Compared high-school students differing in achievement motivation in a learned helplessness experiment. A strong helplessness effect was observed in both high- and low-achievement motivation groups. Results show a strong learned helplessness effect unrelated to individual differences in achievement motivation and refute claims that helplessness…

Considered motivations of Black college students and the influence on student behavior. Of the 161-person sample, 62 freshmen said their mother was the most influential person in their life. Results indicated a wide disparity between high school grades achieved and college grades expected. (Author)

Presents preliminary attempt to gain insight into the self-perceptions of students and the teachers' observations regarding their students' abilities in English as a second language. Results show students and teachers do not view the students' language ability similarly. Suggests self-esteem may be a factor in motivating students. (Author/BK)

A list of demonstrations of discrepant events which have been found to stimulate the curiosity of students in science at the secondary school level are presented. A brief description of the materials and procedures for 15 of these demonstrations is outlined, with short explanations of concepts and principles involved. (MP)

Describes the use of history fairs to encourage student projects in local and state history. The discussion covers student motivation and incentives, in the implementation of fairs within school curricula. (AM)

This investigation focused on factors related to students' decisions to withdraw from college courses. An open-ended survey was used to construct questionnaires for assessing student, instructor, course, and situational variables. Implications for advisors and instructors, relationship of withdrawal to course selection, and suggestions for…

Argues that, while children need to learn the syntactic, symantic, and graphonic cuing systems necessary to reading, the ultimate focus of elementary reading instruction should be reading for meaning. Describes an ideal classroom where students constantly interact with reading and writing and developing personal motivations for effective language…

Two studies are reported which investigate sex, faculty, and age (academic year) differences in the study methods of students at an Australian university. The young students, the male students, and the students enrolled in science-based faculties appeared to be most in need of study methods counseling. (Author/SJL)

Explains how to debrief students after participation in simulation and/or other educational games. Debriefing should increase students' ability to experience, identify, analyze, and generalize. (Author/DB)

A Norwegian version of the Achievement Motives Scale (AMS) was administered to Oslo sixth-graders, along with verbal, numeric, test anxiety, and lie/defensiveness tests. Results showed the relationships to academic performance predicted by achievement theory. Even when related to the personality scales, the AMS showed promising qualities.…

Presented are activities and teaching strategies designed to make history real to students, to develop in them, first, a sense of personal involvement with the past, and second, a time-sense and historical perspective. Suggestions include use of biography, historical fiction, oral history, genealogy, role playing, and time-lines. (Author/SJL)

This article presents a report on student effort in economics courses based on time and the efficiency of its use. Information is presented on explanatory variables in each of the several learning models tested, theoretical basis for recent empirical student learning, definitions of student input, and the student-choice model proposed by Richard…

To help history classroom teachers on the high school level make their classes more interesting, this article suggests that teachers incorporate short stories, books, poems, and excerpts from full-length novels into the curriculum. Examples of how literature of various types was successfully integrated into a history unit on the Civil War are…

Conceptualization and measurement of the control dimension is discussed from three theoretical perspectives: social learning, attribution, and intrinsic motivation theories. For each of these, evidence on the relationship between achievement and perceptions of control is summarized. Recommendations are made for research which will advance…

This study developed an approach to evaluating the appropriateness of student effort within a mastery instructional system and then investigated the interrelationship of achievement motivation, effort, and achievement in two college courses. Appropriate effort was strongly correlated with student achievement. (Author/RL)