Teaching is by nature a complex activity filled with ambiguities and dilemmas. Teaching also is fundamentally a moral activity, making the dilemmas and ambiguities both pedagogical and moral in nature. This article describes one teacher's reflections on her efforts to resolve the dilemmas and ambiguities presented to her by the competing…

One component of the Computer Based Project for the Evaluation of Media for the Handicapped focused on the effects of introducing instructional media into classes for the educable mentally retarded. The study used the methodology of participant observation, whereby researchers: 1) gained entry to the classes, 2) established rapport, 3) recorded…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative impact of skills-based and whole language approaches on the listening comprehension of English as a foreign language (EFL) students with low and high listening ability levels. The subjects for the study were 96 pretested EFL students, divided into two treatment groups for 15 weeks. In the…

Project Great Start is designed to provide non-, limited-, and near-native English proficient students with improved, intensified, and increased learning opportunities for accelerated English acquisition and significant academic achievement. It focuses on three groups: students, parents, and school staff. Students and parents benefit from separate…

Researchers consistently underestimate the enormous potential of children to participate in the construction of their own learning environments and as research partners in examining learning. The paper chronicles one 6-year collaborative project with students on research in literacy learning and highlights students' perspectives on what the…

Most adolescent deaths are caused by injury sustained in traffic crashes, and driver education does not necessarily reduce the problem. This multi-method, ethnographic study describes the logic and regulation of youth driving culture in a northern Ontario community. This included 40 hours of participant observation and a survey of 88 novice…

A qualitative study investigated the impact on students of participation in Literacy Volunteers of New York City (LVNYC). Change in three major areas was examined: literacy skills; self-concept, attitudes, and beliefs related to literacy development; and involvement in literacy tasks outside the program. Data were collected through open-ended…

A study explored the impact on students on participation in Literacy Volunteers of New York City (LVNYC). Change in three major areas was examined: literacy skills; self-concept, attitudes, and beliefs related to literacy development; and involvement in literacy practices outside the program. The study was primarily qualitative but included a…

Eight abstracts provide key points of papers presented at the 1985 meeting of the Camping Research Section of the American Camping Association. Topics discussed were: the effects of a one-week resident camp experience on environmental attitudes, goals and accomplishments of the National Outdoor Education Consortium for Research and Evaluation, the…

Intended for use by professionals and trained para-professionals in the training of family day care providers, in-home caregivers, and, to some extent, foster parents, this handbook contains information and materials necessary to establish a training plan and offers nine training units plus a supplemental unit about toys. Discussed first are…

We describe the process of relationship-based intervention and associated changes in children and teachers' relationships and behaviors within center-based child care and examine the circumstances under which changes were most likely to occur. The relationship-based intervention had three components: research partners in each participating…

This paper describes a multidimensional staff development program implemented by the Ames (Iowa) Community Schools, involving 11 schools, 350 teachers, and 5,000 students. Three governance options in staff development were established: the Individual Growth Fund which supported teachers in defraying the costs of individually selected staff…

An urgent need was felt for broader implementation of processes similar to those indicated in this study to help reorient teachers effectively, quickly, and as painlessly as possible so that they can better meet the needs of the Spanish surnamed and the Indian Americans enrolled in public schools. Six prime questions were involved during the…

Based on the experiences of a participant observer (weekly playground volunteer) over the course of one school year, this paper recounts the experiences of first through third graders during recess and discusses the importance of outdoor play for providing children an opportunity to speak and act unfettered by adult expectations, thereby promoting…

Foreign language students experience added difficulty when they are isolated from native speakers and from the culture of the target language. It has been posited that MOO (Multi-User Domain Object Oriented) may help overcome the geographical isolation of these students. MOOs are Internet-based virtual worlds in which people from all over the real…