Reflecting on the practice of qualitative literacy research, this book presents 14 essays that address the most pressing questions faced by qualitative researchers today: how to represent others and themselves in research narratives; how to address ethical dilemmas in research-participant relations; and how to deal with various rhetorical,…

This descriptive study examined children's drawings and related language episodes to differentiate drawings exhibiting play from those exhibiting exploratory behavior. Drawings categorized as play were further analyzed to identify constructive and imaginary play. The play theory used as the basis of the study proposes that exploration and…

This practicum project used organized professional development to increase involvement of teachers at a preK-8 school in the school's reform process. All members of the school community actively participated in planning, data collecting, and sharing of pertinent reform information. The 3-month staff development intervention consisted of three…

Previous investigators have looked at many types of criminal offenses in order to determine alcohol involvement in crime. This longitudinal (4-year) naturalistic experimental and control designed study examined the effects of change in alcohol availability on rates of offending in a small provincial region of New Zealand following the closure of…

This paper discusses the use of child development charts to assess the social, self-help, gross motor, fine motor, and language development of infants and young children. It examines the roles of teachers and parents in observing and assessing children's development and provides 2 checklists, one for infants from birth through 21 months (at…

The structures of meaning preservice teachers perceived and interpreted as a result of field placements in a methods course and through the use of ethnographic tools were studied in an ethnographic design. The study involved 11 preservice teachers. It described how they shaped each other's thinking about teaching and it examined how ethnographic…

This paper explores the process by which mathematical knowledge is socially constructed. Interactional analysis of a lesson on fact families shows how one third-grade mathematics class negotiated the meanings of writing a number sentence for a picture and a fact family. In the course of classroom interactions, teacher and students shifted the…

Dispositions of eighth graders accelerated into first-year algebra were described in this study. Data were collected through surveys, observations, interviews, and cumulative academic files. The most frequently reported reasons for enrolling in algebra were for acceleration of course-taking and preparation for high school. Males demonstrated a…

This paper addresses issues surrounding attempts to describe instructional practices and learning opportunities. It draws from the data and experiences of researchers associated with the Reform Up Close (RUC) Study conducted by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) for the National Science Foundation. The paper focuses on the…

For better or worse, administrators observing classroom teaching is a leadership priority in many American schools. In a whole language environment, a variety of activities are usually occurring simultaneously. Goals are therefore needed to provide instructional direction and to clarify for observers, the teacher, and students why the students are…

The military theme at Northeast Law, Public Service, and Military High School in Kansas City, Missouri, was evaluated during its second year of implementation (the 1990-91 school year). After a shaky start, the second year brought increased stability to the program. Program objectives were in place, and all military theme staff had been hired by…

This document consists of short reviews of 13 Ohio schools. The goal is to illustrate each school's atmosphere and members through a report made by an education expert who actually visited the school, as opposed to a statistical report. Interviews of students and teachers are included, as are impressions of reform methods being used in the school,…

In a world where science has become too confined to books and too reliant on technology, and science fairs have been taken over by parents, this paper offers suggestions to help young people have actual hands-on experience with nature. Topics include soil formation; ants; earthworms; temperature; weather predictions; rain acidity; physical science…

In order to better evaluate bilingualism in deaf children, this study examined whether observers (N=37) from different backgrounds would agree on deaf children's use of either American Sign Language (ASL) or English signing. Observers represented a range of background experience in a variety of schools and programs; 6 were deaf; 31 were hearing;…

A teaching/learning strategy called "Content-Field Synergy" (C-FS) promotes systematic instruction in the use of naturalistic inquiry as a higher order thinking strategy in social context. C-FS is a total course of study design that synthesizes and extends material from the required course text and lectures with observations from a…