A study of pre-service teachers' use of reflective journaling was carried out. Participants were teachers in a new postgraduate diploma in education programme in the Cayman Islands. The aim of the study was two-fold. Firstly, to determine (through an analysis of the participants' reflective journals) the types of reflection in which they engaged…

This study focused on a population of 36 female patients, aged 25 to 65, who were diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, all of whom had long-standing patterns of inappropriate behaviors. In an attempt to increase more appropriate behaviors in these patients, a set of standardized contingency rules were established. These rules were implemented…

The bulk of literature about education places enhancing teacher professionalism at the core of any educational improvement. In fact, researchers in the field of education have premised their arguments on the assumption that raising students' levels of performance necessitates promoting the professional growth of teachers. It is no wonder, then,…

This study examined the subjective experience of academic disengagement. Flow theory, which describes an intense form of engagement, structured writing-to-learn activities undergraduates applied in major and liberal arts courses. Results suggest that writing to learn can transform academic anxiety and boredom by facilitating concentration,…

Chapter books present young readers with many more challenges than do the picture books that initiate them into reading. This case study investigation explored ways in which three first graders used their literature response journals to help them negotiate their first chapter book read aloud. Findings of the three case studies revealed that the…

Those in professional and academic fields generally perceive mentoring as a positive relationship that enhances the lives of proteges. Kram (1985) posits that such relationships between dyads in organisational life are an evolutionary, developmental process. The purpose of this article is to explore proteges' perspectives on their mentoring…

The purpose of this article is to evaluate a pedagological tool for student's study of death and bereavement. Previous research suggests that students may be more willing to discuss issues associated with death through written correspondence rather than through oral communication. However, despite these efforts there are still students who…

In this study, elementary preservice teachers used science notebooks throughout their science methods course to write about all aspects of science and scientific inquiry. The views regarding the use of science notebooks were explored in order to determine the preservice teachers' attitudes and perceptions toward their use. The findings…

This highly readable text demystifies the qualitative research process--and helps readers conceptualize their own studies--by organizing the different research paradigms and traditions into coherent clusters. Real-world examples and firsthand perspectives illustrate the research process; instructive exercises and activities build on each other so…

This study examined the self-reported experiences of Black, female, undergraduate students at a small, predominantly White, Midwestern college in the United States in order to identify factors affecting retention. Specific attention was paid to how participants perceived the effects of personal and institutional factors in relation to their…

The purposes of this study were to examine initial content knowledge about properties of air by three cohorts of undergraduate and master's students studying elementary education and to determine forms of reasoning used to explain air phenomena and the effect of an intervention on content knowledge. Subjects were assessed using a 14-question test…

This action research combined qualitative and quantitative techniques to investigate two different types of writing assignments in an introductory undergraduate statistics course. The assignments were written in response to the same set of prompts but in two different ways: homework journal assignments or initial posts to a computer discussion…

Web-based productivity tools help people collaborate, communicate, and save time--and the good news is most are free. This article presents five good strategies for using web-based productivity tools: (1) Clean out your inbox and focus your professional development with RSS; (2) Share your documents online with wikis or online productivity…

In this ethnographic inquiry we portray two teacher narratives reflecting educational change in the context of two South African schools. The study was conducted as part of a larger inquiry into ten schools in urban South Africa. A decade of democracy begs some attention to educational progress and reform, from the viewpoint of teachers and with…

This paper introduces conversations and stories that were central to my PhD research. Journal writing, poetry, story and transcribed conversations became texts and data I reproduced in response to the research questions, dreams, memory work and collective biography workshops with my participants. The paper rechoreographs the process that enabled…