Involving two or more academic subjects, interdisciplinary studies aim to blend together broad perspectives, knowledge, skills, and epistemology in an educational setting. By focusing on topics or questions too broad for a single discipline to cover, these studies strive to draw connections between seemingly different fields. Cases on…

This paper discusses the emergence and the establishment of new educational programs in universities by describing a theoretical approach and reporting an empirical study of the development of one interdisciplinary department (the Institute for Media and Communication) at the University of Oslo (Norway). It is argued that the emergence of new…

Described is how an elementary teacher established an environment conducive to learning in her classroom by implementing her own integrated science and mathematics curriculum. The implications for change on the county and state levels are discussed. (KR)

Describes a longitudinal case study focusing on teacher and principal expectations, satisfaction, and attitudes toward curriculum devlopment. Relates these three factors to the resulting process and product. Participants' perspectives heavily influenced their views of both process and product. Includes 13 notes and 11 tables. (MLH)

The literature in cross-cultural and comparative education has generally ignored the issue of gender and the impact of the curriculum on girls and women. The research reported here focuses on the implications of the experimental credit-hour curriculum in girls' secondary schools in Kuwait during the 1980s and describes in detail the facilities and…

Addressed to teachers, administrators, and researchers, this study discusses the philosophy behind collaborative school-based curriculum development and the results of an attempt to implement this type of curriculum development. This multi-disciplinary approach offers a way to combine the advantages of both centralized and localized decision…

Examines the effects of educational reforms and how one-sided reform ideologies, which provide little practical guidance, were reinterpreted and modified by principals and teachers. Uses a multilevel case study to analyze the relations between ideology and practice using functional, conflict, and loose-coupling theories. (FMW)

Communicative language teaching and self-directed learning is discussed, followed by an introduction of an analytical framework for designing a task using Nunan's framework. A case study is reported from the National University of Singapore with 220 first-year Japanese language students. Suggestions are made for course and task designers. (12…

Highlights issues concerning rural primary schools in England attempting to address aspects of race and gender. Findings are based on the author's work in multicultural education and her research with two schools as they undertook a self-evaluation exercise. Emphasizes the need for training, confidence-building, and awareness-raising. (AF)

Today's young people must cope with a shrinking planet earth; deal with complex human relationships and the dynamics of explosive social and technological change; and function in a world which has few precedents especially in the area of social change. This thesis delineates a practical methodology for teaching high school anthropology based on…

The Learning in Science Project identified the learner as the key perspective for in-depth study into problems and difficulties in the teaching and learning of science at the 10- to 14-year-old level. Two complementary research foci were established to explore this viewpoint: (1) interviewing children using strategies designed to establish various…

Making changes in the area of grouping for instruction is difficult because it involves adjustments in the curriculum, in teacher planning, and in teacher attitudes. A concern that the present form of grouping may result in intellectual and racial discrimination began in the Central Office and the Curriculum Office of the Crete-Monee School…

Microcomputers are already in a majority of American schools, but little is known about their integration into the school curriculum. This study examines the features of an elementary school--Skyline School in the South San Francisco Unified School District (California)--that have contributed to the successful integration of computers in its…

Case studies are presented for seven Los Angeles area (California) high schools that worked with Pepperdine University in the IBM/ETS (International Business Machines/Educational Testing Service) Model Schools program, a project which provided training for selected secondary school teachers in the use of personal computers and selected software as…

Designed to provide information on how educational institutions and government agencies are implementing new information technologies (NITs), this report combines an in-depth case study of 25 U.S. educational institutions (school districts, colleges, and universities) with an international study of exemplary educational programs in nine countries.…