Reviews "Full Service Schools: A Revolution in Health and Social Services for Children, Youth and Families," by Joy G. Dryfoos, and "Transdisciplinary Play-Based Assessment: A Functional Approach to Working with Young Children," by Toni W. Linder. (HTH)

Suggests that when teachers study their children in systematic ways to enhance classroom management, they are participating in action research. Discusses how data for action research are collected, for example teacher diaries and student portfolios. Presents two examples of action research: one on block play and the other on curriculum…

A case study provides an example of a naturalistic investigation that shows how a cultural diversity teacher preparation program influenced one preservice teacher. The story of this white female illustrates the social complexity of a teacher education program in which human interaction and institutional expectation may prevent multiculturalism…

Discusses approaches by the organization URGENS in helping persons who have dropped out of society. Topics include employment seeking, social workers, experimental activities, imagination, development of creativity and communication, and the need for self-expression and self-observation. (AEF)

This study examined the integration of "leisure" into the ideology of Alcoholics Anonymous. Participant-observation and in-depth interviews found parallels between the concept of sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous and philosophical ideals of leisure both as conditions of freedom from compelled activity and freedom to engage in meaningful…

The evaluation of a science education project for teachers in Durban (South Africa) illustrates some problems inherent in the application of the fourth-generation evaluation approach of Guba and Lincoln. One of the strongest concerns is that full participation by stakeholders may be an unrealistic assumption. (SLD)

Eleven adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and 11 nonhandicapped peers, and their teachers, were observed in vocational education settings. The behavior of the two student groups did not differ significantly nor did the behavior of teachers toward the students differ. Implications for mainstreaming in vocational education classes are…

This study of book interest behaviors of preschoolers focused on four year olds who exhibited a low interest in books in classroom contexts. It was found that providing access to books without teacher mediation did not result in increased book interactions or changes in the childrens' book interests. (18 references) (LRW)

Describes a pilot gender issues course in the University of Ottawa's Bachelor of Education program. The course considers the role of gender issues in adolescent and teacher development, the school curriculum, organizational structure, and interactions. Evaluations indicated that the course was strongly supported by most students, although some…

Reports on a pilot study that attempted to uncover, through classroom observations, how experienced social studies teachers explore and reinforce student understanding of concepts that comprise the adopted curriculum. Particular attention is paid to the use of metaphors, analogies, and similes as examples or reinforcements of verbal or written…

Discusses a case study of how experienced social studies teachers convey the concepts that comprise the curriculum. Reports that researchers observed 3 teachers for 20 hours each. Describes a preference among the teachers for anthropomorphic, familial, and popular culture references. Explains that visual representations were used only as passing…

Introduces a system for recording and using classroom observation (consisting of cycles of teacher entries based on classroom observation, related hypotheses about students' strengths and needs, and regular checking and revision of the hypotheses) that was developed for elementary and middle school students who have difficulties reading. (SR)

This paper reviews, first, experimental studies of perceptual-cognitive development and related work directed to the assessment of infant intelligence and, second, naturalistic observation of the exploratory patterns of infants during free play. Techniques used, such as the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence, offer the potential to identify…

Evaluated the effectiveness in a community college of the Professional Development Program, in which (n=80) mostly minority precalculus students attend workshops utilizing small study groups, faculty leadership, challenging mathematical materials, and peer support networks. No overall effect on student performance was found. Includes postinterview…

This commentary focuses on the application of D. Rogosa and G. Ghandour's work to observational research on classroom processes. Rogosa and Ghandour have shown that the short length of an observation is typically the dominant source of error. Investigators should conduct observations for as long as possible. (SLD)