Responds to Herbert Zimiles's criticisms in this issue of an overreliance on empirical, quantitative data in child development research, arguing that, although quantitative research has limitations, intuition is no substitute for a rigorous, systematic investigation of a hypothesis. (MDM)

Assumptions and theories underlying grants peer review as a way to select research proposals for funding and its usefulness as an evaluation methodology are explored. Issues arising from the operation of peer-based systems at the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health are examined. (SLD)

Illustrating with a real-life problem involving a 12th-grade math teacher's decision to fail a college-bound minority student, this article shows how case studies enhance preservice teachers' learning and awareness. In the classroom, teaching strategies, evaluation methods, and decisions about students' lives are inextricably entangled with a…

Delineates the factors that mediate the translation of preservice teachers' conceptions of the nature of science into instructional planning and classroom practice. Few references to the nature of science are found in the data. Contains 44 references. (DDR)

Illustrates how a culture of collaboration may contribute to significant technological reform and foster conceptual change leading to distinctive pedagogy and praxis. Presents a case study exploring a collaborative effort between a teacher and a researcher. Contains 31 references. (DDR)

Explores the link between research and teaching in higher education. Topics include various perspectives on the central function of universities; models of departmental practice linking research and teaching; a deep approach to learning as a bridge between research and teaching; and implications for the education and training of academic staff.…

Discusses theory and practice in the context of peer observation. Peer Observation is widely accepted in principle as a valuable contribution to teacher development, but in practice it is often resisted.(SM)

Challenges vague, underconceptualized notions of teacher professional community. Findings from an exploration of two California middle-school teacher communities suggest that current models obscure significant differences in beliefs and practices. One community stresses teachers' individual rights and responsibilities; the other is driven by a…

Because traditional instruction ignores students' personal construction of mathematical meaning, mathematical thought development is not properly nurtured. Several issues must be addressed, including adults' ignorance of math- and student-learning processes, identification of math-education research specialists, the myth of coverage, testing…

Describes how learner diaries were used as a means for evaluating a teacher-training course. Records how data from the diaries was categorized and interpreted, and discusses some of the issues for this particular type of course that the evaluation has revealed. (Author/VWL)

Examines the complex relationship between the concept of diversity, and the concept of disability and argues for an overriding sociocultural framework for special education as a responsible way to link these concepts in practice. (Author)

Describes functional assessment, discusses the need to translate research findings into formats and processes that can be used efficiently in applied settings, and stresses the need for research to continue to build a technology of functional assessment that meets the range of situations faced in schools and communities. (Author/CR)

Draws on research/development projects aimed at raising achievement through teaching thinking to explore core concepts of thinking skills and learning. Argues that educators need to move from the idea of developing the thinking child to creating powerful learning environments, thinking classroom, schools, and communities. Discusses approaches to…

Reading researchers are under attack by policy makers and others outside the field who want a quick, easy method for teaching students to read. Although common ground exists, nothing points to any single best way to teach reading. What matters most is the teacher, flexible approaches, and student interests. Contains 17 references. (MLH)

To transform gendered organizational theories and practices in education, conversational meeting spaces must be created. Board rooms, classrooms, graduate educational administration courses, preservice education policy courses, staff lunch rooms, and professional seminars and journals are all sites for reinscribing or resisting gendered norms.…