Examines the definition, construction, and interpretation of social indicators. Shows how standard classes of formalisms used to construct models in contemporary sociology are derived from the general theory of models. Reviews recent model building and evaluation related to active life expectancy among the elderly, fertility rates, and indicators…

Describes a lesson that connects geography and mathematics in which students develop an understanding of large numbers. Students listen to a story about the number one million, cut and paste faces on tagboard to estimate one million, and use blocks to represent the population of each state in the United States. (CMK)

School leaders are developing a "just-in-time" approach to research and data analysis to help inform and shape their decisions. Careful analysis of data can reveal patterns that can be improved. The key is to focus districts' research and analysis on the issues that will make the biggest difference in terms of student, teacher, and…

The authors examined knowledge, interest, and strategic processing profiles within special education for 4 educational communities. Participants included undergraduates not majoring in special education and undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty from special education. Cluster analysis tested whether participants would exhibit the…

We describe a perceptual experiment that we have successfully used in Research Methods classes. Students attempt to identify a series of simple cookie cutter shapes using only the fingers and hands (haptic perception). Students read archival studies that have used this procedure, identify confounds, generate and test alternate hypotheses, and…

The authors examine the college conditions that contribute to character development, using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). (Contains 4 tables and 5 figures.)

Trypsin and soybean trypsin inhibitor (Kunitz inhibitor) can be used in a relatively simple and inexpensive student exercise to demonstrate the usefulness of enzyme kinetics. The study of enzyme kinetics is essential to biology because enzymes play such a crucial role in the biochemical pathways of all living organisms. The data from enzyme…

Despite the concerns of scholars in the field of instructional supervision, teacher evaluations continue to emphasize bureaucratic accountability and standardization. This article presents an argument for extending the Joint Committee on Standards' Personnel Evaluation Standards to include standards related to the practice of supervision. The…

The 2000 US presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush has been the most intriguing and controversial in American history. Using the Florida ballot data, Wu showed that the 2000 election result could have been reversed had the "butterfly ballot effect" been eliminated. Through a combinatorial approach, Harger concluded that…

Given the current popularity of ethnographic methods of researching teaching and teachers, many investigators commonly confront the task of analyzing interview transcripts in order to uncover speakers' meaning systems and the embedded perspectives on knowledge and practice upon which those meaning systems rely. Others have written about conducting…

School systems can be data rich and information poor if they do not understand and manage their data effectively. The task for school leaders is to put existing data into a format that lends itself to answering questions and improving outcomes for the students. Common barriers to transforming data into knowledge in education settings often include…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability over time of low-frequency auditory thresholds to better determine if the new technique of using a short-electrode cochlear implant that preserves residual low-frequency acoustic hearing can be a long-term solution for those with severe-to-profound hearing loss at high frequencies. The…

Practice-as-inquiry refers to the blending of instructional practice with systematic curricular inquiry. College and university teachers, while experts in their disciplines, typically are not specialists in instructional practice. Practice-as-inquiry (also referred to as teacher-as-researcher) may function as a mechanism of continuous teaching…

During the 2009-2010 school year, Marzano Research Laboratory (MRL) was commissioned by Promethean Ltd. to conduct a second year evaluation study of the effects of Promethean ActivClassroom on student academic achievement. This report describes the findings from the second year study along with aggregate findings from the first and second year…

With the enactment of Title IX in 1972, sports participation by female athletes in intercollegiate sports has generally increased, while leadership positions have decreased. The data summarized in this paper represent 15 years (1977-1992) of information on the status of women in intercollegiate athletics gathered in an on-going national study of…