Being able to accurately evaluate students' cognitive, affective, and psychomotor development at the beginning of a course is critical for teachers to create meaningful learning experiences for them. Initial student evaluation provides teachers with quick perceptive and practical knowledge of student characteristics as well as a diagnosis of what…

This guide, written for parents, teachers, and students, presents advice on academic study habits derived from research data. Part 1 of the text presents the research evidence in five chapters: chapter 1 reviews common study skills problems; chapter 2 focuses specifically on research data from eight studies which successfully used precollege study…

In 1986, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) published a new learning style instrument, the NASSP Learning Style Profile (LSP). The LSP offers educators a well-validated and easy to use instrument for diagnosing the cognitive styles, perceptual response tendencies, and study and instructional preferences of middle level…

Reports on the impact of extra-credit assignments on the academic performance of marginal college-level students. Finds that those who attempted the assignments improved their test performance, were less likely to drop out of the class than a control group, and evaluated the experience positively. (CFR)

Several factors are related to adult students' completion or noncompletion of reading assignments before class--lack of study time, their motivation for taking college classes, their need to feel involved in the learning process, and their expectations for success in the classroom. One of the biggest fears of adults returning to a school…

The materials presented here are visual aids used in a presentation on citizenship instruction for older and physically challenged adults. They consist of a series of "screens" containing information on: demographic information on samples of citizenship students in 1995 and 1997, illustrating changes in the population; motivations of and barriers…

A study of the relationship of learner characteristics to success in beginning English examined the language aptitude, learning motivation and attitudes, spatial relations, study habits, and years of English instruction of 97 seventh-grade students in a Thai government school. The analysis focused on these variables as they related to the…

Identifies problems with the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) as a survey instrument for use with non-Western students. A study using ASI attempted to examine the effects of secondary educational experiences on Fiji college students' study habits. Responses suggested the students were influenced by an acquiescent response bias. (MJP)