How Chinese students and their teachers see the context and content of their learning is explored in the essays in this collection. Seeing these students in their own cultural backgrounds helps in the exploration of Western educational theory and practice as well. The contributions are: (1) "Learning Theories and Approaches to Research: A…

This paper recommends that rural education researchers adopt an ecological approach that acknowledges both family and community influences on child development and school outcomes. Although rural researchers have generated useful information about children, few studies have provided a full portrayal of rural children's lives. A fundamental…

Professional knowledge created as teachers interact with the complexity of variables related to teaching and learning in active, thoughtful, reflective practice, is essential to expert teaching. This qualitative study is designed to describe and define the factors (processes) that are pertinent to the process of reflection as it is utilized by…

The International School Effectiveness Research Programme (ISERP) is an example of the exchange of research and research results in the field of educational effectiveness. It aims to build on existing models of good practice and to avoid the variations in approach that limit the transferability of data within and between countries. A number of…

Being a teaching professional is a complex task within the social and organizational context in which teachers work. A model, "Variability of Developmental Needs within a Teaching/Learning Situation," provides a visual picture of the wide variety of students, typically in the broad but "average range" of knowledge,…

Studying or finding out about children is exceptionally difficult--intellectually, physically, and emotionally. Physical, social, cognitive, and political distances between adult and the child make their relationship very different from the relationships among adults. This book explains the art and science of doing qualitative research involving…

Prior school-choice studies have focused on parents and students who opt to choose, neglecting nonchoosers, or those remaining behind. A study of 37 Minnesota school districts (20 gaining student population and 17 losing student population due to choice options in fiscal year 1995) explores the relationship between school-choice implementation and…

The system of high-stakes accountability in the Kentucky public schools raises the question of whether teachers and administrators should be held accountable if test scores are influenced by external factors over which educators have no control. This study investigates whether such external factors , or "contextual effects," bias the…

This paper discusses the central thesis that new research on estimation and mental computation will benefit from more focused attention on the situations in which they are used. In the first section of the paper, a brief discussion of cognitive theory, with special attention to the emerging notion of situated cognition is presented. Three sources…

Several recent experiences suggest that Hungarian students are among the best prepared mathematically in international comparisons of achievement. This paper outlines the cultural background of mathematics learning in Hungary that influences that international standing. Achievement factors in the whole cultural context include: the role of…

Testing and instruction are sometimes seen as unrelated elements in the educational process, rather than as integrated components. This paper, organized in three sections, views testing and instruction as complements in the educational process, taking into account both testing and instruction in schools and classrooms with diverse student…

Electronic troubleshooting expertise was explored in the three contexts (design, production, and repair) that reflect distinct problem solving task environments. The purpose of the effort was to provide a more precise definition of the boundaries of expertise in electronics troubleshooting and the relationship of context to the development of…

LogoLearning represents a philosophy and a strategy that centers on enabling students to find meaningfulness in their education. In LogoLearning it is the major task of the teacher to broaden students' perceptions so that meaning becomes visible and the purpose of learning becomes immediately understandable. This book proposes that without…

Two studies (from 1989 and 1990) are reviewed to illustrate the effectiveness and versatility of "ethnographies of thought" (as described by C. Geertz, 1983) for gaining significant understanding of the meaning perspectives of research participants and the contexts of a variety of educational settings. The methodological implications of the two…

Introduction: Women are active information seekers, particularly in the context of managing health for themselves and their families. Rural living may present particular challenges and opportunities for women in their health information seeking. Method: Forty women living in a rural part of Ontario, Canada were interviewed using a semi-structured…