This Occasional Paper (No. 5 from the ACCLAIM Research Initiative) offers counsel for studying rural mathematics education directed at the ACCLAIM Center's first cohort of doctoral students. It discusses the scope of rural math education dissertations, motive, design, related literature, putting rural in rural education research, and the need for…

The career arc for many in student affairs involves an uncertain journey. Finding balance between the professional and personal life can be challenging. For some, changing careers in mid-stream, an emerging trend in some facets of the American working landscape, offers possibilities. For others, retiring after a full career and working part-time…

Few research examples or discussions about successful and practical application of environmental education within teacher education programs exist (UNESCO-UNEP, 1990). Meaningful environmental education experiences for preservice teachers need to incorporate the processes of inquiry, implementation, and reflection. In this article, we describe an…

This article argues cultural anthropology would make a good partner to service-learning pedagogy because it offers students a theoretical approach for understanding community life and its power structures. Anthropologists have been dealing with power vis-a-vis the people they study using concepts relevant to the reflection process in…

The Anthropology Department at Western Michigan University has sponsored an annual archaeological field school since the mid-1970s. Over the past decade, students have worked with community and government organizations, learning to apply archaeological methods to real world problems to preserve and interpret significant heritage sites. They come…

After several years of teaching Sociological Thought--an upper division course that focuses on classical, modern, and contemporary sociological theories--the author came across the idea of student portfolios. As a consequence, the course has undergone far-reaching changes. The content remains relatively intact; however, today the theory course…

This paper considers some of the problems inherent in teaching qualitative research methods within psychology. It stresses the use of a reflective approach to course design that aims to "emancipate" students in their own study and research, as well as equipping them with a combination of practical and theoretical skills. In addition to a brief…

This article presents an exploratory case study that sought to gain insight into the development of both cognitive and affective understandings of place that resulted from the UTK (University of Tennessee in Knoxville) cohort visits to the Cincinnati schools. Ten reflections were collected from the cohort members upon their return from these…

One of the most significant societal changes over the past few decades has been the growing number of women in the paid work force. As a direct result of this sociological phenomenon, childcare centres have been providing long day care for vastly increasing numbers of very young children. The speed of this change has created a societal dilemma…

In this study, the researchers examined the effectiveness of a reflective model of peer mentoring in the professional growth of early-career science teachers. The study was carried out over one academic year with three beginning secondary science teachers. The public school teachers in this study reported that participation in peer mentoring…

The authors draw on data from weekly e-mail responses to a questionnaire completed by beginning teachers placed in one-year, paid, internships. Interns were assigned mentors who responded every several weeks, also via e-mail, to a questionnaire about the interns and their development. Data from 23 interns were analyzed. Seven themes were…

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the use of multimedia cases for the purposes of preservice teacher preparation. Case-based learning typically involves an analysis of a teaching scenario followed by a discussion of issues that emerge. While this kind of activity is consistent with theories of situated learning and social…

Educational Process Reflection (EPR) has been introduced in Swedish pre-school practice and brought about an expanded focus in educational work, concerning democratic values and promotion of health. The study used EPR to facilitate professional development, by teachers' collective reflection of narratives and observations of interaction and play…

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the relationship between the social and the individual as it is enacted in personal learning and the remaking of cultural practices through work. It discusses progress in a two-year study of the work, working lives and learning of 12 individuals: four groups of three employees each. The concept of…

A primary goal in experiential education is to facilitate the learning from the activities in a meaningful, empowering and compelling manner. The activities, which are used to guide a reflective session, debrief a particular incident or process a learning activity vary greatly across the profession. In a study of 76 experiential educators in…