Discusses the development and results of a naturalistic study of the instructional-design process for three permanent museum exhibits. Examines design goals, design resources, design techniques, constraints such as budget and scheduling, how museum staff makes decisions during the design process, and implications for instructional designers.…

Describes empirical investigations of people's use of relevance criteria. Highlights include a laboratory experiment and a naturalistic study that explored the patterns of movement in use of relevance criteria during real-time document evaluation processes; criteria patterns; and a classification scheme and criteria taxonomy that may enable…

Reports the results of two studies of undergraduates that tested an uncertainty expansion information retrieval device and an uncertainty reduction device in naturalistic settings, designed to be given at different stages of Kuhlthau's information search process. Concludes that the timing of the device interventions is crucial to their potential…

Reflects on how the modern naturalist, having a high regard for objectivity, deals with spiritual issues and emotional responses to environmental devastation; the role of field experience in a naturalist's judgments on politically sensitive environmental issues; the great time needed to acquire first-hand knowledge, such as that held by indigenous…

Situation definition is the process and product of actors' interpretive activities toward a given situation. By reviewing a number of psychological studies conducted in experimental settings, we found that the studies have only explicated a part of the situation definition process and have neglected its dynamic aspects. We need to focus on the…

This paper draws on the comparative and qualitative data from a triple case study carried out in three semi-rural early childhood education centres in Canada, India, and South Africa. The primary objective of this four year study was to provide in-depth understanding of the ways in which policy, practice, and culture intersect in semi-rural…

The research reported here follows previous articles in this special issue which detail a national study involving a team of researchers across four higher education institutions in New Zealand. A key theme that emerged from a collection of questionnaire, interview and observational data was the central importance of teacher-student and…

Even though Finnish students continually score at the highest levels on international reading tests, little attention is given to Finland's reading education programs. Dismissing Finnish attainments often is based on the attitude that the Finnish language is simpler, due to a close one-to-one sound/symbol match and that Finland is an isolated…

Street children in Makutano, northwest Kenya, form strong, stable social groups. Group activity functions through a well-defined structure involving leadership and close personal and economic relationships. This article shows how group solidarity is maintained through the sharing of a common subculture of spatial understandings, games, activities,…

This article applies Engestrom's Activity Theory (AT) as an analytical lens to identify defining characteristics of the collaborative creative music making activities of composing and arranging. Attention is paid to the complex interrelationships among the various elements of interaction in children's collaborative creative music making as…

This article examines community-college students' goals within the dominant framing of higher education, in which education serves primarily as preparation for the new economy. Specifically, it explores students' motives for acquiring college credentials and how they apply the principles of utility and efficiency to their pursuit of those…

The purpose of this study was to provide a description of the kinds of prosocial behavior that 2- and 5-year-old children naturally exhibit. Caretakers were asked for their observations of children's prosocial behavior in natural settings. Specifically, 40 parents and teachers who had daily interactions with 2-year-olds were asked to name the most…

If the education profession is to improve, the gap between educational research and the classroom teacher must be narrowed. Most educational theory is based on empirical research generated by logical deduction, but naturalistic research provides more innovative and flexible methods for collecting explanations of learning behavior. (MT)

To examine the antecedents and consequences of social comparison exchanges of preschool children, this paper describes and analyzes several examples of such behavior. Data provide variegated descriptions of the social components of comparison behaviors in naturally occurring classroom contexts. (Author/RH)

Examines various situations in which young children use social comparison to elicit understanding from a peer. Data are drawn from naturalistic observations of three- , four- , and five-year-olds. Children used social comparison to seek information, agreement, permission, compliance, verbal responsiveness, and attention. (Author/RH)