To estimate the influence of positive reinforcement on classroom learning, the authors analyzed statistical data from 39 studies spanning the years 1958-1978 and containing a combined sample of 4,842 students in 202 classes. Twenty-nine characteristics of each study's sample, methodology, and reliability were coded to measure their effects on…

THE EFFECT OF KNOWLEDGE OF RESULTS ON HIGHLY MOTIVATED SUBJECTS IN A REALISTIC TRAINING SITUATION WITH HIGHLY MEANINGFUL AND RELEVANT LEARNING MATERIAL WAS INVESTIGATED. THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO DISCOVER HOW KNOWLEDGE OF RESULTS COULD BE APPLIED TO IMPROVE LEARNING FROM FILMS. SUBJECTS WERE MIDSHIPMEN OF THE NROTC UNIT AT PENNSYLVANIA STATE…

This paper reviews the research of Ference Marton and his group of researchers at Goteborg University. It describes and explains research on: 1) what students learn, 2) how students approach learning, 3) the relationship between approach and learning outcome, 4) student perceptions of learning, and 5) the possibility of manipulating student…

National Merit Scholars, chosen in 1956 and 1957, were studied to assess career progress made by highly gifted students 7 to 8 years after they had entered college and to identify factors that possibly contributed to the differential progress observed. Before entering college, each of the 368 subjects was asked what level of education he intended…

The author contends that there is a strong relationship between a students' scholastic success and self-image. Following a brief literature review, the Self-Anchoring Attitude Scale (SAAS), an inventory designed to assess attitude, is discussed. Each subject is asked to write down what they would say about students who like to learn, and what they…

Taking into consideration the motivational needs of different students, the book discusses both internal and external motivators such as attaining a sense of achievement or leadership versus earning a physical reward such as candy or a field trip. These and other motivating factors are then incorporated into discussions of how to create productive…

Open door education attempts to bring into the learning situation a previously untapped student population, one that is drawn from economically deprived and politically disenfranchised central city residents. (Author/RK)

The development of an inventory of approaches to studying, undertaken at the University of Lancaster, is reported. Concepts such as motivation, study behavior, styles, and strategies are considered, the inventory scale is defined, and relationships between study strategies and academic performance are discussed. (Author/JMD)

College students randomly assigned to mastery goal (n=26) or competitive goal (n=25) situations read a passage and took a free-recall test. The mastery situation resulted in higher achievement and greater interest, and there was no significant difference between groups in learning strategies. (SLD)

Examines the relationships among goal orientations, the use of cognitive strategies, and academic achievement for 234 undergraduate students at the United Arab Emirates University. Finds that performance-goal orientation had a negative effect on grade-point average (GPA), whereas learning-goal orientation had a positive effect mediated by…

Interviews with 26 Latino high school students in California indicated that distinct school cultures (career academy, advanced placement, general education) were experienced in different ways by U.S.-born and immigrant Latinos. These experiences influenced their school engagement and academic success. (Contains 48 references.) (SK)

The present study investigated the causes to which parents attribute their children's academic successes and failures during children's transition from preschool to primary school. It followed 182 mothers and 167 fathers of 207 children. The parents completed a questionnaire concerning their causal attributions, level of education, and parenting…

Two experiments investigated the effect of achievement goals on the transfer of a problem-solving strategy in 7- and 11-year-old children. In the first experiment, motivational priming took place before the learning of the strategy, affecting the learning as well as the transfer of the strategy. In the second experiment, motivational priming took…

This research investigated social and academic outcomes from single-sex classrooms in a Tasmanian coeducational government primary school. Interviews, observations and surveys formed the basis of the evidence. Teachers, parents and children reported positive benefits from the class organisation, but these differed according to gender. Staff…