Eight papers presented at an international symposium on teacher education research are featured in this document. Excerpts from the opening speech by Erkki A. Niskanen, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Helsinki, outline research projects being carried out by teacher educators at the university. A paper by Yrjo Engestrom,…

Most teachers and the public believe that children in kindergarten and the primary grades benefit from small classes because of children's need for individualized instruction and teacher attention. This report, part of a comprehensive policy study of early childhood education, presents a review of the research on the effect of class size on…

Cultural traits related to experiences of specific ethnic, religious, or racial heritages have received much attention in recent years. There are several broader cultural influences, however, which apply to children of several cultural groups and to teachers. These broader cultural influences color teachers' interpretations of students' behaviors…

This workshop collection contains four case studies regarding particular relationships between specific resources and clientele or user groups, and three discussions based on those four papers and/or conference discussions. The first paper discusses urban land use origins and compares urban policies with rural policies suggesting that future rural…

Rationales, approaches, and constraints on genocide awareness education at all school levels are discussed. It is critical that students, especially U.S. students who live in a culturally pluralistic society, be made aware of how genocide was perpetrated in the past and of the fact that it is still happening today. A basic genocide awareness…

From the earliest historical period up to the present, Hindus have linked education with religion. This paper examines the evolution of the Hindu educational system from the Vedic period (up to 1000 B.C.) to the present. Topics covered include the historical development of the Hindu education from the earliest period when it consisted of…

The relationship between Chinese-Americans and their elderly parents is examined in the context of the Chinese concept of "heart." The Chinese word "heart" expresses a concept central to the dynamics of family transactions and especially to the relationship of elderly parents to adult children. Chinese culture is not a physically or verbally…

The report catalogs strengths, defines problems, and establishes goals for the next two decades for rural New York in the area of transportation. Describing where rural New York is today, section one lists 12 trends, 8 strengths, and 16 weaknesses affecting transporation. Trends include increased rural population inflow and demands on local…

A coding scheme developed by M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasan was used in a study that investigated how students in grades 4, 6, and 8 developed meaning within narrative texts. Students, after being presented with a visual stimulus, were asked to describe what was happening and say what happened before and after the picture. Next, an oral assignment…

Path analysis was used to discover predictors of personality, school conduct, and distractibility-hyperactivity problems in this 4-year longitudinal study of 173 rural children. While previous studies had shown that children's behavior disorders are related to sex of child, family disruption, IQ, Bender-Gestalt Test scores, and socioeconomic…

This is the second of four phases of reporting the findings of a study of school mathematics in 24 countries, including the United States. The report consists of five parts: (1) introduction; (2) eighth-grade findings; (3) twelfth-grade findings; (4) student attitudes toward mathematics; and (5) concluding remarks. Supporting documentation…

An international conference was held: (1) to determine what can be done to make science (particularly physics) and technology more attractive to girls; (2) to examine how girls who study science and technology can have the same opportunities as boys have; and (3) to see that girls have the same results in science and technology as boys have. These…

This study describes instructional design elements most valued by nontraditional adult learners in hybrid learning environments that combine limited face-to-face contact with online learning and collaboration. It identifies the online course features and instructional goals selected as most important by a sample of 67 adults. It then compares this…

This paper discusses the results of a study of the relationships between teacher behaviour and the level of play engagement in two- and three-year-old children in Dutch childcare centres. We found that the continuous proximity of the teacher had the greatest impact on the level of play engagement, while the teacher's walking around and only brief…

The costs of education are usually shared by governments and students. Cost benefit analyses have failed to indicate how these costs should be apportioned, since such analyses measure only economic benefits and leave out the psychological, sociological, and political benefits governments and educators must consider in financial planning.…