Previous research conducted in both classroom and physical education (PE) settings has examined the impact of student gender on teacher-student interactions. The purpose of this study was to extend this line of research by analysing the influence of student gender and different types of physical activity on the frequency and nature of teacher…

This paper describes data gathering and analytic procedures, and then presents examples regarding how each fits into the naturalistic research model. From the interactionist perspective, called symbolic interactionism, meaning is of central importance. Naturalistic inquiry is a way of doing social science research which provides the methodological…

Underlying the current use of ethnography in the study of teaching and learning is the assumption of an analogy between the school or classroom and culture. The claim of educational ethnography is that it discovers and describes the ways that members of the school community create and share meaning. Ethnographers aim to discover the operating…

The application of hermeneutic theory to the study of the oral history interview is proposed in this paper. The first section of the paper indicates why the oral interview is central to the approach of the oral historian; it then defines oral history as a communicative process and suggests an approach to investigating the oral interview that uses…

Psychoanalysis, which focuses on unconscious mental processes, in contrast with the aggressive rational, linear, and goal-oriented nature of legal thinking, is used as a framework for understanding the art of negotiation in legal work. It is argued that a psychoanalytic approach can help people understand how they may help or hinder themselves in…

Observations of interactions of mixed-ability groups revealed three persistent challenges (inclusiveness, enacting the ideal, and monitoring growth) in which gifted students can develop and exercise leadership skills. Specific student strategies are proposed for each challenge. The role of teachers in developing leadership skills of gifted…

A person-situation interactionist theory to explain Australian student decisions to pursue higher education is advanced and a model is tested using data from Victoria and Queensland. Results of statistical analyses are generally consistent with expectations. Certain interactive effects of variables in the model are examined. (Author/MSE)

Explores perspectives and methodologies that sociolinguistics brings to ethnographic research in schools. The article identifies the methodological contributions arising from linguistics that interactional sociolinguistics and microethnograpy share, such as the use of naturally occurring language data, the consultation of native intuition, and…

Communication skills are important for children with developmental disabilities to be functional and independent in their own lives. This study examined influences of different types of listener feedback or breakdowns on repair behaviors of nonverbal children with disabilities during semi-structured opportunities at snack time. Three preschool…

Interactions between teachers and multiply disabled students were videotaped, and procedures were developed to analyze the interactions, in order to assist the teachers in evaluating the relationship between their own and their student's communicative behavior. Coding categories were prepared to identify characteristics of the student's…

One hundred interactions involving 4,231 communicative acts between classroom personnel and multiply disabled students were videotaped. The resulting data were coded and analyzed, and showed that: (1) conventional communicative forms (e.g., speech, manual signs, conventional nonverbal expressions) were selected to convey information to students…

Although the functional relationship between school board and superintendent is a critical connection that stands at the apex of the organizational pyramid in education, little is known about that linkage, other than the tension endemic to the relationship. This study therefore examines how superintendents and school boards interact and inquires…

In this article, the author examines the character of the conversations generated in an elementary teacher group as they worked on mathematical problems together and analyzed their students' work. Two distinct forms of talk--"exploratory" and "expository"--were found. The first type of talk occurred most prominently when discussions centered on…

One important challenge for researchers is to understand what happens inside classrooms that make the environment available for children's learning. This study develops the margin|centre dialectic as a general framework for describing participation of very young children in science-related activities. It employs a cultural-historical approach that…

This study compared achievement of students in two types of deliberate learning communities at William Rainey Harper College (Illinois) with achievement of students in two comparative groups. In the "linked classes" format, the same students enrolled in the same two course sections and two faculty members taught in a team format. In the…