Developed by the German pedagogue Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), the Kindergarten offered a revolutionary educational program for young children. In the mid-nineteenth century, after several decades of limited success in the German states, Froebel's Kindergarten began to be transplanted to other countries, including the USA and England. The…

The purpose of this study is to determine whether less informal child care support from family and friends is related to supervisory neglect and, if there is a relationship, to test several explanations for why some mothers receive less child care. Thirty-two low-income mothers who did not adequately supervise their children were matched to 32…

Although outreach frequently is used to provide community-based HIV prevention services to members of underserved populations, researchers may not be familiar with the specific components of and factors influencing outreach and how systematic community outreach methods can be used to recruit participants for research purposes. This article…

For many children, the transition to secondary school is marked by both anxiety and excitement, particularly in relation to friendship. This article draws upon the concept of social capital--the resources individuals and collectives derive from their social networks--in order to understand the significance of change and continuity in children's…

Rural sociologists figure prominently in the move towards public sociology. The paper takes up Michael Burawoy's call for public sociology and discusses what rural sociologists have to offer to publics and how we stand to gain as a discipline in working with publics. The paper argues that rural sociologists' ability to adopt a cosmopolitan view…

Background: The aim of this study was to explore, from the perspective of key communication partners, the meaning of a communication intervention and associated changes for an adult with severe intellectual disability (ID). Method: The parents and key support workers of Mark, a 22-year-old man with ID and complex communication needs, were…

With nearly four decades of National Council for the Social Studies conferences under his belt, the author reflects on the valuable networking and stimulating sessions he attended, and highlights key educational websites from the increasingly technologically-adept exhibits. Here, he describes five websites that can be useful resources for…

The present research examined how perceived marginalization of one's romantic relationship is associated with level of future commitment to and stability of that involvement. Results from a 7-month longitudinal study of romantically involved individuals (N = 215) revealed that perceived social network marginalization at Time 1 predicted breakup…

Blogs, wikis, podcasting, social networks... it seems the entire world has gone 2.0 crazy. Among the followers are educators, who, in ever increasing numbers, are integrating these online, interactive tools into their classrooms and even libraries. This article presents profiles of a few of educators who have taken the plunge, launching blogs,…

This study reports on New Zealand dairy farmers' access to and use of information as mediated through conditions of risk and trust within the context of their interpersonal social networks. We located participants' reports of their information use within their perceived environments of trust and risk, following Giddens's [1990. The consequences of…

User participation and its relationship to system success have been discussed in the information systems (IS) literature from many theoretical and practical perspectives. In reality, most of this discussion is grounded in empirical research that has yielded mixed results on the importance of user participation and its relationship to system…

Background: This study was situated in Singapore, which aims to achieve engaged learning in P-12 schools with the use of educational technology. One of the foci of study among Singaporean educational researchers is a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment that emphasizes collaboration among learners for the coconstruction of…

This case study explores how a community-based truancy prevention program mediates against absenteeism, truancy, and dropping out and positively transforms the lives of Black and Latina/Latino middle school youth. Findings suggest that community-school partnerships are critical in the quest to combat truancy and the alarming dropout rate among…

Introduces the Interpersonal Network Questionnaire (INQ), an instrument designed to measure constructs of social networks such as social participation, confidant size, and frequency of contact. Discusses item generation, reliability, administration, and applications of the INQ. (Author/NB)

Assessed composition and functioning of academics' professional networks. Results suggest that by the third year at the assistant professor level, women in psychology have established a small same-sex support network, but that their larger network functioning may be beginning to diverge from men's in one important area: building a professional…