Newton's cooling curve was chosen for the four-part laboratory inquiry into conditions affecting temperature change. The relationship between time and temperature is not foreseen by the average high school student before the first session. However, during several activities students examine the classic relationship, T = A exp[superscript -Ct] + B…

Managing data collected from online surveys may be a straightforward process involving no more than downloading a spreadsheet from a Web survey host and presenting descriptive statistics associated with each questionnaire item. On the other hand, if the evaluation objectives require more complex analysis and presentation of the data, it will be…

The construction of a new highly-sensitive, computer-interfaced, differential thermal analysis (DTA) device, used for gathering different information about the chemical reactions, is described. The instrument provides a better understanding about the phase transitions, phase diagrams and many more concepts to the students.

Data-based decision making has been the mantra of the school reform movement since the late 1980s, but California does not yet have an effective system for collecting and using vital school information. California has taken a number of steps to address this shortcoming. These include the Public School Accountability Act of 1999 and Senate bills…

In 12 audio taped sessions, three kindergarten children engaged algebra in a teaching for understanding, thematic project. Toni, Asa, and Cornel had one-on-one lessons dealing with simple natural numbers, patterns, and relationships. Along the way, each child studied one of Toni Morrison's Who's got game books to explore repetition patterns in…

This practice brief is one of a series highlighting key practices undertaken by some of the many successful Building Engagement and Attainment for Minority Students (BEAMS) schools during the project's five years of data collection and action plan implementation. These practice briefs accompany a monograph that details the process BEAMS…

Prevention coordinators have an important role on campus. To be effective, they must demonstrate the right balance of accurate information, clear strategy, and open collaboration with others. A strong prevention program requires understanding the problem, identifying the contributing factors, taking action to intervene, and then evaluating to see…

Teaching students to collect data to answer questions is an important life skill that will serve them well throughout their adult lives. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the implementation of an action research project in a fifth grade resource classroom. Students with mild disabilities were taught how to conduct surveys using three…

This study aimed at exploring the practices and beliefs physics teachers have about introducing reform-based instruction into the physics class. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews held with 11 experienced physics teachers. The results revealed that the teachers occasionally introduced a small number of enhanced instructional…

This article introduces a bootstrap generalization to the Modified Parallel Analysis (MPA) method of test dimensionality assessment using factor analysis. This methodology, based on the use of Marginal Maximum Likelihood nonlinear factor analysis, provides for the calculation of a test statistic based on a parametric bootstrap using the MPA…

The researcher analysed two women's uses of popular culture texts on the island of Hawai'i. They read these texts in order to learn about, and manage, their health problems. These vernacular texts were different from the institutional texts that were prescribed to them by their doctors, as well as the commercial ones that were in the literacy…

This study explored the apprenticeship of students with high-incidence disabilities into the discipline of history through mediation of a web-based instructional environment, the Virtual History Museum (VHM). Thirteen students with high-incidence disabilities spread across two co-taught classrooms participated. They engaged in two units of…

This chapter presents a sophisticated approach for tracking student cohorts from entry through departure within an institution. It describes how a researcher can create a student tracking model to perform longitudinal research on student cohorts. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)

The present study examined continuity of learning between face-to-face and online environments in a "blended" professional development program designed for 16 physics teachers. The program had nine face-to-face meetings as well as continuous online exchanges between them through a website. The program focused on "knowledge…

This paper reports on a study of the use of self-repair among learners of German in a task-based CMC environment. The purpose of the study was two-fold. The first goal sought to establish how potential interpretations of CMC data may be very different depending on the method of data collection and evaluation employed. The second goal was to…