This mixed methods study examined the effects of inserting laptops and science technology tools in middle school environments. Working together with a local university, middle school science teaching faculty members wrote and aligned curricula, explored relevant science education literature, tested lessons with summer school students, and prepared…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of a professional development (PD) program on teacher self-efficacy and classroom practice. Thirty-eight in-service teachers from a foundation school in Izmir participated in this study. Multiple sets of data for this study came from the Turkish teachers' sense of efficacy scale, classroom…

In this study I explored the existing perceptions of community college in the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Three different groups of people were interviewed in the research process including high school students, college students and citizens who lived in towns supported by a community college. Common themes of perception found within the…

Purpose: Although teacher educators have worked on improving pre-service teachers' diversity awareness, researchers still face the challenge of pursuing a better approach to achieve the goal. In an era when educators are calling for evidence-based practice, the purpose of this paper is to explore various ways in which both teacher-education…

The pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is a high-tech setting aimed at restoring health to critically ill children. When childhood death occurs in the PICU, it constitutes a special context for parent bereavement. The purpose of this interdisciplinary qualitative research was to gain a deeper understanding of parents' needs around the time of…

Numerous studies have identified that delays in diagnosis related to the mishandling of abnormal test results are an import contributor to diagnostic errors. Factors contributing to missed results included organizational factors, provider factors and patient-related factors. At the diagnosis error conference continuing medical education conference…

Drawing from a one-year qualitative research study, this article explores the transnational lives and experiences of three young women and their little sisters in New York with close ties to the Dominican Republic. Using ethnographic research methods--life history interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and document analysis, I examine…

States that employing a Chicana feminist epistemology in educational research is one means of resisting traditional models. Presents a framework that uses the concept of cultural institutions, which are derived from personal experience, existing literature, professional experience, and analytical research. (SK)

Describes how an educator can use focus groups as part of an action research agenda. Includes tips for conducting and evaluating focus groups. (Author)

Purpose: This study aimed to develop home care quality indicators (HCQIs) to be used by a variety of audiences including consumers, agencies, regulators, and policy makers to support evidence-based decision making related to the quality of home care services. Design and Methods: Data from 3,041 Canadian and 11,252 U.S. home care clients assessed…

Sweeping changes to the Medicare program embodied in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), including a new prescription drug benefit, changes in payment policies, and reform of the Medicare managed-care program, have major implications for rural health care. The most efficient mechanism for research to…

This study considers the effectiveness of initial teacher education in one university college in Northern Ireland in preparing students for teaching in an increasingly diverse society and promoting a culture of tolerance. A cohort of 168 students in their final year were surveyed and this was followed by three focus group interviews. The findings…

In a qualitative investigation of young feminists' experience of body consciousness, 25 feminist women each participated in one of 6 focus groups examining the ways they experienced body image and negotiated cultural messages about women's appearance. Participants described their experience with objectification and its impact on their body image,…

Content-Based Instruction (CBI) may result in improved proficiency in language skills due to the meaningful combination of subject matter and foreign language as a means of communication. This paper shows how university students improved their level of English by means of a content methodology as they attended a course called Topics in Molecular…

The purpose of this research study was to explore what effect instruction in metacognitive strategy (MS) use had on student achievement in a hybrid developmental English course at a community college. The study examined whether the addition of teacher-led or peer-led instruction in MS use would result in improved writing ability for the student…