This article examines the role of two African American-owned and -operated bookstores in the literacy practices and education of their participants. Part of a larger ethnographic study of Participatory Literacy Communities (PLCs), this study shows how featured authors and audience participants considered these bookstores as both alternative and…

Many have called for reform of the science curriculum to incorporate the process of inquiry: this has been shown to improve student understanding of biological concepts. Laboratory activities provide excellent opportunities to incorporate inquiry in to the curriculum. This study used a modified version of the Laboratory Task Analysis Instrument…

This paper relates a teacher's story about a classroom-based research project undertaken with a Year 3 to 7 Special Area Resource class, located in a Mainstream Primary School in the south west of Adelaide. The class consisted of 11 students verified as students with disabilities under the DECS disability criteria. The students' age range (from 8…

The Southeast Asian country of Singapore comprises a main island and numerous islets between Malaysia and Indonesia. Inhabited by Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians, and other ethnic populations, Singapore is a vibrant mix of different cultures and religions. It is also reputed to be the most wired island in the world. This characteristic--along…

The authors conducted a survey of 1,758 elementary school children (6-14 years old) from December 2001, to March 2002, in 3 Chinese cities with different levels of television advertising. The authors used D. R. John's (1999) model of consumer socialization as the theoretical framework for their study. More than half of the children whom the…

State and national standards continue to prod teacher education programs towards preparing teacher candidates who are capable of integrating computer technologies into their teaching methodologies. However, providing experiences and resources for this type of teacher training necessarily relies on students possessing basics skills in computer use…

This article describes the ScienceStart! Curriculum, an early childhood curriculum that takes coherently organized science content as the hub of an integrated approach. ScienceStart! maps onto the typical preschool day and may be adapted for use in full-day or half-day preschool programs. It is designed to support the important developmental…

When elementary students collaborate in active learning projects that integrate the social studies they greatly advance their literacy skills and civic awareness. They can improve their analysis and ability to solve social problems by using reading and writing to construct knowledge about historical events. In the lessons described in this…

Integrating funds of knowledge--the resources, processes, and strategies attached to family and community proficiencies--has widely been accepted as a worthwhile pedagogical intervention. In this article, we argue that two of the primary assumptions underlying such interventions have yet to be explored. First, because funds of knowledge are…

Welfare reform legislation in Tennessee provided adult basic education classes for welfare recipients whose literacy skills were below ninth grade. Although more than half of those eligible enrolled in adult basic education, many dropped out. The Completion Bonus, a cash incentive program, was instituted to encourage the completion of education…

This paper discusses the concept of "cultural cross-currents," their implicit nature and the potential they have to effect second language literacy learning, teaching and curriculum reform in Hong Kong primary classrooms. Despite the substantive implications for learning, the exploration of cultural influences upon teacher and student…

This study explored what factors influenced learner participation in two sections of a graduate online course at a Midwestern university. Findings indicated that online learner participation and patterns of participation are influenced by the following factors: technology and interface characteristics, content area experience, student roles and…

This study investigates conditions and factors that affect preservice teachers' decisions to use handheld computers in scientific investigations and explores aspects of student learning and classroom practices that would be affected by handheld-based science activities. A Handheld-Based Laboratory (HBL) was designed to model strategies for…

This study examined the influence of cognitive style, spatial orientation and computer expertise on hypertext navigation patterns and learning outcomes when participants interacted with a hypermedia presentation. A sample of 306 undergraduates was pre-tested both on their cognitive style and on their self-reported frequency and ability in using…

This paper considers some of the benefits of reading and writing e-literature, including its influences on prints texts, challenges to the imagination, and attention to metafictive devices and processes. The less cohesive, more fragmented quality of e-literature creates a subjunctive space for creation where writers can consider interesting…