A study explored the ways that front-line community development workers across Canada gained information needed to work with women participants in community economic development initiatives. Data were gathered through focus groups, a preliminary study with 15 key informants employed in community development organizations, and structured telephone…

This issue presents two articles on the use of data to improve results for students with disabilities. The first paper examines how researchers supported by the Office of Special Education Programs are discovering innovative uses of scientifically derived information in instructional and administrative decision making as well as strategies for…

Adult education theory and practice has long been involved in identifying spaces where counter-hegemonic learning can take place. Civil society is regarded as the site par-excellence for providing space in which to learn free from power and domination and from the state and economy. Another dimension to the recent focus on civil society as a site…

Twenty-one research articles originally published in the "Australasian Journal of Gifted Education" over the past decade are collected in this book and address aspects of gifted education including pedagogy and curriculum, policy and practice, social and emotional needs, school and family, neuropsychology and cognition, and special…

This book presents proceedings and papers from a conference on racial and ethnic disparities in K-12 education and identifies key issues for policy and research. Part 1 summarizes the conference in six chapters: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "Education and the Changing Nation"; (3) "How People Learn"; (4) "Social…

This book outlines sloyd educational theory ("sloyd" being an umbrella term for different educational crafts in various areas and at different levels of the educational system whose scientific basis lies in crafts science). The following topics are among those discussed: methodological framework of research on sloyd education; sloyd…

Interviews with teams of teachers at two Australian technical and further education (TAFE) institutes (the Lawson Institute of TAFE Motor Mechanics and the Franklin Institute of TAFE Disability and Aged Care) were used to examine the theoretical and practical tensions experienced by TAFE teachers when making assessment judgments within the…

Despite dramatic increases in the percentage of 5-year-olds enrolled in full-day kindergarten, initial discussions about whether to offer public full-day kindergarten are still controversial in many communities. This report examines claims about benefits and detriments of full-day kindergarten, presents research findings, and describes reasonable…

Three tech prep teachers and one counselor at a Vermont high school examined tech prep's effectiveness in influencing students' career decisions and their intentions to receive postsecondary education. Three methods were used to collect data at the end of the third 9-week quarter of the school year: analyzing students' course selections, grades,…

Many more of the nation's youths deserve the opportunity to make the transition from school to college, casting the net of postsecondary education more widely and equitably. The necessity of encouraging more youths to participate in rigorous academics so they are ready to make a smooth transition to college has been recognized for some time. In…

The purpose of this study was to investigate six preservice teachers' understandings of the theory and practice of teaching and learning foreign languages during their course work and field experiences in a teacher education program. The participants in the study were full-time students in a year-long graduate-level program. This paper focuses on…

Social workers in direct practice rely on critical thinking to apply theories, make informed decisions, and explain their assessments and decisions. This paper defines critical thinking and discusses skills needed for its development, methods and assignments for teaching those skills to undergraduate and graduate students in practice courses, and…

Analyzes how Canadian immersion education has developed from its origins to the present in terms of a cycle guided by the interplay between theory and classroom practice of second- language acquisition. Johnson responds by questioning the extent to which bilingual education theory and practices are universal or context specific. (38 references)…

Articulates some of the primary benefits derived from using specific cases to teach macroeconomics. Cases contain information, not only diverse and interesting, but relevant to the business environment where many graduates will be working. Specifically, they convey information about qualitative trade-offs and complex environments. (MJP)

Describes an experimental undergraduate seminar on the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge. The course takes a multidisciplinary approach, using case studies to draw together theoretical principles from library and information science, the philosophy and sociology of science, critical thinking and problem solving, and the…