Case studies of three nontraditional female college graduates from an Appalachian community in eastern Kentucky examined whether and how education changed these women's literacy habits. Also addressed were the literate practices they used in job, home, and community settings; the effects of their education on their children; and whether…

The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed overview of the development and initial validation of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The MSLQ is an 81-item, self-report instrument designed to measure college students' motivational orientations and their use of various learning strategies (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, &…

This guide is designed to encourage students, faculty, and policymakers to become more self-reflective in their inquiry. Placing the pursuit of ideas at the epicenter of research, K-12 and higher education scholars advance ideas for enhancing educational inquiry, relying extensively on narratives, vignettes, and examples of key episodes in…

The transition from elementary to middle school can be an exciting as well as scary time for young adolescents. The stress of this transition can be decreased by incorporating transition programs that address student needs and concerns. This qualitative research study was designed to gain an overall sense of fourth grade in order to better…

This qualitative study explores philosophies, life experiences, educational preparation, classroom techniques, and perceived limitations that enhance or prevent a feeling of successful teaching practice for six middle school science teachers who have at least one but no more than four years of science teaching experience. The study was conducted…

This guide for researchers introduces important research methodologies and data collecting techniques, provides a framework for the critical assessment of existing research, and encourages involvement of academics and practitioners in research. Chapter 1, on planning a research project, discusses scheduling, time management, and planning the…

This paper examines issues identified in a qualitative study in nine diverse local service systems as program administrators of early intervention programs for young children with disabilities sought to obtain United Way funding and other sources of philanthropy. Data are based on issues raised in nine focus groups conducted with community…

This qualitative study explored the evaluative criteria used by administrators at a southern, metropolitan university to define institutional effectiveness and to determine the congruency between those criteria and the institution's metropolitan mission. Four focus groups were conducted with 22 administrators (vice chancellors, associate and…

This case study of an historian high school history teacher is an account of how differing views of the nature of history and historical knowledge influenced the teacher's teaching practice. The two discourse communities the teacher belonged to, that of the university where the degree was granted and that of the school community in which the…

In studying urban schools, researchers have identified several critical curriculum issues related to the miseducation and alienation of African American students. This paper looks at three such issues: the disconnection between the school curriculum and African American students' cultural backgrounds and environments (e.g., black dialect versus…

At the beginning of the spring 2000 semester, 19 sophomores enrolled in the Principles of Teaching class at Heidelberg College (Ohio) were asked to complete weekly e-mail journal entries about the course. At the end of the semester, they were asked to give their perceptions regarding journal use. Sixteen students completed this particular entry,…

Modules to teach the appropriate integration of technology into social studies teaching were pilot-taught in a secondary social studies methods course. The seven modules emphasized the World Wide Web as a resource for teachers and students. Pre- and post-course surveys were conducted with the 24 students in the course. Both qualitative and…

In an effort to apply traditional instructional design theories to World Wide Web course development, this qualitative research study examined experiences in Web course design and delivery and explored what components affected Web-based course design. The purpose of the study was to identify and document instructional design attributes of the Web…

This paper reports on a study that investigated group learning processes in computer-supported collaborative concept mapping. Thirty 5th grade Taiwanese students were selected to attend a computer-mediated collaborative concept mapping activity. Dialog messages and map products tracked and recorded by the mapping system were analyzed. The…

This report describes the design of the Literacy in Libraries Across America (LILAA) persistence study, the strategies that participating libraries are using to increase student persistence, and emerging implementation issues. It describes existing patterns in student persistence, identifies factors that support or inhibit persistence, and begins…