The experience of four University of California campuses (Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz) buying into a national survey is reported. Participation was cost-effective, enabled local results to be highlighted and reported in locally determined ways, and provided perspective on differences between local and nationwide conditions.…

All About Us is a statistical investigation that also involves social studies, language arts, problem solving, and mathematical communication. A fourth-grade class designed a short survey to solicit information from British pen pals to compare typical fourth-grade students in England with themselves. They collected and analyzed data, drew…

Describes class exercises where undergraduates construct and test mathematical models using data and issues related to social security. The students collect data and forecast economic and demographic variables that determine future tax rates. They then discuss government policies that are derived from their models. (MJP)

Examines how and why language policy decisions were made in Indiana from 1976 to 1995 and what the effect of those decisions was on the delivery of educational services to language minority students attending public schools. The article draws on legal documents and interviews with legislators and advocates to show the process and outcome of the…

Examines the spontaneous speech of Portuguese-speaking two-year olds in natural conversation with Portuguese-speaking adults. The children were separated into three groups based on Mean Length of Utterance in Words (MLUW). The children in the highest-MLUW group almost perfectly matched the adult speakers on every measure. (37 references)…

Reviews Bialystok's (1990a) analysis of communication strategy work and describes two studies in which products are interpreted within frameworks illuminating underlying processes of second language (L2) learning. Concludes that products, appropriately analyzed, can provide important insights into the processes of L2 learners. (73 references)…

Investigates target language variability between speaking and writing in the second language acquisition of non-native English speakers. Results reveal that as narrators advance in English proficiency, they develop more abstract content and reported style in speech and writing and that speech and writing become more interactive. (28 references)…

Shows how teachers can move beyond holistic teaching by engaging students in critical learning. Appropriate activities include introducing a research topic, development of the research question, additional research, data analysis and report writing, presentation of the report to the class and making recommendations for possible action, and…

Studies the effect of vocabulary glossing on reading comprehension in second-language learning. Findings reveal that there was a significant effect for glossing but no significant interactions between the treatment and any of the other variables, i.e., psychological type, tolerance of ambiguity, proficiency, frequency of gloss use, perceived value…

This paper describes a data-based case study of a linked array of community-based treatment services for troublesome, dual-diagnosed children and adolescents. Factors in the program's successes are described, followed by long-term data supporting treatment effectiveness. Results support applied research at this level and present a simple…

Describes a science activity appropriate for middle and high school students investigating the temperature, pH, and conductivity of a man-made lake. Uses an inquiry-based interdisciplinary approach. Collects and analyzes data to determine whether there is any significant difference among the factors considering the very little variance in lake…

A primer for schools attempting to analyze the data they collect. Describes ways schools can get a better picture of how to improve learning by gathering, intersecting, and organizing four categories of data more efficiently: (1) demographic data; (2) student-learning data; (3) perceptions data; and (4) school-processes data. (WFA)

Questions raised by contemporary research on mathematical giftedness were addressed in a longitudinal study based on a random stratified sample of 95,650 tenth graders and a subsample of 497 mathematically gifted boys and 508 mathematically gifted girls from this larger pool. Gender differences and educational outcomes are discussed. (SLD)

Described is an instructional strategy that has incorporated a form of cooperative learning. The three parts of this method are presented as a multimodal discussion cycle. The use of this method with students having special learning needs in mathematics has been found to be particularly effective. (KR)

Described is an experiment in which the student can ascertain the meaning of a negative result from a qualitative test by performing a more sensitive quantitative test on the same sample. Methodology for testing urinary glucose with a spectrophotometer at 630 nm and with commercial assaying glucose strips is presented. (MVL)