Equity issues in education and the conditions out of which they emerge frame the chapters of this yearbook. These chapters analyze the arenas in which our society must seek greater equity, but they do not offer a blueprint, or any singular theory or body of knowledge. The chapters are: (1) "Community Education and Education for Community" (Colin…

An analysis of the use of language in a social service context using microethnographic research techniques is described. The study examined a single interaction between a welfare caseworker and a client as they address the client's employment and educational options. The interaction was videotaped and a segment of just over a minute was analyzed…

This paper examines research in science education, making a case for the interpretive researcher to value both reason and emotion for generating a reflective and reflexive understanding of the classroom experiences of teachers and students. It discusses the role of rationality and emotions in fieldwork, and presents two impressionistic…

This study used an ethnographic approach to evaluate the impact of the South Dakota Head Start/Public School Transition Demonstration Project on school climate and parent involvement, focusing on the impact of family service coordinators. The demonstration group was composed of children and families who received comprehensive Head Start-like…

Early intervention programs have been designed to improve the educational chances for at-risk or poor children who are more likely than middle class children to come from families lacking characteristics that contribute to children's educational success. This study used an ethnographic orientation to evaluate the impact of the South Dakota Head…

This guide is specific to Rhode Island in its resource orientation, but is broadly applicable to any geographic area in its overall approach and format. Designed to introduce folklore, folklife, folk arts, and ethnic arts to students of all ages, this program guide takes advantage of on-going multicultural activities of the Folk Arts Program and…

This bulletin is a detailed list of source materials and resource packets for teachers, covering specific topics from the perspectives of anthropology, archaeology, and ethnography. All materials listed are available through the Smithsonian Institution. Pricing information is given with each item, and many materials are free of charge. Materials…

This study examined an institution that is in the process of developing programs and organizations to meet the new challenges faced by higher education. It reviewed the evolution of a new, boundary-spanning organization at a major research university from the perspective of the persons involved. The study looked at the experiences of the people…

Drawing upon arguments from the sociology of work and from debates about literacy, this paper explores the connection between schooling, work, and language through an ethnographic analysis of school and community in a rural, northeastern United States setting. The paper presents evidence of a disjunction between schooling and adult work and…

This paper summarizes a 22-month ethnographic study of rural Shandon (California), a community that demonstrates the social and demographic changes resulting from agricultural intensification in rural California. Changes in the Shandon area's agricultural production have produced a demographic shift from the homogeneous Anglo-American farming and…

This paper reports on a qualitative ethnographic research study on the inclusion of children with severe disabilities into a Montessori preschool program in Lawrence, Kansas. The program has served 20 children with disabilities since its inception in 1986. The program's emergent model involves a split program (utilizing a special education…

This paper discusses the visual organizers and graphic interfaces used to manage and report the findings from a 10-month ethnographic study of student participation and interaction in computer mediated communication (CMC) activities within the classrooms of both a freshman writing class and a plant science lab. The study focuses on social…

In the course of an ethnographic case study of a rural, Appalachian Head Start program, the researcher became increasingly aware of the bias she brought to the project in favor of the universal applicability of developmentally appropriate practice. The study was an extension of Sally Lubeck's "Sandbox Society" (1985), and focused on…

Qualitative approaches in educational research are challenging traditional postivistic, psychometric paradigms by emphasizing: (1) close contact over detachment; (2) multiple techniques in obtaining data; (3) bottom-up inductive frameworks; and (4) phenomenological approaches. Section 1, "Ethnographic Investigations into High Schools," includes…

An ethnographic study examined the personal and professional life experiences that contributed to a science teacher's beliefs about science and science teaching, and how these experiences interacted to affect the teacher's decisions about content literacy strategies. The teacher in question was a veteran of 16 years of teaching chemistry and…