This essay on a paper (EC 602 982) about a master teacher's cognitive processes involved in leading group discussions focuses on the place for qualitative inquiry on teaching in special education, the usefulness of professional practical knowledge and cognitive maps as heuristics for further research, and the relationship between researcher and…

Utilizing student interviews, this study assessed fourth, eighth, and eleventh graders (n=105) in 11 Maine schools concerning their understanding of 4 natural and social science concepts related to pollution. The results hold direct implications for teaching strategies and curriculum design within the environmental and science education domains.…

Presents a naturalistic study involving 112 Hong Kong Chinese college psychology students who worked in small groups. Reveals the perceived fairness of all group members receiving the same grade related positively to group cohesiveness. Also shows students' endorsement of receiving same grade depends on low contributors' personality, previous…

Interviewed 25 high school juniors, 4 counselors, and 4 English teachers to determine their perceptions concerning guidance-language arts career unit. Findings suggest that all groups felt positively about unit. Students also felt positively about cooperative effort and what they gained from their involvement. (NB)

An overview is provided of the nature of reflective practice as presented in pedagogical literature and of the necessary characteristics of the reflective practitioner in an educational context. Implications for the evaluation of classroom teachers are explored, and suggestions for further research are offered. (SLD)

Compares previous research findings that examine the consistency between a Title I teacher's beliefs about reading and her instructional practices at the third- and seventh-grade levels. Supports (1) the need for teacher improvement programs; (2) the need to coordinate Title I instruction with regular classroom instruction; and (3) the importance…

A qualitative study examined instruction provided by four monolingual English-speaking teachers to English-language learners in grades 4 through 6. Focused on unresolved tension between teachers' sense that they should provide opportunities for students to express ideas and their desire for fast-paced lessons and correct usage. Explored teachers'…

Examines the social environments, staff behavior and social interaction of 72 elderly clients in adult day care centers, using qualitative research techniques. When the staff and environment were more infantilizing, provided less autonomy and fewer opportunities for privacy regulation, clients had lower social interaction with peers. In contrast,…

A study evaluated a Czech Outward Bound course for international participants that used dramaturgy to incorporate cultural, social, creative, and psychological activities and enrich the traditional range of outdoor physical activities. Observations of 55 participants and followup surveys indicated that the main outcomes involved personal and…

This study followed six medical students through first semester to understand how they self-regulated learning. The study, using a situated research strategy, resulted in a grounded theory built around the central phenomenon of stance. In short, learners illustrated different types of stances that influence their perceptions of themselves and the…

In a recent case study, three white, middle-aged women who were formerly public-school superintendents analyzed problematic work experiences. Results demonstrate the sexism that is part of the superintendency's culture, the educational administration profession's silence, and participants' proposed solutions for problems of sexism and silence.…

This article comments on a previous article that uses interviews from 250 Latino parents of children with mental retardation to demonstrate three ways of analyzing qualitative interview data (content, cultural models, and narrative analyses). It discusses the implementation of interventions that fit the cultural models of parents as a component of…

The use of experiential approaches to teach social welfare policy suggests that such methods may increase undergraduate social work students' knowledge of and skill in working on social and economic justice issues. This article compares 2 such methods using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first teaches social welfare policy as a…

This manuscript explores the concept of balance for master's students enrolled in student affairs preparation programs in the Southeast and Midwest. It provides research on the ways balance is restricted for master's students who are employed in a student affairs setting while also enrolled in preparation programs, and it investigates themes which…

In this article, the author attempts to enter the charter school dialogue by looking at the new charter school movement through an anti-essentialist social movement and new social movement lens. In the anti-Western new social movement conception there are no set patterns to how movements manifest themselves, or how they were intended to manifest…