional design; performance problems; feedback; assessment; analysis; production, using the most suitable medium; evaluation; implementation; incentives; motivation; and job aids. An adult…

As learner-centred approaches are gaining popularity in many language classrooms, the affective dimensions of learners and the interaction effects of learners and teachers have become an important theme for research and assessment. This paper explores how Japanese learners of English as a foreign language evolve in two geographically distinct…

This study investigated the effects of medium of instruction, task difficulty, and gender on continuing motivation. A total of 139 fifth and sixth graders with previous computer experience completed an initial learning task in one of the two media formats (computer or paper/pencil) and under either a hard or easy difficulty level. Students' choice…

This action research project implemented and evaluated a program for addressing the motivation of kindergarten, first-, and second-grade students by increasing parent participation in their children's schools and education. The problem of low motivation was documented through parent, teacher and student surveys, and analysis of student performance…

A study identified and compared characteristics of enlisted soldiers who participated in postsecondary educational offerings to those who did not and identified barriers to participation for participants and nonparticipants. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 92 soldiers at one Army installation. Nonparticipants named these…

As part of a federal grant to develop an across-the-curriculum ethics program, ethics instruction was integrated into English classes at Colorado's Community College of Aurora (CCA). In the English classes, students were first asked to read case studies from CCA's ethics handbook detailing specific ethical problems. In subsequent classes, students…

This workbook, one of six professional development manuals prepared by experienced Adult High School (AHS) instructors, is designed to assist the instructor setting up and operating a General Education Development (GED) classroom. A pretest and posttest appear first. Each of the seven units begins with a list of objectives and then provides…

It is argued that language learning ought to be interactive. The traditional language classroom provides a favourable interactive situation for language learners. By contrast, the distance education mode is limited in some ways regarding language learning. Necessarily, distance education involves, primarily, self-learning. Face-to-face learning…

A study in Finland investigated the relationship of two general aspects of student motivation for second language learning (preference for challenge and curiosity) and motivation specific to the learning situation. Subjects were 292 sixth-graders and 301 eighth-graders, who performed two open and two closed English vocabulary tasks in two…

A study demonstrated that integratively motivated secondary students in French courses volunteered more answers, gave more correct responses, and were more satisfied with participation. The teacher's behavior seemed affected by these factors. References, a list of test battery subscales used, and the Language Research Group National Test Battery…

This handbook for those involved in assisting and encouraging college students to persist and graduate covers the following topics: benefits of college; persistence factors; successful students; a mission that motivates; results in real time; self-management through self-mastery (time management, assertiveness, study skills, learning styles, and…

This action research project implemented and evaluated an intervention for improving student engagement in the learning process. The targeted population consisted of first, third, and fifth grade students in a small, traditional, middle class community, located in central Illinois. Evidence of non-engaged behaviors were documented from teacher…

Goal setting is a dispositional trait that influences motivation to learn and to perform. Individuals with a Performing (or Proving) Goal Orientation are characterized by a desire to please authority figures, the belief that personal abilities are stable and unchanging, and a tendency to become frustrated and give up quickly when faced by…