Describes the way in which a new applied-physics course introduced in British Columbia as part of a program in applied academics can be seen to construct different networks in different contexts. Employs actor network theory (ANT). Contains 20 references. (DDR)

In this classroom simulation of a crime, students take on the challenge presented in the article To Catch a Thief. Students witnessing a surprising event learn to question the nature of how criminals get identified and generate ideas about how criminals can be better identified. A key component of the evidence is an unusual distinguishing…

Reports findings from a preliminary study evaluating effects of the UK's Office for Standards in Education inspections on classroom change, based on teachers' perceptions, responses, and intentions to change practice (resulting from the inspection process) at five comprehensive secondary schools. School context and culture figure prominently.…

Explored the antecedents of the ambivalent attachment pattern in Israeli infants. Found that mothers of ambivalent infants showed lower education level, higher separation anxiety, and higher parenting stress than mothers of secure infants. Infants' perceived difficult temperament did not discriminate between the two groups. Longer maternal work…

Studied variability in the perception of sexual harassment based on observer gender, gender of harasser and victim, and role relationship of harasser and victim with 197 college students. The more egalitarian the relationship, the less likely students were to perceive sexual harassment. Gender differences are discussed for the various scenarios.…

Describes one superintendent's behaviors and activities while trying to implement a change agenda (site-based management) in his district. Although the superintendent's leadership style seemed based on theory, it created consternation and fear in many and acceptance in some. Administrators ultimately rejected the superintendent's…

Reviews previous effective-schools research frameworks and examines underlying assumptions and methodological implications. Drawing on an Israeli study, argues that the modeling of school-effectiveness studies must be both multilevel and interactive. Achievement depends on the particular combination of a pupil's home background and general…

Gender differences in item-specific confidence judgments were studied for 70 male and 181 female college students. Gender differences in confidence were dependent on context and the domain being tested. Both men and women were overconfident, but men were especially overconfident when incorrect. (SLD)

Addresses the theme of the 1995 TESOL Convention: "Building Our Futures Together." The article argues that we face dilemmas when clashes develop between different sets of values, for example, the political values dominating the workplace and the cultural values affecting social interaction. The article then sketches a preferred vision of…

Examines the cross-linguistic influence of native language topic-prominence in shaping and accenting the written English discourse produced by Chinese learners. The article endeavors to demonstrate that this interlingual discourse does not meet the criteria for adequate coherence in written English discourse. (22 references) (Author/CK)

Argues for the adoption of a literacy pedagogy to enable tertiary level students from different language backgrounds to access expository text. The article describes the outcomes of a project exploring whether college freshmen from different language backgrounds had appropriate strategies and awareness levels to understand and retain ideas from…

Case vignettes of teachers at work illustrate ways to conceptualize and represent the voices of teachers in educational research. More comparative and contextualized studies of teachers' voices would avoid romanticizing them, something that often happens when teachers' voices are presented in isolation from other voices. (SLD)

Dutch researchers used the Teachers' and Principals' Sense of Efficacy scale to examine the context dependency of elementary teachers' and principals' sense of efficacy. Results advance self-efficacy as an important factor in explaining the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. (SM)

The case study of a community relations program in Northern Ireland demonstrates the importance of contextual variables and illustrates that the demands of short-term, context-stripped, value-for-money evaluations are often in conflict with qualitative inquiries that can reveal the social, political, and cultural influences on program delivery.…

Participant observations and key informant interviews were used in three case studies, each case corresponding to a different degree of researcher involvement in a Canadian school district's participatory evaluation. The contextual differences observed are discussed, and the usefulness of the approach to studying evaluation methods is described.…