A prescriptive statement is a recommendation that, if a course of action is taken, then a desirable outcome will likely occur. For example, in reading research recommending that teachers apply an intervention targeted at a specific reading skill to improve children's reading performance is a prescriptive statement. In our view, these statements…

Researchers, policy makers, and practitioners share a sincere interest in improving the human condition. Academics may be tempted to fault irrationality, ideology, or ignorance for the failure of research to inform policy and practice more powerfully, but policy makers and practitioners want academics to tell them "what works" in order to find a…

This article provides a critique of the preoccupation with children's voices in child-centred research by exploring their limits and problematizing their use in research. The article argues that critical, reflexive researchers need to reflect on the processes which produce children's voices in research, the power imbalances that shape them and the…

The commodification of research in the social sciences sees a focus on "inputs" rather than "outputs" and an emphasis on the "science" rather than the "social". The empirical prevails at the expense of the critical, with lessening interest in, and support for, knowledge designed to interrogate orthodoxy.…

This paper considers the use of secondary data analysis in educational research. It addresses some of the promises and potential pitfalls that influence its use and explores a possible role for the secondary analysis of numeric data in the "new" political arithmetic tradition of social research. Secondary data analysis is a relatively under-used…

In this article, the author argues that Method sections in social science research reports, particularly those that employ qualitative methods, often lack sufficient detail to make any results that follow from the analytic method trustworthy. The author provides a brief review of the evolution of the Method section from the 1960s to the present,…

Engineering education in K-12 classrooms is a small but growing phenomenon that may have implications for engineering and also for the other STEM subjects--science, technology, and mathematics. Specifically, engineering education may improve student learning and achievement in science and mathematics, increase awareness of engineering and the work…

The need to equip science teachers with knowledge, skills, and habits of mind to face the challenges of teaching science through inquiry informed this study, which analyzed the secondary science intern teachers' beliefs about inquiry before, during, and following a series of 2 consecutive science methods courses in an attempt to document the…

The Fifth Edition of the :Handbook of Research on Teaching" is an essential resource for students and scholars dedicated to the study of teaching and learning. The volume covers a vast array of topics ranging from the history of teaching to technological and literacy issues. In each authoritative chapter, the authors summarize the state of…

This edited volume brings together large-scale research as well as case studies from a range of geographical contexts and represents a variety of educational settings involving second language learners and users. Its aim is to explore the interrelated issues of psychology and technology use in second language learning settings as well as in more…

In this essay David Labaree explores the historical and sociological elements that have made educational researchers dependent on statistics. He shows that educational research as a domain, with its focus on a radically soft and thoroughly applied form of knowledge and with its low academic standing, fits the pattern in which weak professions have…

This study attempts to define the contradiction between cooperative learning, which has an important place in science education, and the relative evaluation system. The fixation of the situation which was done with the data obtained from the literature also has been supported with a semi-structured interview study conducted with eighteen science…

This technical report and user's guide is designed to provide researchers with an overview of the design and implementation of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), as well as with information on how to access the PISA 2009 data. This information is meant to supplement that presented in Organization for Economic Cooperation…

"Seven Rules for Social Research" teaches social scientists how to get the most out of their technical skills and tools, providing a resource that fully describes the strategies and concepts no researcher or student of human behavior can do without. Glenn Firebaugh provides indispensable practical guidance for anyone doing research in the social…

Informal science education (ISE) experiences can provide powerful opportunities for people with disabilities to experience and learn about science. When designed to be inclusive, such experiences can lead people with disabilities to feel competent and empowered as science learners, generate excitement and enthusiasm for science, and be equitable…