This article was inspired by the authors' attempts to impact student responses to feminist theorizing in a third-year social psychology course. It was grounded in their participant observation, over a three-year period, as instructors at York University in Toronto, Canada. In their respective roles as professor and tutorial assistant, the authors…

While observation is critical to science, sometimes things cannot be observed directly. Sometimes things happened long ago (in paleontology, for example) or are too small to observe (like atoms). Many students believe that science progresses only through direct observation. Students may also believe that giant microscopes provide insight into…

This article describes one fifth grade's participation in in NASA's S'COOL (Students' Cloud Observations On-Line) Project, making cloud observations, reporting them online, exploring weather concepts, and gleaning some of the things involved in authentic scientific research. S?COOL is part of a real scientific study of the effect of clouds on…

The effectiveness of educational activities on changing the handwashing habits of preschool children was evaluated using parental surveys and direct observations. Baseline handwashing behaviors were observed and recorded, and parents completed a pre-intervention survey. After interventions were administered, post-intervention data was collected on…

This study examines the academic library experiences of African American undergraduates attending a research university in the Midwest. Data collection techniques included questionnaires and ethnographic observations. The results indicated that African American undergraduates are using the academic library primarily to read and to study with their…

There is a commonality between methods that artists employ in portraying their subjects and the methods that those studying nature employ in learning about the world, and this similarity can provide encouragement in leading science students to study nature via art. In understanding how beneficial drawing can be to science, consider that both the…

Nature journaling is a useful skill for science students, independent of whether they also consider themselves artists. A pencil and sketchbook can be carried anywhere to record ecological information in many ways. A traditional page in a nature journal may consist of quick studies of plant and animal life sketched out as rudimentary line drawings…

This paper examines the impact of the Religious Right on American social policy as it relates to family, sexuality and reproductive health. The article focuses on the current debates and practices of abstinence-until-marriage programs vs. comprehensive sex education programs--and the ways in which they reflect and affect cultural attitudes about…

There is little information about the sleep patterns of adults who have mental retardation and are supported in the community. In the present study, direct-care staff recorded sleep behaviors of 59 adults residing in 16 suburban group homes. Based on direct observation and measurement procedures, the adults averaged 7.9 hours of sleep each evening…

Why are some words easier to learn than others? And what enables the eventual learning of the more difficult words? These questions were addressed for nouns using a paradigm in which adults were exposed to naturalistic maternal input that was manipulated to simulate access to several different information sources, both alone and in combination:…

The International School of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, which serves international students in preschool through middle school, focused a great deal of professional attention on differentiation. The administrators in Malaysian school, by making rounds of classrooms, raised teachers' awareness of differentiated instruction.

Lesson study is a form of professional development favored by teachers in Japan that has gained attention in many parts of the United States. Teachers participating in lesson study immerse themselves in a cycle of instructional improvement focused on planning, observing, and revising. The various ways in which teachers work together in a lesson…

Lifelong learning in Japan involves various cultural and/or sporting activities for personal enjoyment rather than for individual or national economic benefit. Currently the study of karaoke at a variety of public and private organizations is very popular among older Japanese and housewives. This article explores the emergence of karaoke as a…

This article describes the tension between standards-based assessment on a macro level and authentic assessment on a micro level. Content standards arguably supply systematic criteria for quantitative measures to report trends and establish policy. Qualitative measures, such as rubrics, student profiles, and observational records, fill in the gaps…

The introduction of Internet access into over 30,000 UK schools has led to the adoption of a variety of disciplinary policies, procedures and practices. Critically engaging with writings on panopticism, this paper explores the surveillance of student online activity. It is noted that Internet surveillance in schools includes control through…