A study investigated the effect Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) has had on literacy at Estancia High School in California which recently implemented an SSR program. It also examined the role SSR has on language development, comprehension, vocabulary, student attitudes, and its corollary consequence on the development of reading habits. A survey of…

The University of Queensland (Australia) Library (UQL) conducted a pilot study to investigate how the university's leading researchers and postgraduate students gather information and what services and/or collections would create the ideal research environment for them. At focus group sessions, researchers and students were asked about information…

This paper examines young peoples' ideas and their dreams of the future. It is part of a longitudinal study in which students at four schools in Australia were interviewed twice a year during their time in secondary school. The paper claims that this long-term engagement with individuals heightened specificity of the dreams, though it was…

A study of 390 fourth-year pharmacy students investigated attitudinal factors in intentions to pursue graduate education and research-oriented careers and in perceptions of research and research-related activities. Results indicate students who had been involved in research projects and/or had mentors in research saw research more favorably. Sex…

Examines the benefits of group discussion in English classrooms. Demonstrates how small group discussion yields qualitative learning among participants and enhances questioning skills. Advocates the growth and challenge that can come from such activities. Provides student discussion transcriptions. (HB)

Reports on two classroom studies in which teachers deliberately evaluated their own teaching strategies in relation to their students' writing and homework tasks. Students were asked about their preferences for the various strategies. Finds that effective learning requires pupils to be mentally active in and take some responsibility for their own…

In this paper I examine the phenomenon of university teachers as researchers in their own classrooms. I use examples of three research teams in which we studied: (1) student response to a science and society course; (2) teacher and student perceptions of inquiry in a physics course; and (3) teaching and learning about the nature of science in an…

Anthropologists studying children in their own society may tend to assume that children and adults speak the same language and have shared knowledge; children's values reflect what they learn at home, their school experience is much like the anthropologist's school experience, and school is primarily a place where knowledge is passed from teacher…

Describes various ways of using children's questions as windows on their understandings and approaches to reading and writing tasks. Suggests that children need to know that questions are not signs of failure. (MM)

Explores the evolution of a photomontage assignment in a college-level course for academically unprepared students by summarizing the original assignment and then describing the latest version after a three-year period. Believes that the current assignment promotes aesthetically rich and meaningful artwork from students and a positive shift in…

Since the Coleman Report (1966), educational researchers have tried to identify school properties that make a difference in student achievement and overcome the negative influence of low socioeconomic status. We theorized that academic optimism was a latent construct that enhanced student achievement and that enabling school structure provided a…

As a male professing feminism to his female elementary education students, an education professor faced problems, philosophically and pragmatically, as he and his students contested feminist theory and pedagogies in class. During the summer of 1986, 62 of his students conducted oral histories of retired or veteran teachers of literacy in the…

This document was developed to (1) help clarify the various concepts of retention and attrition within a unifying conceptual framework, (2) synthesize the research on retention and attrition, and (3) examine the implications of the research for postsecondary administrators and researchers. Retention and attrition research pertains to both the…

Describes a research project to evaluate the progress of adult beginning readers. States that the project gave the authors insight into designing and carrying out research; broadened their understanding of how students learn about the learning process; enriched their teaching; and helped them view others' research in a new light. (RS)

How the acquired immune deficiency virus (AIDS) has entered the consciousness of students and teachers is reviewed; and the implications of this experience for researchers, teacher educators, and curriculum makers are discussed. Classrooms must be created in which children feel safe to explore the issues that AIDS raises. (SLD)