Classroom observation and student group interviews in two French and two English elementary schools suggest that student understanding of such educational values as authority, thought, the nature of student control over learning, and educational goals and how to achieve them are related to national culture and affect student motivation. Contains…

Examines praise as one of the ways children learn how to play an appropriate role in the school environment. Presents an analysis of praise during group discussion in four child-care centers. Suggests that in all four centers, children were being schooled in passivity rather than being encouraged to be active problem solvers and knowledge seekers.…

The Socratic method of teaching, which uses open-ended questions asked in a logical sequence, is discussed. Suggestions for structuring curriculum content around seven adult learning principles and Socratic process analysis systems for student motivation are included. (SLW)

Characteristics of motivated and demotivated students in humanities and high and low technical secondary education were studied for 1,824 Belgian students in the eighth, tenth, or twelfth grade. Subgroups based on motivation were formed using student self-ratings, teacher ratings, and scores on predictor measures. (SLD)

Summarizes seven ERIC documents and three journal articles on student motivation, focusing on students in the intermediate grades and middle level education. A number of factors that influence student motivation, as well as strategies for improving student attitudes toward learning, are covered. (TJQ)

We examined direct and interaction effects of learners' characteristics (cognitive ability, prior knowledge, prior experience, and motivation to learn) and classroom characteristics (videoconferencing and class size) on learning from a 16-week course. A 2x2 quasi-experimental design varied the class size between large (approximately 60 students)…

A class of unmotivated inner city secondary school children were introduced to an innovative, new, dedicated physical environment where computers and multimedia software were seamlessly integrated and which was served by a socio constructivist learning pedagogy. In this environment they were taught English as prescribed in the UK national…

This paper reports on research to examine the types of motivation related to school achievement. A total of 1428 students from an inner city high school in the Montreal (Quebec) area participated in the study, 714 males and 714 females. The students ranged in age from 12 to 18, and approximately 40 percent were minorities (Hispanic, Asian, Black).…

This monograph provides home economics educators with a resource that contains an overview of youth at risk, reviews motivation theory as a basis for educational decision making, and provides practical teaching suggestions that will help home economics teachers reach and teach these students. The guide is organized in five sections. Following a…

This paper explores the question of how and what a school can do to foster student discipline and effort. Personal experiences and observations are offered about the approaches and strategies used in schools and by parents in Taiwan, China to foster students' positive attitudes toward learning and school. This document focuses on the approaches…

Little prior research exists on the achievement motivation of Mexican American students. In a rural south Texas junior high school, 120 eighth-grade students completed the 1969 Achieving Tendency Scales and demographic and socioeconomic questionnaires. Subjects were equally divided among four groups: Mexican American males and females and Anglo…

Problems inherent in student evaluation of second language teaching methodology, particularly task-based instruction, are discussed and recommendations are made. It is argued that course evaluation by learners is based on their assessment of their own communicative performance, and that they are likely to attribute a general sense of progress, at…

This manual is a resource book for organizers and leaders and parent groups who want to explore specific strategies to use in motivating children to become better learners. The guide contains material necessary to conduct a 1- or 1.5-hour session on motivational techniques that parents can use at home with children. The guide includes: (1) a…

A field study was conducted to investigate the effect of gender, and gender combined with other variables on within-term changes in junior college student motivation. Intrinsic motivation (IM) refers to doing an activity for the pleasure and satisfaction derived from participating. Extrinsic motivation (EM) refers to engaging in behaviors as a…

A study documented the expectations, experiences, and needs of eight women who entered education via Fresh Start/Return to Study courses and followed them as they moved on to further study/training. (Fresh Start was a project of the Inner London Education Authority.) A series of interviews was conducted between June 1985 and October 1986 in an…