Describes the discourse of three ninth-grade coauthoring trials (model, typical, and problem groups), discussing factors in their interactions that affected the success of collaborative writing. Three factors characterized the model group (kinds of social interactions, level of cognitive conflict, and amount and kinds of engagement during the…

Using 1988 National Education Longitudinal Study data, researchers examined why Asian American students generally have higher academic achievement than other minorities. Asian Americans were more likely to live in intact homes, spend more time doing homework, and attend more lessons and activities outside of regular school. Asian American parents…

A functional analysis involving interviews and direct observation was used to analyze the multiple disruptive behaviors of a kindergarten student. An intervention that combined reinforcement and teacher-cued self-monitoring procedures was implemented using an A-B-A-B withdrawal design. The procedures produced a significant decrease in the…

Study explored how analog type and format and learner's prior knowledge would affect transfer outside of an experimental setting, examining the relationship between the analog's contextual elements and high school freshmen's performance on a science problem. Some students spontaneously applied structural elements on the analog to the solution. (SM)

Addresses the notion of story as a framework to help organize teachers' personal understandings of their craft, first describing one teacher educator's experiences with handling preconceptions in learning to teach and with using well-remembered events as a bridge between personal understandings and the world of classrooms and educational…

Local Parent Teacher Association presidents were surveyed to determine which topics should be included in family life education curricula and to examine attitudes about related issues. Responses were compared to responses from 12 years earlier. Results found increased support for instruction on key topics, particularly at the middle school level.…

Reviews and updates handwriting research conducted in the 1980s, adding two categories of research efforts to previous work: the use of mental models in forming letters during handwriting instruction; and handwriting instruction for special needs populations such as adult literacy and learning disabled students, remedial education students, and…

Experimental studies based on the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model (conducted between 1980-1990) were identified to determine the value of teaching students through their learning style preferences. Meta-analysis determined that matching students' learning style preferences with educational interventions compatible with those preferences is…

Building on previous data, researchers used West Virginia school district data to investigate the value of examining structurally determined opportunities and costs to explain high school students' dropping out. The study interpreted dropping out as a rational consequence of students' assessments of the opportunities and costs associated with…

Five groups of professionals rated 71 outcomes expected to result from Japan's elementary mathematics curriculum. Results indicated that mathematics curricula based on expected outcomes considered important by individuals or small, homogeneous groups would probably lack balance. Programs based on outcomes considered important by large, diverse…

Discusses what the author regards as important instructional advancements that have occurred over the past 30 years. The advances come from research on cognitive processing, on teachers whose classes made the highest achievement gain compared with the classes of other teachers, and on the teaching of cognitive strategies. (SM)

This study examined relationships between hardiness and school climate in contributing to student teacher alienation. Survey results from 106 student teachers indicated that hardiness significantly affected alienation. Alienation levels of high-hardy students decreased in more supportive school climates. Low-hardy students increased in alienation…

Reports a study that examined whether a collaborative peer tutoring program would improve urban seventh graders' self- concept and attitudes toward school. Pretesting and posttesting indicated that students in the collaborative peer tutoring program demonstrated significant improvements in self-concept and attitudes toward school as compared with…

Two studies examined how student behavior patterns contributed to predicting teacher burnout, highlighting male and female teachers possessing different pupil control ideologies. Teacher and student surveys indicated that student behavior had different effects on teacher functioning within different school cultures. Student disrespect,…

Reports a college-school project that examined the effects of thematically integrated mathematics instruction on Mexican American middle school students' mathematics achievement, attitudes, and motivation. Students receiving thematic instruction surpassed traditionally instructed students on mathematics concepts and applications. The two programs…