Effective microcomputer software resources tor early childhood education are available, but the intormationneeded to locate them and put them to work is not readily accessible to the majority of early childhood teachers. This study identifies and evaluates sources of information on microcomputer software and provides a partial listing of appropriate software which is ava1lable, along with partial listings ot courseware publishers and publications carrying information onm1crocomputer software. Criteria tor self-evaluation of courseware are suggested and recommendations are made tor insuring accessibility of resources to teachers within a school system.

The purpose of this study was to find out if a teacher’s verbal or nonverbal behavior is more successful in redirecting a student's attention in the classroom. Three specific student behaviors were observed---daydreaming, distractive talking, and doing assignments for another class. Three twelfth \ grade English teachers in a Duval County high school gave the observer permission to visit their classrooms and observe on ten different occasions over a period of eight weeks. Observation sheets were kept and tallied on each teacher. A total for all three teachers was then tallied and analyzed according to a chi-square routine. The results of the chi-square analysis showed no significance in the data at the .05 level. It was concluded that even though the results showed no Significance, the raw data showed a definite unique pattern for each teacher in the way that they successfully handled behavior problems in their classrooms.

This paper investigates the hypothesis that freewriting, when used as part of the writing process, will lead to more positive attitudes toward writing in a sample of advanced tenth grade students. An additional issue focuses on the level of positive attitudes of males when compared to females. Two intact classrooms taught by one teacher wrote weekly papers. The experimental group wrote freely, while the control group was restricted in topic choice, length and form of their writing. The experimental group received positive comments on the content of their writing, but the control group received standard error corrections on their writing. The subjects responded to an attitude instrument as pretest and posttest measures. The experimental group showed no significant increase in positive attitudes toward writing. Girls in both the experimental and comparison groups showed no more attitudes toward writing than pretesting or at post testing.

This is a study which examines motivation and its implications for the secondary student writer. Included in the study is a synthesization of writing research with a multi-faceted curriculum. The study concludes by challenging teachers to acquire a theory of teaching writing based upon knowledge of research and instructional practices related to that theory.

The instructional materials prepared for this project are based on outdoor activities that correlate with the Duval County, Florida, Performance Objectives for Life Science in the seventh grade. Special emphasis is placed on hands-on, sensory experiences and observations, and sequencing of instruction within lessons. The review of related literature includes the philosophy of outdoor/environmental education, a historical perspective of outdoor/environmental education, and learning theory as it applies to the principles and practices of an outdoor approach to education.

This study examined the relationships of cognitive style and motivation to the biology achievement of Filipino students in a North Florida high school. The effects of gender and grade level on test scores, grades, and academic motive responses were considered during data analysis. This sample was found to be more analytical and field-independent when compared with normative groups. Significant correlations were established between achievement and field-independence, persistence, sequential abilities, mobility, and gender. Different academic motives were evident with different achievement measures. When achievement was measured by biology final grades, high achievers felt less pressure, tried harder, and were not motivated by peers. High achievers also cited college attendance as a reason for school attendance. When utilizing a course comprehensive biology test, high achievers reported feeling less pressure in school and enrolled in biology because it was required. Most all subjects, regardless of achievement, reported strong career and economic motives for school attendance.

The purpose of this study was to explore the valuation process of community college library end-users as they decide which information resources to use when conducting research. This study was designed as an exploratory study using Q methodology and focused on five specific information resources that community college library end-users routinely use in their research process: the Internet, the reference librarian, books, newspapers, and subscription databases. Little is known about the valuation hierarchy that end-users overlay on these resources when deciding which ones to use to address a specific research need. Sixty-four community college library end-users from four main campuses of a large community college sorted 40 statements describing specific value statements pertaining to the information resources under study. The statements were sorted along a continuum ranging from least like me (-4) to most like me (+4) with 0 representing an opinion of neutrality. Following these procedures, five factors emerged that represented different perspectives on value relating to the five information resources under study. Interpretation of these factors yielded distinct patterns of opinion relating to the perceived value of each information resource. These factors were named: (a) Browsers, (b) Proficient, (c) Vacillators, (d) Bibliophiles, and (e) Traditionalists. The results of the study suggest that community college library end-users value, to varying degrees, all five of the information resources selected for this study. The results also suggest that while the Internet has become a dominant information resource in the community college library end-user's research process, other more traditional information resources such as the reference librarian, books, and, to a lesser extent, newspapers still hold value in the research process. The perspectives described and the interpretation provided in this study can greatly assist community college library end-users in the valuation of available community college library information resources.

Environmental education is becoming an increasingly important component of secondary science education as our society attempts to minimize the exploitations and damaging actions of humankind on the earth. Environmental education has evolved primarily from environmental consciousness in the 1960s to an environmentally active focus in the 1990s. This project examined the effectiveness of an environmental education curriculum that focuses on improving environmental behaviors and attitudes as well as knowledge. The review of the literature for this project indicates that responsible environmental behaviors are linked to four types of environmental education categories. These categories are hierarchical and include: 1) ecological concepts, 2) conceptual awareness, 3) issue investigation and evaluation, and 4) environmental action skills (Disinger, 1993). A review of environmental education curricula provides a wide variety of activities in all four of the above listed categories. Information documenting the relationship between the acquisition of environmental knowledge and behav~ural change as a result of participating in community based environmental activities is less evident. Therefore, this project attempted to investigate the relationships between participation in community-based environmental activities and tenth-grade students' knowledge and attitudes toward environmental issues. During the spring semester of 1995 forty-five tenth-grade biology students at a private urban high school were pretested to assess their initial environmental concept knowledge and their initial environmental attitudes. These students were subsequently exposed to a three-week introduction to environmental concepts and to techniques for investigating environmental issues. Students were simultaneously given a variety of issues to investigate. An additional four hours of time were required of each student to participate in a community service related to an environmental concern. They submitted a written report of their work which included background research, method of participation, results and conclusions on the effect of their project on the environment. Following these experiences, a posttest was administered to assess any change in students' environmental knowledge or attitudes. Effective environmental education encourages the active participation of students in environmental improvement. The results of this investigation could assist educators in the selection of appropriate environmental activities for use with high school students.

A study was conducted to determine the effects on theknowledge and comprehension level learning as shown by thetest scores of thirty-one fifth grade students in onehealth unit after the utilization of the classroom managementprogram "OUNCE" had been implemented for eight weeks in contrastto their knowledge and comprehension level learning in a priorhealth unit as shown by the post-test scores before themanagement program was utilized.

This qualitative study was conducted to illuminate the different perceptions of students, parents, and teachers in one urban classroom pertaining to learning to read and write. The study explored the similarities, differences, and relationships among these perceptions. One kindergarten classroom was selected in an urban school that was currently implementing literacy initiatives. Eighteen students, six parents and three teachers were interviewed to provide insight into their views of emergent literacy. Five themes were identified as reoccurring topics and are discussed in the findings: activities that count as reading and writing, motivation for learning to read, how children acquire literacy skills, the use of technology to promote literacy, and working with students at home. The findings suggested that there are few literacy related issues upon which students, parents and teachers agree. Five conclusions were drawn based upon the findings. The conclusions examined the use of metacognitive discussions, appropriateness of motivational techniques, teachers' knowledge of research, effectiveness of computers in the classroom, and benefits to parents of volunteering in the classroom. The need to improve communication and interaction between students, parents, teachers and administrators was illuminated in this study.