An exploratory study of a small rural high school in upstate New York investigated students' perceptions of safety at school and empowered students to develop solutions to school violence. A mixed-methods approach drew on action research, youth-based phenomenology, and a general systems frame of reference. Data collection included two surveys of…

Three teams of teachers and administrators from three adult basic education programs in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia participated in a 2-year action research project that focused on developing approaches that local programs can use to document the outcomes of student participation in adult education programs. Facilitators helped the teams…

Many Native Americans are reluctant to work with researchers who have not demonstrated a sense of obligation to their community. Research that has proven to be valuable has trained American Indians to collect data, incorporated participatory research methods, and supplemented quantitative data collection with qualitative research. The tension…

Story-telling, an oral tradition of the indigenous peoples of Australia, was recorded on video as a vehicle for conveying health promotion messages in several urban Aboriginal (Koori) communities in Sydney, Australia. The video was made by a group of Koori women Elders and two female Aboriginal academics. The Elders integrated their personal…

This title gives concrete practical examples of how to align school library programs and instructional practice with the six key concepts of brain-compatible learning: increasing input to the brain; increasing experiential data; multiple source feedback; reducing threat; involving students in learning decision making; and interdisciplinary unit…

The growing movement of teacher-as-researcher and the increasing emphasis on qualitative research paradigms call into question the traditional curricula in teacher education programs, which emphasize the teacher as consumer rather than as producer of research. In this study, college faculty and students, and school teachers and administrators were…

This paper considers the purposes, methods, findings, and significance of the British Library LESSEN (Learning Support for Special Education Needs) Project. The focus was on Year 7 students (students aged 11-12, in their first year of secondary education) in ten English secondary schools who were on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) register…

This action research project implemented and assessed a program to improve student behavior. Participants were fourth-grade students in a growing middle class community in northern Illinois. The problem of inappropriate behaviors was documented by means of a behavior checklist, student survey, teacher anecdotal record, and student yes/no…

This study examined the effects of an inquiry-based instructional method on secondary school students' achievement in earth science. Students (N=232) were treated as two experimental groups, one receiving 2 weeks of the inquiry-based instruction while the control group received the traditional lecture-type instruction. Data were analyzed employing…

This study reports on the improvement of a teacher researcher's teaching practice by adopting a constructivist teaching approach. Four biology units on the nervous system, human circulatory system, evolution, and vertebrate classification were selected to illustrate a model of biology teaching. Data were drawn from student responses to…

Thirty-four representatives of the Department for Education and Employment and other national organizations in the United Kingdom, researchers and educators in the fields of career education and guidance, and guidance practitioners from careers service companies and higher education institutions explored ways of developing a research culture in…

This project evaluated the effectiveness of school safety interventions to improve student interpersonal relationships and academic achievement. The targeted population consisted of middle school students in a growing, middle class community located in central southeastern Iowa. The issues of school safety were documented by means of student and…

The nature of student participation with WebBoard, an electronic bulletin board system that can be used for synchronous and asynchronous discussions among participants, was studied in an action research project in two settings. In one, 67 and 59 high school students of Japanese participated in a course using WebBoard. The number of times students…

This action research project investigated the effects of music on the behavior and performance of students (ages 3-21) with multiple disabilities, mental retardation, or severe mental retardation in four self-contained special education classrooms. The teacher researchers involved in the study made no assumptions with regard to the outcomes. It…

This collection of essays exemplifies the universal theme that competence in language is key to success in learning and in life. The research studies reported in the collection offer insights into the challenges of literacy learning in Asia: social, cultural, and linguistic factors that sometimes constrain the teacher's approach to instruction.…