This undergraduate laboratory experiment integrates multiple techniques ("in vitro" synthesis, enzyme assays, Western blotting) to determine the production and detection sensitivity of two common reporter proteins (beta-galactosidase and luciferase) within an "Escherichia coli" S30 transcription/translation extract. Comparison of the data suggests…

Adolescent boys perceive their male peer group culture--and their socialization toward masculine norms emphasized within this culture--as negatively influencing their abilities to develop close male friendships. Boys who manage to develop close, male friendships, however, draw strength from these relationships to resist the social pressures of…

The relationship between three different service coordinator models (dedicated and independent, dedicated but not independent, and blended) and the use of nine different service coordinator practices was examined in a study of families of infants and toddlers enrolled in the IDEA Part C early intervention program. Results showed that service…

Individuals with mental retardation and their parents/guardians have long been neglected in health care research. In this study we used a qualitative methodology to describe the experiences adults with mental retardation and their parents/guardians have with the delivery of primary care services. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted…

Practitioner inquiry offers a strategy for creating systemic change thus increasing opportunities for all students' academic achievement. Too often, school counselors are considered ancillary in schools rather than an integral member of the practitioner base. However, school counselors are being included in the equation for all students' success.…

Narrative inquiry methodology was used to investigate self-perceived identities among 10 lesbian college students. Analysis of data from in-depth, open-ended interviews revealed the role of meaning-making capacity in determining the extent to which contextual influences shaped self-perceptions of sexual orientation identity and its relationship…

Suggestions that there is a growing epidemic of suicide among college students in the United States are false. The National Survey of Counseling Center Directors reports 1,404 student suicides over a 14-year period and an adjusted suicide rate of 6.5, half the rate of the general US population (12.6 for all races) during this period when matched…

The procedure to produce standard curve for starch concentration measurement by image analysis using a color scanner and computer for data acquisition and color analysis is described. Color analysis is performed by a Visual Basic program that measures red, green, and blue (RGB) color intensities for pixels within the scanner image.

The Pearson correlation is used to depict effect sizes in the context of item response theory. Amultidimensional Rasch model is used to directly estimate the correlation between latent traits. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to investigate whether the population correlation could be accurately estimated and whether the bootstrap method…

The student-assessment results that schools must report to satisfy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements could be useful in pinpointing strengths and weaknesses in instructional programs and students' skills. However, many school staffs lack the expertise to learn from assessment results. We describe lessons learned from a yearlong workshop…

Accountability mandates such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have drawn attention to the practical use of student data for school improvement. Nevertheless, schools may struggle with these mandates because student data are often stored in forms that are difficult to access, manipulate, and interpret. Such access barriers additionally preclude the…

This article presents initial findings of a case study focusing on data use in five low-performing urban high schools undergoing comprehensive schoolwide reform. The case study investigates: (a) the ways in which disaggregated data can be used to examine progress and guide improvement in the process of restructuring urban, low-performing high…

This study focuses on the attitudes of a sample of Grade 9 mathematics teachers to the national mathematics Common Task Assessment (CTA) 2002 and to the official mathematics curriculum policy. The notion of pedagogic identity provided the theoretical lens to frame the study. These teachers' personal pedagogic identities are compared with official…

Missing data are a common practical problem for longitudinal designs. Time-series analysis is a longitudinal method that involves a large number of observations on a single unit. Four different missing-data methods (deletion, mean substitution, mean of adjacent observations, and maximum likelihood estimation) were evaluated. Computer-generated…

Much of the debate surrounding the use of contexts for pupils' writing focuses on the need for purpose, relevance and a sense of audience outwith the immediate classroom environment. This article seeks to explore whether there is any evidence to suggest that the use of enterprise in education may have a greater beneficial effect on the quality of…