This study examined preservice teachers' understanding of the syntactic structures of inquiry; in particular, what it means to give priority to evidence and how to use evidence to construct explanations. Data were collected from student journals, the course syllabus, the assignment description, and weekly lesson plans. The use of content analysis…

Background/Context: A longstanding debate continues concerning whether community colleges democratize education by expanding enrollment or divert students from attaining a bachelor's degree. The extant evidence is contradictory, but recent findings suggest that community colleges are serving to democratize education without a sizeable diversion…

We designed a series of analyses to develop a measurement system capable of simultaneously recording the free-play patterns of 20 children in a preschool classroom. Study 1 determined the intermittency with which the location and engagement of each child could be momentarily observed before the accuracy of the measurement was compromised. Results…

This article demonstrates the use of mixed-effects logistic regression (MLR) for conducting sequential analyses of binary observational data. MLR is a special case of the mixed-effects logit modeling framework, which may be applied to multicategorical observational data. The MLR approach is motivated in part by G. A. Dagne, G. W. Howe, C. H.…

Clinical interviewing is viewed here as a social interactional pattern in order to examine the nature and limits of the technique as a means of scientific data acquisition. I defend the technique against criticisms that it is ecologically suspect and prone to systematic biases, mainly due to influence of the interviewer on the interviewee or to…

Gas laws are taught in most undergraduate general chemistry courses and even in some high school chemistry courses. This article describes the author's experience of using the laboratory to allow students to "discover" gas laws instead of the conventional approach of using the lecture to teach this concept. Students collected data using Vernier…

Newton's cooling curve was chosen for the four-part laboratory inquiry into conditions affecting temperature change. The relationship between time and temperature is not foreseen by the average high school student before the first session. However, during several activities students examine the classic relationship, T = A exp[superscript -Ct] + B…

Managing data collected from online surveys may be a straightforward process involving no more than downloading a spreadsheet from a Web survey host and presenting descriptive statistics associated with each questionnaire item. On the other hand, if the evaluation objectives require more complex analysis and presentation of the data, it will be…

The construction of a new highly-sensitive, computer-interfaced, differential thermal analysis (DTA) device, used for gathering different information about the chemical reactions, is described. The instrument provides a better understanding about the phase transitions, phase diagrams and many more concepts to the students.

Although the mail survey is an efficient method for collecting data, its major disadvantage of nonresponse bias is reflected in the number of studies conducted investigating the effects of incentives to increase response rates. Linsky (1975) reviewed studies investigating the use of incentives to increase mailed return rates and found…

This report of research findings describes a confidentiality-preserving data collection method called the Context-Determined, Rule-Generated, Pseudonym (CDRGP) technique, a specifically constructed set of questions based upon personal information known to the respondent (but to few others) which each respondent answers whenever data are gathered;…

This report is a compilation of record-keeping techniques being used in elementary schools in New York State. The materials compiled are not all-inclusive nor meant to be an exemplary collection; they represent the response to a request sent by the Board of Elementary Curriculum Development in June 1971. Five major sections include program…

This task was part of an effort directed to the dissemination and installation of new products. In addition to assembling comprehensive information about these products, the mission was to evolve a set of criteria for use in selecting from among them those to be recommended for National Center for Educational Communication (NCEC)…

The effectiveness of the educational efforts of the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service was studied. A random selection of two counties from each of the ten supervisory areas was used. Information was gathered by mail questionnaires sent to 1,000 randomly selected clientele from the 20 counties. Conclusions are: (1) The extension effectively…

The purpose was to test the effectiveness of a $5.00 incentive on the rate of return of mail questionnaires sent to 353 schools in the United States. The effects of the geographical region and the size of the city in which the sampled schools were located, and the school type (junior high vs. senior high) also were studied. Results showed that a…