Responds to Martyn Hammersley's critique of the authors' research concerning classroom participation of boys and girls. Agrees generally with Hammersley's critique. Defends the small-scale approach for its ability to examine interactive mechanisms by which inequality in participation was produced. (DB)

Observation of mixed-age undergraduate classes and analysis of students' interactions showed that older students tended to dominate the discourse; the cognitive level of discourse was not altered by the presence of older students; and andragogical practices may not be the most effective strategies for mixed-age classes. (SK)

Describes a tool that quantifies the number and kinds of interactions between students and teachers. Structured observation of classroom events indicates whether a teacher is interacting equitably with each student in the classroom. Science teachers were receptive to the relatively quantitative nature of the process. Both inservice and student…

Describes a California high school's collaborative teacher observation model. The Teacher-Guided Observation/Curriculum Analysis is a continuously evolving instructional and curricular development program that recognizes teachers' need to be treated like professionals, have nonthreatening growth opportunities, assume primary responsibility for…

Focuses on the assurance by the Alliance Francaise of Paris of professional development of future teachers of foreign languages. The article describes the members of the Alliance as professors at the Foreign Language School of Paris with university training in such diverse fields as linguistics, modern languages, education, and philosophy. Their…

An innovative preservice teacher education program at the State University of New York, College at Fredonia, provides many highly structured field-based experiences which include students with disabilities; systematic training in specific, validated intervention strategies; direct training in peer collaboration skills; and emphasis on reflective…

Classroom observation, a survey of several hundred primary grade teachers in the United Kingdom, and interviews with teachers found that National Curriculum requirements have produced considerable change in curriculum planning, management, assessment, and recordkeeping, against a backdrop of relative continuity of deeper pedagogy, especially in…

Examines the importance of English language teachers' knowledge about language, and their insights into the relationship between such knowledge and their classroom practice. With reference to grammar, data is presented from classroom observations and interviews with teachers. (Author/VWL)

Examined how the concept of quality in the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) is concretized in pedagogical processes, in a comparison of classroom observations in Germany and Sweden. Observers from each country evaluated preschools in the other country, using the ECERS. Comparisons showed the benefits of using ECERS for facilitating…

This preliminary study employed mixed methodologies to explore students' use of mobile computing devices and its effects on their motivation to learn, engagement in learning activities, and support for learning processes. Data collected from students in four elementary and two seventh grade science classes in Northeast Ohio included usage logs,…

Following the implementation of the new Curriculum 2005, outcomes-based education, professional development is one of South Africa's national goals in the continuing reform of its education system. Most school teachers are not familiar with teaching outcomes-based education and need training to be able to do so. Project UNIVEMALASHI, a…

This article explores the beliefs and practices of a high school biology teacher through three interrelated theoretical frameworks: common knowledge, collaborative learning, and communities of practice. The data were obtained from an in-depth case study of Maria, a biology teacher from a Mexican public high school that was participating in a…

This article reports on an empirical study undertaken at the University of the North, South Africa, to test personal classroom observation and anecdotal evidence about the persistent gap between writing and spoken proficiencies among learners of English as a second language. A comparative and contrastive analysis of speech samples in the study…

Bakhtin's (1981) concept of chronotope provides a way of viewing student participation in the classroom as a dynamic process constituted through the interaction of past experience, ongoing involvement, and yet-to-be-accomplished goals. Although the actual design and use of classroom space may be important in facilitating a participatory pedagogy,…

The purpose of this study was to understand factors that make teacher professional development successful and what success might mean in terms of teachers' instructional practices and feelings about change. Specifically, this study focused on the impact of instructional resources on the large-scale curricular reform of 30 urban physical education…