Systems Analysis and Design is a core component of an education in information systems. To appeal to a wider range of constituents and facilitate the learning process, the content of a traditional Systems Analysis and Design course has been supplemented with an alternative modeling approach. This paper presents an instructional design that…

This year-long case study examines how a struggling reader in a sixth-grade social studies class, a seventh grade mathematics class, and an eighth grade science class "transacted" with the reading task demands of her specific classroom. Through regular classroom observations and interviews, the researcher documents how each student responded to…

This document represents a sample collection of master's theses from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Teacher Education Program, spring semester, 2005. The majority of these student researchers were simultaneously student teaching while writing their theses. Studies were empirical and conceptual in nature and demonstrate some ways in…

This conference proceedings consists of three keynote addresses and four representative papers. Keynote addresses include: "Impediments to Critical Thinking: Cultural Forces and Our Own 'Stuckness'" by Chet Meyers (which identifies social and cultural elements which make educational change difficult but critically important);…

For each of two years, 50 Hispanic and Black eighth graders were selected for a field-based, environmental science summer program designed to nurture math and science talent and encourage bright, minority youth to persist in school. Students were selected on the basis of participation in an outreach program, essays, grades, recommendations, and an…

This study used naturalistic inquiry methods to examine reasons why some members of minority groups, despite discouraging odds, persist in the sciences or science related disciplines. Interviews were conducted with 10 African American upperclassmen majoring in natural science or science related disciplines at a predominately white coeducational…

This research investigated whether computer anxiety is different if the measure is administered by computer rather than by paper and pencil. The study compared two groups of students (N=83) who were gathered from three undergraduate sections and one graduate section of a required computer class for in-service and pre-service teachers using anxiety…

Middle school and high school students need to develop many skills in order to investigate environmental issues and know the basics of citizenship action strategies. This student guide is designed to teach students how to investigate and evaluate environmental issues and actions. The guide is presented in six modules. Module 1 introduces the…

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data for 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students in the United States are provided, highlighting trends in science achievement from 1969-70 to 1990, mathematics achievement from 1973 to 1990, reading achievement from 1971 to 1990, and writing achievement from 1984 to 1990. Trends in academic proficiency…

Several central concerns of Canadian multiculturalism: promotion of the principles of equality, individual acceptance, and understanding and respect for diversity are quite common to the social studies area in particular. The paper examines the quest to avoid emphases on human differences and instead to stress commonalities. This rethinking of…

The study was designed to evaluate the acceptance, appropriateness, and use of an experimental Spanish edition of the April 1980 "Ranger Rick's Nature Magazine"; to identify similarities and differences in the reactions to the translated edition of various groups within the Hispanic population; and to collect the recommendations for the…

Project MAFEX (Meta-Analysis of Field Experience) used standard meta-analysis techniques to synthesize the available body of research concerning preservice field experience programs. Several important questions were considered: (1) What types of field experience programs are most and least effective? (2) Are there common characteristics of field…

Departmental differences in student perceptions of teaching effectiveness were measured using behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS). The 495 college students were taking junior and senior level courses in art, business, computer science, French, psychology, and sociology. Each subject completed either the BARS or a simple summated scale, both…

This document is divided into two papers; the first paper investigates the attitudes of secondary students toward modern society (attitudes about the future, making friends, looking for a job, and viewing the city as a friendly place), and whether age, sex, or grade made any difference in these attitudes. A non-randomized, control-group posttest…

The history of the High School Geography Project is presented. The paper is divided into five topics. (1) "Search for Direction" traces the project from its origins in 1961 to the emergence of a curriculum development model. (2) "The Elaboration of the Curriculum Model and the Evolution of the Development Process Model"…