Presents a social studies unit on house building for 5- to 7-year olds. Discusses rationale for the project approach and outlines unit components. Describes the three components of the curriculum planning strategy: (1) impression activities; (2) extension activities; and (3) expression activities. Discusses experiences during unit implementation…

Attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and classroom practices of 476 teachers in 24 urban and suburban elementary schools were assessed with teacher questionnaires and observation. Teachers serving students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds put more emphasis on teacher authority and control and were more doubtful of student abilities. (SLD)

Used participant observation, child interviews, and teacher meetings to examine reading strategies that emerged in a first-grade, multiethnic, urban classroom over 20 weeks. Found that children used five reading strategies, including narrative storytelling, relying on memory, and word-for-word reading; tensions emerged between strategies that…

Reports and discusses observations of three confident, experienced teachers organizing investigative science in their classrooms. The teachers wore microphones and the recorded data coupled with field notes formed a record of what happened that could be negotiated with the teachers. (DDR)

Classroom observation of 13 college language courses and analysis of student questionnaire and teacher interview responses indicated that teachers varied widely in use of target language with a mean of 67.9 percent; language type, departmental policy, lesson content, and teacher training affected target language use; and students were generally…

Outlines three learning activities for elementary level comparative cultural studies, focusing on developing nations cultures. "School Artifacts Box" develops observation and inference skills. "Proverbs" directs students to compare/contrast African and Western proverbs. "Improvising Social Studies Media" suggests…

A governance conflict between the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the state education agency for control of the teacher education program is examined. Interviews, document analysis, and participant observation were used. Internal institutional variables, external environmental forces, and political processes were the central factors. (TJH)

Discusses study that was designed to examine the effects of microcomputers on the ecology of secondary special education classrooms and explains the MICROS Observation System, which was used to collect observational data. The effects of microcomputer use on student behavior and teacher behavior are described. (25 references) (Author/LRW)

The quantitative synthesis of 89 correlations from 16 studies of behavioral ratings and classroom observations suggested significant problems in the areas of the construct of behavioral disorder and criterion-related validity of widely used measures of social behavior. A "components of variance" model is proposed to aid in educational decision…

Presents a step-by-step approach designed to help early childhood teachers learn to use materials in interest areas to facilitate children's development. (BB)

Reviews a number of second-language (L2) classroom-based research projects undertaken at the University of Stirling in Scotland. It is argued that a full understanding of classroom-based L2 learning requires the integration of sociolinguistic studies of the classroom context with psycholinguistic studies of second language acquisition. (Author/VWL)

Describes issues which are common to all research methodologies and some that were unique to the assessment techniques used in the Child Development Project (CDP) in San Ramon, California. Looks at the limited amount of time given assessments and the "fluid" nature of measurements. Notes that CDP issues involved observations,…

Correspondence between "macro" (teacher-to-group) and "micro" (teacher-to-student) measures of teaching effectiveness was studied by multivariate analysis of variance of extreme groups and whole-sample cluster analysis, using 43 middle school teachers. Macro measures tended to identify more effective teachers, while micro…

Describes the results of a survey of broadcasting libraries in Nigeria that used questionnaires, observation techniques, and interviews to generate data. Inadequacies regarding staffing, development, preservation and conservation practices, collection development, bibliographic control, space, and funding are discussed, and recommendations for…

A springtime forest probably contains over 100 shades of green. Describes outdoor observation activities that let the children monitor tree and plant growth. (PR)