Primary research on student ratings of instruction is reviewed, and questions about the validity of such ratings as measures of teacher effectiveness are explored using nomological coding of 43 validity studies to examine causes of variability in coefficients of validity. Deficiencies of prior analyses and research needs are identified. (SLD)

In two experiments, 102 mechanically naive college students viewed an animation on bicycle tire pump operation with a verbal description before or during the animation or without description. Improved performance of those receiving description during the animation supports a dual-coding hypothesis of connections between visual and verbal stimuli.…

Forty-eight toddlers aged 17 to 31 months attending long-day childcare participated in this project, which examined some of the influences of the day-care context on their emerging pretend play. Ninety minutes of video-taped observations were collected for each participant as they engaged in free play with their same-age peers and their…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of the health education profession and discipline in India. Materials from CINAHL, ERIC, MEDLINE, and Internet were collected to conduct the open coding of the SWOT analysis. Strengths of health education in India include an elaborate…

This paper compares the processes of Face-To-Face (FTF) teams and Online Learning Teams (OLTs) and proposes methods to improve the performance of OLTs. An empirical study reviewed the performance of fifteen FTF teams and OLTs and their communication patterns were coded by the TEMPO system developed by Futoran et al. (1989) in order to develop a…

This article reports the results of a quantitative and thematic content analysis of the organization of information literature in the "Library Quarterly" ("LQ") between its inception in 1931 and 2004. The majority of articles in this category were published in the first half of "LQ's" run. Prominent themes have included cataloging codes and the…

The 4th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2011) brings together researchers from computer science, education, psychology, psychometrics, and statistics to analyze large datasets to answer educational research questions. The conference, held in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 6-9, 2011, follows the three previous editions…

Over the last two decades there has been an increase in the use of qualitative research, particularly in the human sciences. Such a move has resulted in an increasing number of researchers across disciplines using various types of qualitative software specially designed for managing text and facilitating analysis of qualitative data. However, we…

This revision of the "Basic/Essential Skills Taxonomy" exhibits changes based on use of the original taxonomy in the field. It features more precise definitions of the levels of key words and phrases, the deletion of some science items that ranged above basic skills, the combination of the language arts sections from the original two parts, and…

Photocopy humor is defined as any facsimile, photocopy, or wire-copy line drawing, iconography, or textual material that was drawn or written for distribution to a larger select audience using the available technology to disperse material intended to be humorous. Professional humor is excluded from this consideration. The content of photocopy…

This article focuses on the empirical effects of cognitive differentiation and persuasive skills on transformational, transaction, and laissez-faire leadership. Subjects (N = 294) completed measures of independent and dependent variables. Findings confirmed prior findings, however some findings reflected differences. Cognitive differentiation was…

This paper examines sixth-grade children's thinking related to solving ratio and proportion problems before these children had received any instruction in the domain. It explores unitizing and norming, one of the processes identified by both content analyses (Behr, Harel, Post, & Lesh, 1990); Harel, Behr, Post & Lesh, 1990) and research in…

Analyzes in two fifth-grade social studies textbooks, the production of three "foundation myths" relating to Chicanos in American history: (1) Texas independence and the Alamo, (2) the Mexican War, and (3) the 20-century struggle for civil rights. How these contribute to cultural degradation is discussed. (SLD)

In this study, the authors combined qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the meaning of quality in students' selection and evaluation of an MBA program. Results of the study indicate that students adopt a holistic approach, placing importance on a wide variety of issues that extend beyond the classroom learning setting. The study…

This paper concerns three two-stage experiments the aim of which was to find out whether enactment- and mime-based (E&M) instruction--a key element both of the method known as Total Physical Response and of some less codified instruction at primary level--can be employed in order to help learners: (1) better acquire English manner-of-movement…