Science is viewed as a neglected subject in many U.S. elementary schools. Many elementary school teachers feel unqualified and uncomfortable when asked to teach it. A study looked at a teacher who is enthusiastic about teaching science at the elementary school level. The constraints the teacher faced and ways in she dealt with them in her teaching…

The methodology developed for the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications' evaluation of the "New Pathways to a Degree" projects funded by the Annenberg/CPB Project is described. This methodology provides an approach for conducting a valid, reliable evaluation effort that is sensitive to specific institutional issues and…

This study used weekly conversations with 25 freshmen at Boise (Idaho) State University (BSU) and analyses of students' journal entries to examine reasons for BSU freshmen leaving school during or after their freshman year. The 13 students who were successful (reenrolled in the spring and following fall semesters and maintained satisfactory…

Methodologies for evaluating/documenting partnership programs are analyzed and options for evaluating/documenting OERI's Educational Partnerships Program (EPP) are proposed. The EPP supports alliances between public schools and/or higher education and the private sector to encourage excellence in education. This paper reflects…

Responses from library school faculty and academic library directors, asked their perceptions of the faculty and educational quality of graduate library programs, are ranked and compared to earlier surveys. Distinguishable trends of changes in schools' prestige are identified, and the validity of perception studies and qualitative rankings is…

This paper analyzes the academic success of 30 low-income African-American high school students. The 20 females and 10 males were participants in the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program, a high school program that places previously low-achieving, low-income, and minority students in a special class that offers them academic and…

The failure of major educational reform efforts to acknowledge the multicultural needs of tomorrow's teachers illustrates the marginal status that issues of multicultural education and multicultural teacher education typically receive. This paper examines the literature on multicultural teacher education. The review suggests that teacher education…

Based on collaborative learning theories, this qualitative study describes seven adult students' experiences of learning in a context of synchronous computer-mediated communication within a distance education environment. The setting was an 8-week, Internet-based undergraduate/graduate sociology course sponsored by Indiana University Purdue…

Within the South African tertiary education context, information management is taught from a variety of perspectives, including computer science, business management, informatics, and library and information science. Each discipline has a particular multidisciplinary focus dealing with its fundamentals. To investigate information management…

The purpose of this study was to describe and interpret the cognition of a graduate student during information retrieval using the World Wide Web. The participant was a doctoral student in psychology with little experience using the Internet, and even less experience with the World Wide Web. The student performed an open search of her dissertation…

This paper provides an overview of the IT (Instructional Technology) Clinical graduate course at Virginia Tech and compares the perceived reality of the Clinical experience, in terms of benefits and concerns, with students' initial expectations. The paper begins with a discussion of the IT Clinical plan, the sociology of the learning environment…

The purpose of this study was to examine and describe the incidental learning activity of students in an asynchronous online course in a higher education setting. This research was conducted with data collected from interviews, journals, observations, email messages, and online conferencing software postings of 22 members of three sections of a…

The Young Scholars Program at The Ohio State University is a 6-year pre-collegiate intervention program designed to prepare academically talented, economically disadvantaged minority students for college education. This study describes the success of this effort to reshape the traditional presentation of agriculture. (Author/DKM)

Reflects upon the process of writing a thesis, from the initial choice of topic through the selection of case studies and organization of interviews and supporting material, to the data analysis and writing. Discusses some of the problems that were encountered at each stage. (MJP)

A faculty development workshop program at Southeast Missouri State University is designed to introduce faculty to the importance, techniques, and applications of classroom research, to expose faculty to prospective research project sponsors, and to discuss development of qualitative research proposals. Providing faculty with such opportunities is…