In Colorado, 8,663 high school seniors from 132 high schools in 91 districts (more than half the districts in the state) participated in a study that posed the following questions: What motivates today's students in school? and How prepared are these students for their future? The study found the following: (1) high school seniors are motivated by…

This study sought to identify factors that motivated students at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Cyprus to major in elementary education and to compare the high school scholastic ability of these two groups of students. Questionnaires were completed by 157 randomly selected male and female Pennsylvania State University and 176…

This study first examined the motivation construct with personal goals, agency beliefs, and emotions in a World Wide Web assisted learning environment. It also investigated the influence of personal goals, agency beliefs, and emotions on the students' learning achievement from fundamental biology courses assisted with Web pages. Finally, it…

The reform movement, with its bold and innovative approaches that focus on student-centered learning, has been able to uncover the richness in undergraduate mathematics. The most outstanding pedagogical practices take into account the environment in which learning occurs as well as the background of the student body. Mathematics educators should…

The students targeted were third and fourth grade students with learning-disabilities and seventh-eighth grade science students who exhibited poor test scores, motivation, and behaviors that negatively impacted their learning. The objective of this study was to change the level of student engagement in order to increase their academic achievement…

This paper examines the feasibility of delivering graduate level education courses using student-designed curricula. A total of 56 students in three different graduate education courses were given the option of following the instructor's syllabus or creating their own course. Students in the "History, Foundations, and Philosophy of…

A practicum addressed the problem of 8 second and third grade nonindependent readers (students at a small private school) who were not choosing to read library books. The literature review disclosed using sustained silent reading, sharing responses to reading and planning for more available time to read in the classroom and at home as viable ways…

This paper describes an agenda for expanding interest and motivation among sixth-grade foreign language students in a middle-class suburban community located in northeastern Illinois. The problem was originally noted by the teaching staff/researchers who found students unable to focus and maintain attention during class. Administration of surveys…

A practicum was developed to increase the number and success rate of junior Honors English students--63 students who were 62% Latino and 38% African-American--taking the English Advanced Placement (AP) examinations. Test strategies that were designed to allay students' innate fears about tests in general and specifically about English language and…

Each fall, Gateway Community-Technical College (GCTC), in Connecticut, surveys new students to ascertain academic and career plans, employment status, goals, and factors that influenced their selection of GCTC. This report presents comparative results from surveys conducted in fall 1990, 1992, and 1993 and includes the following data: (1) from…

This handbook offers suggestions for implementing actions (termed variously in other settings as treatments, interventions, methods, techniques, strategies or activities) recommended for individual learners by CONSULT-I (R), a computer program created by James Fattu and Edward Patrick. Application of the program described in the handbook was under…

This study examined the success of narrative report cards, an alternative method of reporting student progress, at an elementary school in Virginia. Surveys about narrative reports were sent to parents of first and second graders, and two teachers at each grade level were interviewed about the reports. Results indicated that both parents and…

This literature review of factors affecting the postsecondary decision-making process, with special emphasis on parents' and students' attitudes and characteristics, focuses, in the first section, on research on these topics: (1) student and family characteristics (ability, expectations, motivation, race and sex, family background including…

This practicum was designed to address the problem of low quantity and poor quality of writing in two lower level English classes (50 students). The objectives were to increase motivation for writing, thereby improving overall writing production by the students. A writing workshop was designed to improve the motivation of the students by…

A study was conducted to gather responses to the question "what is it like to be a black student on a traditionally or predominantly white campus in 1986?" Responses were gathered by 22 black student leaders from 13 predominantly white campuses in North Carolina, using random samples of black first-year students at their institutions.…