Pedagogical content knowledge is defined as the blending of subject matter knowledge, general knowledge of learning and teaching, knowledge about specific learners, and knowledge of instructional representations of subject matter such as activities, examples, demonstrations, analogies, and illustrations. This study was conducted to identify…

This paper describes the application of local area network (LAN) technology, especially electronic mail (E-mail), to develop the written communication skills of 10 deaf students in two pre-high school science classes at a school for the deaf. Students used E-mail for such activities as answering questions, keeping a log, communicating with an…

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) in Aurora (Illinois) is a pioneering educational community, the nation's only three-year publicly funded residential high school. Its mission requires the achievement of two separate goals: (1) the education of the gifted young of Illinois in science and mathematics and (2) the sharing of…

This study examines alumni's perceptions of differential treatment on the basis of race/ethnicity by faculty, students, and staff/administrators in five behavioral science disciplines at eight independent California State University campuses. Reports of personal experiences by 2,078 alumni in four ethnic groups (Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, and…

An exploratory study designed to analyze the evolution of neighborhood movements in Rio de Janeiro City (Brazil) focuses on actions related to the struggle for public schools. The effort seeks to determine the degree of political autonomy of the neighborhood associations and the nature of the educational demands and their relationship with the…

This evaluation study examined the implementation of the Marine Science Young Scholars Program, which provided 32 gifted deaf and hearing-impaired adolescents with a 4-week summer enrichment program in 1988 and 1989. The instructional program: used a cognitively based curriculum; included labs, lectures, and field experiences; promoted one-to-one…

The role of expert judges in establishing the content validity of the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) was examined in a detailed study. The NTE are used in 22 states for screening applicants to teacher education programs and/or for screening candidates for initial teacher certification. Such extensive use of the NTE has stimulated 35 recent…

As traditional medical school curricula began to be criticized in the 1950s, various alternatives were proposed, including the organ-system based curriculum (organized around the organ systems of the body) and the problem-based curriculum (organized around clinical problems). From an open systems perspective, any such medical school curriculum…

Because of a serious teacher shortage nationwide, it has become common to find many teachers teaching "out of license"--teaching courses in which they have had few or no college courses. In an attempt to address this problem, New York City has embarked on an innovative program to relicense teachers in mathematics and science to fill the…

The field of scientific and technical communication (STC) has experienced extraordinary growth in recent years. To meet the needs of a new generation of technical communication leaders, a Master's program must include the study of writing, editing, publication, math, computer science, science and engineering literature, rhetorical principles, and…

This paper reports on two comprehensive multi-institutional collaborative efforts for school improvement. The two studies demonstrate that collaborative efforts involving multiple agencies and multiple agendas can be successful even when separated by considerable geographical distance. The school systems were concerned with implementing a locally…

As exemplified by New Zealand, the nature of educational policy research is shaped by political and social factors that impinge upon the research environment. Following a description of the educational system and research funding methods, this paper analyzes three areas that affect policy research in New Zealand and addresses relevant social…

Eleven of the 15 papers in this collection discuss library services for disadvantaged persons; the remaining four papers are concerned with services to multicultural populations. The papers from the Section of Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons appear first in this list: (1) "The Development and Future of Easy Readers for Adults in the UK"…

This paper summarizes current knowledge from research on teacher effectiveness and discusses the relationship between those findings and educational policy. Few teaching strategies have been studied in different types of environments, so validated knowledge on teacher effectiveness exists for only a few issues. Research findings discussed include:…

Data were gathered, using pre and posttests and interviews, on the learning of individual students during a seven-week unit on a science topic (conservation) in a fourth grade classroom. Case studies of the learning experiences of each child, based on recordings and detailed observations of all class activities, were used to predict student…