Presents an ethnographic study of whether a heterogeneous group of Sotho people in Southern Africa continues to subscribe to a particular cultural metaphor concerning heat, even though the group is no longer strictly traditional in its way of life. Considers implications of the metaphor's persistence for the learning of orthodox scientific…

The aim of this article is to provide a conceptual picture of a "Mathematics and Society" curriculum. Examples of such curricula are described, along with discussion of ethnomathematics and self-generated mathematics, the social institution of mathematics, critical thinking and conscientization, and policy issues. (MNS)

An ethnographic research project to document the ways in which new immigrants and established residents in communities around the country adjust to each other and learn to live together in relative harmony is described. Six institutions have been awarded two-year grants. (MLW)

Examines the attempted acquisition of Welsh by English speakers in Wales in relation to the native association of Welsh-language speech with Welsh cultural identity. The learners' status as verbal performers is investigated together with the psychological impact of that status and the ambiguity of the learners' identity on the learning process.…

The delicacy required of ethnographic work is nowhere more evident and more necessary than at the conceptual crossroads where methods and ethical decision making intersect. This paper addresses moments of decision and puts them into perspective by locating them within the lifecycle of ethnographic evaluation. (LMO)

An ethnographic case study was conducted in an inner city elementary school in Montreal. Focus was on how teachers (1) formulate assumptions about pupil behavior on past experience; (2) group a heterogeneous student population less on ability than on practical organizational interests; and (3) allow pedagogical circumstances to affect perception…

The use of ethnography in educational research has a potential for building bridges between teacher practice and theory and research. In preservice teacher education, it can induce reflectiveness and encourage observational skills. In inservice education, research would be rooted in teachers' concerns and could become a joint enterprise between…

Describes a study that explored the collaborative writing processes of a group of business executives over the course of a year as they prepared a vital company document. Shows how context affected the writers' conceptions of their rhetorical situations and their writing behavior and how the rhetorical activities influenced the structure of the…

Critiqued is the article, "Teacher as Shaman: An Educational Criticism," (Studies in Art Education, v25 n1), containing a case study of an art teacher who employs performance-based ritual to stimulate thinking about art's meaning and history. The problem that ethnographic researchers have conveying credibility when summarizing…

Undergraduate education majors should be given opportunities to conduct ethnographic research as a part of their preservice training. Programs at the University of Utah and the University of Wisconsin (Madison) illustrate ways to use such an approach. (Author/PP)

Discusses a case study describing the philosophy of teaching design to architecture students as practiced by one professor. A model of his architectural design curriculum emerged. Three issues arose: constructing theory from data grounded in experience, posing appropriate research questions, and understanding the roots of ethnographic inquiry.…

The strengths and weaknesses of using ethnographic research to investigate equity in a study of a grade 9 class that used a dynamic geometry program with laptop computers will be presented. It will be argued that research approaches that involve "windows on practice" provide understanding of not only who is advantaged and disadvantaged in…

In ethnographic research, silence can be probed as a filter through which to understand metaphors present and absent in conversations. The question posited in this study is how to account for silence as deliberate. From analysis of conversational interactions with classroom teachers, it became apparent that the silences also had meaning, that they…

In an effort to determine why there is continued scarcity of all women and of men of color in the sciences, this study turns the lens of the social sciences onto social aspects of the sciences. Interviews with academic science faculty examined gender and racial/ethnic issues in the professional domain of a variety of scientists for clues as to how…

This paper presents a "thick description" of a phonics lesson delivered to a first grade classroom (n=18) by the teacher. Following the description, the paper presents analyses from the following different perspectives: (1) the definition of reading; (2) curriculum from a critical point of view; (3) reading and culture; (4) teachers and…