Purpose: Accompanying the recent concern for the quality of our nation's educational infrastructure, a growing body of research connects the quality of school facilities to both student outcomes including achievement, behavior, and attitude as well as to teacher attitude and behavior. Less is known about the mechanisms of these relationships. This…

The present study included observational and self-report measures to examine associations among parental stress, parental behaviour, child behaviour, and children's theory of mind and emotion understanding. Eighty-three parents and their 3- to 5-year-old children participated. Parents completed measures of parental stress, parenting (laxness,…

This article examines how Chicana/o and Latina/o youth employed their political-historical knowledge to "talk back" to the xenophobia and political contradictions that underlie the (im)migration "debate." A literacy unit that honed bilingual students' everyday translating created opportunities for students to utilize this political-historical…

This paper describes an innovative pilot project at the University of Canberra aimed at providing pre-service early childhood teachers with the skills, confidence and ideological change required to include technology-enhanced learning as part of the early childhood curriculum. The impact of the project was evaluated through participant…

This document provides the peer evaluation guidelines for Central Oregon Community College (COCC). It begins by identifying the goals of the peer team: to maintain and strengthen the quality of instruction at COCC; establish strong collegial ties among faculty members; offer positive suggestions to them for improvement as teachers; and evaluate…

Ethnographic research (1) observes human behavior in its natural setting over a substantial period of time, (2) claims that classes of events are better understood through intensive examination of carefully selected particular cases, (3) incorporates as many of the complexities and variables into a setting as possible, and (4) is usually comprised…

The positivist paradigm has dominated the shape and direction of research in education. Traditionally the scientific method is adhered to, variables are strictly controlled, statistics are compiled, and conclusions are reached. In the post-positivist paradigm, studies conducted using naturalistic inquiry take place in the natural setting and do…

A case study of a teacher as a naturalistic inquirer is presented. A class in naturalistic inquiry methods was offered to practicing teachers and other graduate students during a 15-week semester. During the first two or three weeks, students read extensively about qualitative methods and identified a possible site to conduct a study. The…

As a botanist uses specific, non-judgmental descriptions that are part of a conceptual framework to help see different varieties and characteristics of plants, so teachers can see more clearly what they do if they describe rather than judge what is done. If the purpose of using a framework or model to discuss lesson presentations and classroom…

The 99 observation systems described in this anthology describe measurable categories of behavior, rather than global concepts. These systems function as a meta-language--a language for describing communication. Each represents one or more of seven major categories: affective, cognitive, nonverbal, activity, content, sociological structure, and…

The rationale of the Observation Schedule and Record (OScAR) is described, and research is reported to show the extent to which the form fulfills its purposes. In order to provide objective, reliable, and valid information about the teaching process, this classroom observation schedule is used to record the frequency of occurrence of 42 teacher…

This project investigated patterns of parental authority among Berkeley preschool children and the processes by which these parents contributed to the development of children's social responsibility and individuality. Subjects were 140 families from city-sponsored, private cooperative, and university-operated nursery schools. Eight constructs were…

To explore why teachers rejected videotaping as an observation and coaching method, researchers interviewed 29 teachers enrolled in teacher supervision classes to determine the human and the technical issues involved. About one-quarter of the problems were technical malfunctions and limitations, and the rest resulted from human responses to…

Although one-to-one tutoring has often been regarded as the most effective method of teaching, surprisingly little is understood about tutoring expertise. This paper describes initial attempts to study one-to-one tutoring. The goal of the research was to construct a detailed cognitive model of the reasoning and knowledge of an expert human tutor.…

D. B. Rubin's model for causal inference in experiments and observational studies is enlarged to analyze the problem of "causes causing causes" and is compared to path analysis and recursive structural equations models. A special quasiexperimental design, the encouragement design, is used to give concreteness to the discussion by…