This paper reviews research on symbolic play gaps between children with and without language impairment (LI), arguing that these gaps should not be interpreted as demonstrative of marked deficits in general representational or specific symbolic play competence of children with LI. Frequent encroachment of language into testing procedures is cited…

Reviews briefly accounting writing skill research, discusses the subject bias prevalent in that research, and relates this weakness to a potential bias toward grammar and syntax in curriculum development. Argues that the user of accounting information is an important but neglected party in the communication process, whose input should be…

Recent research indicates that participating in service-learning programs appears to benefit youngsters, but there is scant evidence demonstrating the connection between service and particular educational objectives. Except for consistent evidence supporting a reflection component, researchers have failed to identify which program elements and…

Presents a critical review of research on student conceptions of the Earth and its place in the universe with regard to epistemological, historical, and cognitive aspects. The Copernican model drives the research questioning about the position of the Earth in the universe with little correlation of the model with the empirical level of…

The expansion of the commercial Internet has encouraged the interpretation of the Internet and its uses as a potential marketing medium. Examines statistical and demographic information about the Internet including number of Internet hosts and World Wide Web servers, and estimates of Internet users; and raises questions about definitions and…

Notes that holistic approaches to learning through play may not be universally effective with all children. Reviews studies in this journal issue, noting the absence of socioeconomic status as a variable, and questions raised by their results in the context of applying them to increasingly diverse populations. (HTH)

Discusses the difficulties in conducting a case study on the attitudes and beliefs that individuals held about mainstreaming a boy with disabilities, including changes in terminology, methodological dilemmas, and discrepancies between the definitions that participants explicitly shared and observations of their interactions with the boy. (CR)

Nine types of errors occurring in the process of synthesizing research are described, with examples from a recent synthesis of research on teacher professional growth. Types of errors include excluding relevant literature, wrongly reporting details such as sample size, erroneously attributing findings to studies, and stating unwarranted…

Problems in using comparative data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study include the following: inadequate funding of the research; unique cultural factors; questionable sampling procedures; noncomparative curricula; irregularities in test administration; and student preparation for tests. Results do not identify the root…

Although converging evidence favors fostering phonemic segmentation and phonic decoding knowledge in the primary grades, there is little agreement on best ways to accomplish these goals. The well-documented importance of teacher expertise is often ignored. Administrators evaluating reading programs should exercise considerable skepticism and…

A study of 270 abstracts of articles published from 1952 to 1996 investigated the literature on social and emotional needs of gifted students and found most articles were not research based. Half of the articles were overviews of programs, models, or guides and did not include adequate information on their outcomes. (CR)

Shares the experiences of a researcher engaged in qualitative research. Looks at researcher sensitivity and flexibility, ethical dilemmas, and the importance of a good "research alliance" with participants. Discusses, the implications of including participants as collaborators and the role of co-researchers. Emphasizes the impact of…

Examines the claim in a recent paper that biotechnology develops in a self-organizational mode, which is empirically supported by a multivariate analysis of documents from core biotechnology journals showing a relationship between title words and region of origin. This paper argues that this claim is an artifact of the method used. (Author/MES)

Asserts that Harper and McCluskey's study addresses a "second generation" research question concerning differential effects of interventions/settings on children with different characteristics; provides information about needed supports in inclusive settings for children with either severe motor impairments or severely limited language skills.…

Discusses the role of ontology in knowledge representation, including enabling content-based access, interoperability, communications, and new levels of service on the Semantic Web; reviews current ontology generation studies and projects as well as problems facing such research; and discusses ontology mapping, information extraction, natural…