Suggests a method for translating graduate education in qualitative methods into undergraduate teaching. Focuses on intensive interviewing and its benefits for both graduate students and for undergraduate teaching as a means of bringing the subject into the real world. Discusses planning the interview assignment, developing interview questions,…

Outlines a four-stage developmental process (exhilaration, rejection, integration, and transformation) through which college students learn to apply experiential education theories to their practices as staff interns in an adventure education program for children. Discusses implications for intern supervision and the design of internship programs.…

Evolution of one New York City school's assessment practices has proceeded on two fronts: development of individual teachers' classroom practices (recordkeeping, documentation, and evaluation); and development of schoolwide practices bringing staff together around critical questions of standards, curriculum, and school life. Parents have also…

Describes a study of variance in the innovative activities of 15 Canadian community colleges and the correlation between organizational characteristics and institutional innovativeness. Innovativeness varied among institutions, and an inverse relationship existed between centralized authority and innovation. Findings regarding innovation in the…

Discusses problems for educational research posed by the unpredictability and indeterminism of human behavior. Presents a theory of purposeful behavior (perceptual control theory) to provide an explicit working model of how individuals produce repeatable outcomes via variable means. Describes primary characteristics of this theory and its…

Describes a collaborative, five-year project in the southwest to develop and explore ways of overcoming school culture obstacles to restructuring. Discusses four promising interconnected conditions--group dialog, public mindfulness, "outsider" questioners, and dialog facilitators--using examples from the project school, which seeks to…

This editorial notes the differences between the language of science and the language of special education practice; stresses the need for communication between these groups; notes the need for publications in both areas; and urges continued dialog among researchers, practitioners, and parents. (DB)

Describes a continuously evolving, successful Wisconsin model of action research that relies on the collaborative work of schools and universities to improve K-12 programs. The entire collaborative action research model is possible without any reassignment of responsibilities for teachers or faculty. (SM)

Illustrates how reflection-in-action contributes to the development of professional expertise and points to the need for new, more direct approaches to demonstrating the relationship between classroom experience and university courses. It argues that traditional teacher education practice lags behind in developing understanding of thought and…

The relationship between phenomenography, an approach to research that aims to identify and describe individuals' qualitatively different experiences, and learning is examined. A number of problems in teaching and learning are then explored from this perspective. It is stressed that students' unique experiences are fundamental to what they learn.…

A discussion of hermeneutics focuses on the central role of language in learning. Four areas of understanding, all realized through language, are identified. It is argued that, with a hermeneutic approach, both cognitive and student-centered approaches to teaching are transcended and fused into a broader conception of understanding. (Author/MSE)

A model of higher education learning and teaching based on systems theory, in which all parts of the teaching-learning context are seen as seeking equilibrium, is proposed. The task of the teacher is seen as achieving good teaching practices that are workable within the existing matrix of systems and subsystems. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the school-based mentoring process supporting teachers' initial training, drawing from practical applications and theoretical frameworks. Mentoring development in any school is affected by several factors, including whole-school and communication issues, challenges and conflicts, available resources, management of the learning…

In social work literature, explanations for new graduates' difficulties include role-organizational conflict, problems with learning transfer, assumptions about theory and practice, and experience of oppositions. Three modes of discourse (technical rationality, practical reflectivity, critical reflectivity) have different ideas and ideals about…

Reflects on themes of two North American adult education conferences: political economy of adult education, social construction of adult education knowledge, community-based adult education, and links among heritage, memory, and adult education. (SK)