This study used a social network paradigm to examine college student integration of 329 college freshmen at a private liberal arts college. Analysis of the structural aspects of students' on-campus associations found differential effects of various social network characteristics on student commitment and persistence. (DB)

This study explored interactions between six hearing mother-deaf child dyads in Zimbabwe before and after an intervention program based on the mediational interaction for sensitizing caregivers system. Pre- and post- intervention frequencies of mediational interactions showed increases for five categories of interaction. Qualitative analyses…

This critical analysis of the scaffolding metaphor for the field of learning disabilities first reviews the origins and early applications of the metaphor and criticisms of the metaphor raised by others. It proposes an enriched version of the metaphor which emphasizes the communicational dynamics and conceptual reorganization involved in…

This observational study of the social interactions of 16 children with autism or Down syndrome in their homes found that differences in the frequencies and complexities of children's behaviors depended on behavioral intent in both groups. Socially intended behaviors were less frequent, less self-initiated, and less complex in children with…

Examines learning in the domain of sentence parsing and syntax tree-diagram construction to assess whether subjects could learn "vicariously" from recordings of interactions between a previous student and a tutor. Findings indicate that reusable dialog is a useful resource for the vicarious learner and that unannotated animated diagrams…

Face-to-face learning and web-based learning were analyzed using a communicative model of collaborative learning. Students used linguistic interactions to express their beliefs and experiences, control the interaction process, and achieve meaning and knowledge co-creation in a collaborative environment. (Contains 25 references.) (SK)

The emergence of human communication systems is typically investigated via 2 approaches with complementary strengths and weaknesses: naturalistic studies and computer simulations. This study was conducted with a method that combines these approaches. Pairs of participants played video games requiring communication. Members of a pair were…

This article examines how discourses shaped and were shaped by participants' identities in a participatory action research (PAR) project in a tertiary education environment. The primary researcher and the director of the university's desktop publishing team explored the idea of working together to help the newly formed team to develop strategies…

Most previous research on parental involvement in children's homework has focused on the pedagogical advantages or disadvantages of school assignments while neglecting the practice in its social context, family life. By studying parent-child homework negotiations in Swedish families, this paper examines how family members position themselves and…

This study examined the effects of situational pressure and maternal characteristics (social contingent self-worth, controlling parenting attitudes) on mothers' autonomy support versus control in the social domain. Sixty 4th-grade children and their mothers worked on a laboratory task in preparation for meeting new children, with mothers in either…

There is a large number of relationships between organisms in communities, and these relationships comprise the following types: predation and parasitism, commensalism, protocooperation and mutualism, neutralism, amensalism, and competition. The possible effects of the relationship between two species are that one or the other can benefit (+),…

In this article we examine the development, over 1 year, of mathematical discourse communities in 2 eighth-grade mathematics classes in a suburban public middle school. The curriculum topics included probability, functions, graphing, data analysis, and pre-algebra. The 50 students were heterogeneously placed; most were from upper-middle-class…

This case study is a continuation of a research project that investigated 149 mentoring teams in four school districts over a two-year period. The primary goal in the first phase of the study was to identify mentoring teams that were regularly encountering problems, introduce intervention procedures, and assess the effectiveness of those…

In this study, we consider the potential of multimedia cases as tools for teacher professional development. Specifically, we examined online and face-to-face discussions that occurred within groups composed of pre-service mathematics teachers, in-service mathematics teachers, mathematicians, and mathematics teacher educators. Discussions within…

This study examined relations among parent-child interaction style and children's social behavior at school. A total of 158 children were observed for 4 hours in their homes the summer before their kindergarten year. Interactions with mothers and fathers were rated in terms of their engagement reciprocity and affective tone. Interactions were then…