Although much United States national media attention and research surveys have publicized the many ways in which gender bias and inequities continue to flourish in education, the research on gender and literacy has not been systematically analyzed or reviewed. This book provides a synthesis of the research studies on gender and literacy for…

This study, part of a larger study of academic persistence, examined the experiences of 24 African American students who persisted toward graduation at small, predominantly white colleges in the Southeastern United States. Similar studies have primarily focused on large public universities. A qualitative approach guided this study with…

A study examined welfare reform and food security issues. Interviews were conducted with 32 rural Louisiana women in 1997-98 when they were receiving welfare payments, in 1998-99 when they were in transition, and in 2000-01 when none received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Most women were African-American; about half had not…

The growing popularity of focus group measurements can be traced to any one of four factors: (1) the economics associated with focus groups; (2) the speed at which data can now be collected; (3) the need to understand customer motivations; and (4) the desire to improve subsequent qualitative research activities and programs. Market researchers are…

The researcher recounts her own experiences as an educational administrator in a central office who examined that position in a research study of the power relations and effectiveness of women in administrative authority. The researcher's reactions to being the object of study, and being perceived in a way that differed from her self-perceptions,…

Over the past 10 years, a handful of museums and school districts have joined forces to create an innovation that blends formal and informal learning, the museum school. As yet, there is no commonly accepted definition of the term, but such schools can be described as partnerships that create a curriculum that embeds the district-mandated learning…

A qualitative study examined the effectiveness of the combination of autobiography, biography, and cross-cultural analyses in the context of preservice teacher education. Subjects were 21 preservice teachers at a rural Midwestern public university in which only 9% of the 11,000 students were from minority backgrounds. Subjects, for a class…

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine to what extent high school teachers' purported beliefs in contemporary science education goals are embedded in routine classroom practice. The context of this study is a learning community-based high school that belongs to the Coalition of Essential Schools and is sensitive to reform issues. The…

Researchers examined two independent museum education studies conducted at the same large science center in Toronto, Canada, and considered the implications of both studies for museum education. Study "A" explored museum development practice and its relation to casual visitor understandings of key concepts. Study "B" engaged…

Until the 1960s the rule of science was a characteristic of modernity in academic life. Since then, a postmodern trend has been running counter to a faith in a universal and objective scientific methodology. Postmodernists have taught us that there are no single truths, that there are many valuable perspectives, and that the line between the…

The primary aim of this dissertation is to contribute to an increased understanding of the information utilization process through studying impeding process determinants, information barriers, and how they might be tackled by pedagogical means. The study uses a qualitative approach within the tradition of action research. Case studies were made of…

Noting that details of everyday life contribute to parental equality or inequality, this qualitative study focused on how couples transformed parental roles to create truly equal families. Participating in the study were 88 couples in 4 categories, based on division of parental responsibilities: equal sharers, 60-40 couples, 75-25 couples, and…

Many educational institutions have moved toward situated learning and problem-based learning (PBL) in which students, to learn, must rely on investigations of problems within an authentic professional context. A study examined and described how students read and learn in such a context. Results of a 1995 qualitative study showed that four out of…

This paper considers changing practice in literacy teaching from a traditionally individualized approach where great emphasis was placed on adult child interaction to a more teacher-directed program. September 1998 saw the introduction of a National Literacy Strategy in England. For the first time the national government prescribed not only what…

This qualitative study investigated the temporal identities of 4- and 5-year-old children in Mexico and the United States, and the conditions that shaped changes in their ideas about time after they entered public school kindergarten. The study also examined the children's families, communities, and classrooms to gain a comprehensive view of the…