Indices of happiness and unhappiness were defined, and a corresponding observation system was developed and implemented with five students in an adult education classroom. Results indicate the definitions and the observation system reliably identified frequencies of happiness and/or unhappiness indices for each student across separate activities.…

Discusses the observation web, a technique used to reflect on activities that are used in the English-as-foreign-language classroom. The observation web is divided into 8 sections, each of which corresponds to a certain feature of an activity used in the lesson: linguistic, cognitive, progressive, informative, teacher-centered, student-centered,…

This study explores the gendered discourse of social-based computer-mediated contexts. Specifically, the critical ethnography explicates the patterns of discourse of male-based and female-based Internet chatrooms and discusses the findings of participant observation. (Contains 36 references.) (Author/LRW)

A group of Maine birdwatchers recognizes that the presence or absence of migrating songbirds is related to complex biospheric patterns. For schoolchildren, community groups, and environmental scientists, such local natural history observations can be a pathway to perceiving and understanding global ecological change and then to developing…

This article discusses a unique distance learning facility that allows people, while they are busy working with individuals in another corner of the room, to see what exactly is going on in a learning center and how children are communicating with one another. The article is divided up into the following sections: A New Window on Learning;…

The emphasis placed on prolonged engagement, fieldwork, and participant observation has prevented wide-scale use of ethnography in counseling psychology. This article provides a discussion of ethnography in terms of definition, process, and potential ethical dilemmas. The authors propose that ethnographically informed methods can enhance…

Providing support to beginning teachers is essential for two reasons: the need to retain qualified beginning teachers and the need for beginning teachers to become effective practitioners as soon as possible. Induction and mentoring programs have been effective in ameliorating some of the causes--including lack of support--of the high attrition…

Peer observation of teaching can be seen as a means by which the quality of the teaching and learning process in higher education establishments is both accounted for and improved. The majority of the literature to date has focused on the mechanisms for implementing peer observation systems and its links to enhanced professional practice. However,…

In this article, the authors discuss a literature-based activity that helps students discover the importance of making detailed observations. In an inspiring children's classic book, "Everybody Needs a Rock" by Byrd Baylor (1974), the author invites readers to go "rock finding," laying out 10 rules for finding a "perfect" rock. In this way, the…

Experiments offer more reliable evidence on causation than observational studies, which is not to gainsay the contribution to knowledge from observation. Experiments should be analyzed as experiments, not as observational studies. A simple comparison of rates might be just the right tool, with little value added by "sophisticated" models. This…

The purpose of the present study was to investigate differences in neural information transmission between gifted and normal children involved in scientific hypothesis generation. To investigate changes in the amount of information transmission, the children's averaged-cross mutual information (A-CMI) of EEGs was estimated during their generation…

This study investigated both relational and physical aggression in preschool children, explored potential differences in informant reporting and child sex on these subtypes, and examined relationships between types of aggressive behaviors and other types of negative and positive social behaviors. Naturalistic observations of social behavior,…

According to the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council 1996), students in the middle school years should progress in studying life science from examining individual organisms to recognizing patterns in ecosystems and developing an understanding about the cellular dimensions of living systems. Students should broaden the…

Peer Observation of Teaching is one process employed within higher education establishments in Britain that can be instrumental in developing the reflective practices of professional lecturers. It is a means of making the focus and purpose of reflection more explicit and effective through allowing academics to consider their roles as professional…

Social skills deficits and excesses are a defining aspect of mental retardation (MR). Research indicates that there is an established relationship between social skills and maladaptive behaviors. A number of studies demonstrate that the social competence of individuals with MR and comorbid psychopathology can be enhanced with social skills…