One Australian teacher education program was challenged to transform theory into practice in a period of retrenchment, through self-analysis and pedagogical change. The context in which this transformation occurred and the approach taken in making changes are discussed. (MSE)

Thirty-six professors in six matched pure and applied fields of study were interviewed to determine validation processes and truth criteria used in their disciplines. Results suggest that different fields operate according to different rules. Teaching students these rules and how they affect learning is an important role of instruction. (SLD)

Presents a historical survey of the dialectic, a heuristic device which enables teachers, researchers, and students to transform hierarchies of relations regarding class, race, and gender. The article discusses Hegel, Marx, and Engels, and presents a critique of misperceptions of the dialectic and an analysis of the laws of dialectics. (SM)

Applies research (indicating that direct instruction has a significant positive effect on a young child's referential communication) to the elementary school classroom, using kindergartners and fourth graders. Finds that both groups increased significantly in information fluency, but only the fourth graders increased in contrastiveness. (MG)

Benchmark, a private school for students ages 5-15 in Media, Pennsylvania, enrolls bright underachievers with reading problems in small classes. The school brings educational research into the classroom via weekly seminars on current research, staff research projects, and collaboration with outside scholars. The school's record indicates it…

In program evaluation and policy analyses, utility supplants rigor as the first and most important criterion in judging literature reviews. Although R. T. Ogawa and B. Malen emphasize rigor, a utilization-focused evaluation emphasizes purpose and audience, both of which affect the conduct of a multivocal literature review. (SLD)

To contribute to a knowledge base of effective educational practices, this article summarizes several thousand small-scale psychological experiments on classroom learning and analyses of large-scale national surveys in the United States and other countries. (22 references) (MLF)

Reviews the "Journal of Curriculum and Supervision" Spring 1990 issue from a scientific viewpoint. This article found ambiguous word meanings, apparent contradictions in and among several authors' writings, an artificially dichotomous formulation of the relationship between two complementary inquiry methods and uncritically held…

Schools reflect the existing culture but are also a prime instrument for shaping and developing that culture. The administrator's task involves a major concern for value, requiring an initial commitment to the role and its values, then a reflective disengagement from them, and finally a critique and recommitment open to evolutionary or…

To enculturate the young and help them reason successfully, teachers need appropriate pedagogical and school renewal skills. An interview-based survey disclosed chronic prestige deprivation in the teacher education enterprise, lack of program coherence, theory-practice separation, and stifling bureaucratic regulations. Three promising…

Suggests a method for translating graduate education in qualitative methods into undergraduate teaching. Focuses on intensive interviewing and its benefits for both graduate students and for undergraduate teaching as a means of bringing the subject into the real world. Discusses planning the interview assignment, developing interview questions,…

Outlines a four-stage developmental process (exhilaration, rejection, integration, and transformation) through which college students learn to apply experiential education theories to their practices as staff interns in an adventure education program for children. Discusses implications for intern supervision and the design of internship programs.…

Evolution of one New York City school's assessment practices has proceeded on two fronts: development of individual teachers' classroom practices (recordkeeping, documentation, and evaluation); and development of schoolwide practices bringing staff together around critical questions of standards, curriculum, and school life. Parents have also…

Describes a study of variance in the innovative activities of 15 Canadian community colleges and the correlation between organizational characteristics and institutional innovativeness. Innovativeness varied among institutions, and an inverse relationship existed between centralized authority and innovation. Findings regarding innovation in the…

Discusses problems for educational research posed by the unpredictability and indeterminism of human behavior. Presents a theory of purposeful behavior (perceptual control theory) to provide an explicit working model of how individuals produce repeatable outcomes via variable means. Describes primary characteristics of this theory and its…