A study explored whether public relations practitioners in one-way environments (press agentry/publicity and public information) and in two-way environments (asymmetric and symmetric) have different general attitudes toward research and whether they use social science techniques differently. A mail survey of 200 randomly chosen public relations…

Despite their impact on literary criticism, contemporary theories of reader response and deconstruction seem to have had little effect on the practice of teaching literature, and most teachers of introductory literature courses remain vague about what these "new" theories are and how they can be used. Proponents of some of these theories…

Existing schooling structures cannot produce the changes necessary for substantial educational improvement. Although school-site management literature offers no procedural recipes, experience suggests that a certain configuration of concepts, processes, and enabling conditions can produce substantial and sustained school improvement. This paper…

The theory of action research is discussed in terms of how second-order action research can help theorists to clarify and deepen their understanding of action research. After a brief introduction, the paper examines methodological criteria governing a piece of action research conducted at an action research training workshop sponsored by the…

Although research efforts into improving reading fluency and general reading performance through fluency training have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, basal reading approaches still dominate reading instruction, and fluency is rarely viewed as an important component of the instructional package. Several models of reading fluency instruction…

Discussed are three issues in early childhood education that have been addressed extensively by the research literature, namely: (1) the risks of early academic pressures on young children; (2) the importance of play in early childhood education; and (3) interaction as the context for early learning. Several reasons that child development and…

Teacher attitudes toward research-based effective teaching behaviors were inventoried to explore differences. Scores from the Teaching Behaviors Questionnaire (TBQ) for 300 teachers were analyzed for variables related to educational settings and teacher characteristics. Analysis of variance and selected post hoc procedures were used to identify…

The main theories of motivation are reviewed in an effort to help teachers discern various tactics and techniques that they can use with gifted, talented, and creative students. Among the theories examined are Ivan Pavlov's respondent conditioning; Albert Ellis's rational-emotive approach; Abraham Maslow's triangular approach to growth and…

Social work, ideologically speaking, is a profession grounded in principles of integration and interaction. The principles are embedded in curriculum policies for acceditation. They span interdisciplinary information, person and environment, research and practice, practice and policy, and theory and practice. The values, knowledge, and skills…

A proposed three-dimensional model for identifying the gifted conceives of giftedness as a combination of characteristics. It emphasizes the different qualities of the characteristics as well as the fact that such characteristics exist in degrees or levels, thus helping to avoid thinking of giftedness or its components as being either wholly…

With the increased interest in public relations education, it is important for educators to be aware of options available for enhancing the effectiveness of teaching in this area. A number of nonprint learning resources are available, including internships, in-class campaigns, and national competitions. Public relations internships are essentially…

A relationship exists between the three-year WARRANT project, created to design and implement a computer system to deliver a college freshman curriculum in the skills of reading, writing, and thinking, and the theory and practice of curriculum-building. The goal of the project is to create an interdisciplinary sequence of courses in critical…

Although theory is the backbone of foundations of education curriculum in teacher education, many students and teacher educators do not recognize its importance, particularly in the light of the increasing trend toward more practical experiences at the expense of such courses. The imitative and experiential approach to teaching, as well as the…

Encompassing his work in the psycholinguistics of reading, this book presents Kenneth Goodman's major papers focusing on miscue analysis, the theoretical model of the reading processes derived from it, and relevant research perspectives. Following an introduction to Goodman's works, the articles discuss the following topics: (1) the reading…

Outdoor adventure activities, typically originating from other countries, form the basis of most Australian outdoor education programs. Research on adventure-based outdoor education in Australia and elsewhere has tended to focus on determining the benefits of participating in such programs. Less attention has been paid to a critical examination of…