The article highlights the realities and dynamics facing researchers researching indigenous African culture. The cultural aspirations, understandings, and practices of African indigenous people should position researchers to implement and organize the research process. Suggestions are also made for implementing the "Afrocentric method," and how to…

In this chapter, the authors aim to review recent, sociocultural studies of classroom-based research in science education in light of a sample of practice-based research within the field of science studies. They provide a framework for examining the discipline of science that can also be useful for assessing its impact on students. The framework…

Three issues concerning the relationship between research and practice are addressed. (1) A certain "prototype mathematics classroom" seems to dominate the research field, which in many cases seems selective with respect to what practices to address. I suggest challenging the dominance of the discourse created around the prototype mathematics…

Although a large body of research exists regarding the construct of "socialization," scholars have no universally accepted definition of this construct. Additionally, scholars have used the term to describe several different components of both structural and communication dynamics without agreeing upon a metaphor or general acceptance of…

Investigated were those long-term processes which contribute to high rates of attrition for women out of mathematics. It is based on the contention that university students drop out of mathematics as a consequence of prior socialization, educational career contingencies, and goal commitment and career aspirations, with the mix of these factors…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how some ways of making sense of the world get privileged over others when teachers and students use specific educational films in specific learning environments. The methods of formalist and ideological film analysis are used to describe how educational films are distinct in their form and style from…

This paper examines relevant research in comparative sociology, social anthropology with primitive societies, the behavior of primates, the hormonal control of social behavior, and contemporary social psychology. The reciprocal influence of social and biological factors on human societies is discussed. Moreover, the effect of attitudes on social…

The question of whether adolescents turn to arcade video games for gratifications similar to those met by television viewing was investigated with 244 children 10 to 14 years old, who were attending a statewide summer sports camp. A questionnaire required subjects to rate the importance of 17 need statements and provide basic demographic…

The field of learning disabilities (LD) needs to focus on four issues concerned with research and practice: (1) differentiation of LD from other problems, (2) identification of LD subgroups, (3) effects of specific interventions with specific subgroups, and (4) recognition of social/cultural influences on LD identification and services. (Author/DB)

After describing his research interests and classroom perspectives, the author discusses the "social construction" frame in which he suggests that teaching and learning in the mathematics classroom be viewed. Along with the three constructs of activities, communication, and negotiation, social construction offers promise for research…

Studies families showing parenting difficulties and examines possible origins of those difficulties. Findings demonstrate a strong link between multiple parenting breakdown and markedly disrupted family experiences in childhood. Concludes that explanatory models based exclusively on either personal or material factors are inadequate. (RH)

Analyses involving public and private institutions of higher education indicate that dependence on nontraditional sources of support is a strong predictor of administrative differentiation and demonstrate the validity of integrating the two theoretical perpectives of resource dependence and institutionalization. Seven tables, a graph, and 42…

Discussed is the issue of the appropriateness of applied science approaches to evaluation in environmental education. The relationships between characteristics of applied science approaches to evaluation and the special characteristics of environmental education are explored. (Author/YP)

A framework for analyzing and classifying cost factors in higher education is presented. Costs are located in three sources (individual colleges and universities, the higher education community, and the socioeconomic and scientific-technological environment), and within each source, are a result of either cultural or material conditions. (MSE)

This response to Norman Bray (EC 609 160) analyzes the methodology and findings of the original study and concludes that studies of strategy production must look at not only the mentally retarded child's cognitive capacities in problem solving but also the social and contextual conditions that affect the child's representation and use of…