This study investigates whether teachers do hold differential expectations for boys and girls in a diverse range of classroom functioning. Major research conducted to date and a study currently underway are reviewed. In sum, this paper hopes to raise a number of important questions for future investigation. Much previous research has investigated…

Operation Pathfinder was a special manpower project designed to retrain behaviors of the disadvantaged and to establish positive motivations to work for a living through application of social reinforcement methodology. The project demonstrated that a positive reinforcing environment and properly structured work situation will provide a means of…

A new Formative Evaluation Test on Bloom's paper "Learning for Mastery" is presented. The self-instructional quiz has the principles of mastery learning in it, features instant knowledge of results coupled with prescriptive feedback, and has a non-punitive student self-scoring and item-of-difficulty identification system. It should be an…

Conflicting evidence as to the presence or absence of generalization in classroom behavior modification programs prompted this study of the conditions of generalization. During the experiment, behaviors operationally defined as competitive or cooperative were reinforced in certain game situations. Then the generalization of this training over…

The relationship between physically and psychologically stressful experiences and the anxiety and self concept of 33 male and 11 female participants (aged 16-38 years) in a 23-day Colorado Outward Bound (OB) course was analyzed. It was hypothesized that the effects of the OB experience would: be the same for male and female participants; alter…

This report contains informal material as well as brief research reports of Center activities. The concept of the Center is that it serves as a pilot project to be replicated throughout the state to raise the level of individual functioning of old people to the highest level possible. It is intended that the educational as well as social aspect of…

Research investigating the performance of students enrolled in courses taught by a Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) has tended to support the claim that PSI is a superior teaching method. The present research study isolated the self-pacing aspect of PSI courses and attempted to teach 13 academically deficient first year college students…

This study was designed to examine the reinforcing contingencies of parents toward specific child behaviors, and at the same time to try to determine if the sex of the child performing the behavior influences the reaction of the parent. A total of 24 white families with only one child between the ages of 20 and 24 months participated in the study.…

Clinical approaches to encouraging spontaneous talking in language delayed children are considered in terms of pragmatics, the effects of communication on behavior. (Author/IM)

A four-stage model, designed to shape learning disabled students' independent study skills and foster generalization of skills is presented: (1) ease students into a homework routine; (2) focus on time management; (3) teach problem-solving techniques; and (4) conclude in independent study with intermittent parent and teacher monitoring. (CB)

Argues that educators should be proactive in building computer-based curricula that place technology in a facilitating role, have sound educational objectives that are measureable, and reflect awareness of how students learn from computer interaction. The educational theories of reinforcement, closure, short-term memory, and mastery learning are…

The purpose of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's (CSAT's) Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) Project Cooperative Agreement was to test the relative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a variety of interventions designed to eliminate marijuana use and associated problems in…

This action research project evaluated a program for improving student discipline and developing a positive classroom environment. The targeted populations consisted of prekindergarten, first-, and fifth-grade students in two middle class suburbs of Chicago (Illinois). Changes in behavior were documented through behavior checklists, parental…

This study was designed to replicate and improve upon Kaplan's 1992 study of the possible link between teachers' past experiences and use of aversive disciplinary strategies. The current study examines the possible effect of past home and school experience on both preservice and practicing teachers' choices of intervention. The first study…

This report provides K-12 educators with instructional strategies that research shows have the greatest likelihood of positively affecting student learning. The 12 chapters include: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "Identifying Similarities and Differences (comparing, classifying, creating metaphors, and creating analogies); (3)…