Describes the concept of school readiness and considers the purpose, content, and process of assessing children's school readiness. Notes that early childhood assessment is undertaken for numerous purposes but that these purposes are not always clear. Delineates different purposes for collecting data and discusses critical principles that could…

Describes the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) project as a way of teaching astronomy concepts to middle school students. The project provides students opportunities to work with professional scientists. (SOE)

Examines the politics that arise in the research and evaluation of school reform efforts, drawing on qualitative data from a study of comprehensive school reform to elucidate methodological issues in several areas; discussing how the researchers were perceived, how participants used researchers' research and presence in political ways, and how…

Presents findings of a research study on how women in information technology (IT) professions seek information on the Web as part of their daily work. Develops a behavioral model of Web information seeking that identifies four complementary modes of information seeking: undirected viewing, conditioned viewing, informal search, and formal search.…

Proposes a four-level model for adapting the Kirkpatrick model of training evaluation to suit technical manuals and services assessing: (1) user satisfaction; (2) user performance; (3) client performance; and (4) client satisfaction. Discusses assessing of the value of work, limitations in evaluating technical communication products, and the…

Uses an exploratory study, "Children, Parents and Risk," to examine some ethical and methodological issues specific to child-focused research. Focuses on gatekeepers who control access to parents and children, and on the interview process, asserting that the research process itself constitutes an important source of data on models of…

The experience of 10 years evaluating HIV risk-reduction intervention for drug users leads to the argument that program outreach workers are part of the intervention continuum and have important effects on service delivery. Improving pre-enrollment data collection will address evaluation issues raised by pre-enrollment outreach contacts. (SLD)

Presents weekly activities that focus on various forms of transportation in the world. Students investigate transportation through data collection, geometry, and measurement. (KHR)

Explores the development of the sociology of college students in higher education institutions in Russia, focusing on the students as an object of sociological-biographical analysis. Discusses studies of college students that were conducted at the start of the twentieth century. Includes seven references. (CMK)

This commentary discusses the decline in sexual abuse, citing research that indicates differences in self-reported sexual abuse across age-cohorts in a population-based sample of Australian adults. Similar declines in Ireland and the United States are also noted. The usefulness of self-report surveys for examining trends in child victimization is…

Use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and cocaine among Hispanic youth were estimated using national data from the Monitoring the Future survey and state data from surveys in New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, and California. Prevalence rates were lower in the national study than in state surveys and also differed among states, possibly…

Critiques Daryl Siedentop's lecture, "In Search of Effective Teaching: What We Have Learned From Teachers," addressing aspects of effective teaching research that appear to be missing from or less evident in Siedentop's work and commenting on Siedentop's overall contributions to the literature on effective teaching in physical education…

Offers an overview of the authors' experience using several observational methods to better understand one class of users, expert clinicians treating patients in hospital settings. Shows the evolution of understanding of the users and their information-handling tasks based on observations made in the field by a multidisciplinary research team, and…

This article provides guidelines and strategies that educators can use to solicit feedback from students and their family members regarding their perceptions of their school's inclusion program. It also examines ways to address the concerns and issues raised by family members. A sample survey and questionnaire are included. (Contains references.)…

Developed is a classroom activity that illustrates the scientific method. The importance of observation, interpretation, and prediction is discussed. The activity uses pictures of the surface of Mars. (KR)