This article describes the efforts of a combinatorial approach of Schools Around the World (SAW) and Understanding by Design (UbD) to create a foundation for lesson study efforts based on the Japanese model. UbD provides a framework for study units rich in essential content, assessment practices and well-crafted activities. SAW and lesson study…

This article reports a study of coauthor Laura Wright as she learned to teach secondary school grammar in four settings: university teacher education program, student teaching, her first job, and second job. Data for her university program came from Laura's journals and projects from her course work. Data from student teaching and her first job…

Depiction of the problem of children living in the streets in third world countries emphasizes the extent to which they are victims (as statistics have shown them as numbers on the streets or killed by "death squads") or victimizers who affect an economy (e.g., by robbing tourists). Both descriptions suggest that one-dimensional portrait…

The goals of the Head Start on Learning Science project include increasing Head Start staff and parents' awareness of the value of science; introducing teachers to integrated, inquiry-based science; and providing follow-up support to teachers and parents. This document is an evaluation report of the program that contains planning, formative, and…

A year-long naturalistic case study investigated teacher-initiated change efforts in language arts by examining the experiences and influences of a single sixth-grade teacher. The teacher was observed in multiple contexts (both in and out of her school), interacting with varying groups of individuals, not all of which were located within the…

Numerous studies exist that report the behaviors of elite athletes, but little research exists which describes the experiences of students within public school physical education classes. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences articulated by ninth graders participating (n=67) in their last semester of required physical…

A whole-school intervention strategy to transform the teaching/learning culture of schools was designed and implemented at an NSF (National Science Foundation)-sponsored SSI (Statewide Systemic Initiative) program for educational reform in science and mathematics in its pilot and dissemination stages. The SSI simultaneously provides: effective…

A study examined the extent to which employees in one university extension organization oriented themselves to a vision of extension work that responded to nontraditional societal problems, nontraditional affected communities, and the expertise of nontraditional faculty. The state extension service organization (based at a large midwestern…

The Writing Program Director at Johnson County Community College (Kansas) developed quantitative measures for writing instruction evaluation which can support that institution's growing interest in and support for peer collaboration as a means to improving instructional quality. The first process (Interaction Analysis) has an observer measure…

The Multiple Option Observation System for Experimental Studies (MOOSES) is a flexible data collection and analysis package for applied behavioral research that addresses the needs of researchers interested in live coding of observational data. MOOSES allows the researcher to design a coding system for a particular research question. General types…

Although videotape is the preferred method for recording behavior, there are many natural settings in which it is impractical or too intrusive. The ability to collect data in such settings and in real time has been enhanced by the advent of light, powerful laptop computers. This poster (with paper) describes a set of eight programs (developed in…

Novice researchers often face more peril than pleasures in the researching process, which can become even more perilous as bicultural backgrounds locate them in ambiguous and fluid positions in relation to the "native" and the research community. Such ambiguity problematizes the techniques of participant observation, revealing it as a…

The Calculators in Primary Mathematics Project was a long-term investigation into the effects of the introduction of calculators on the learning and teaching of primary mathematics. The Australian project commenced with children who were in kindergarten and grade 1 in 1990, moving up through the schools to grade 4 level by 1993. Children were…

Emerging criteria are reported for judging the trustworthiness of action research studies as compared to the criteria established for judging the trustworthiness of other forms of naturalistic inquiry set forth by Y. S. Lincoln and E. Guba (1985). Differing conceptions of the nature of action research are delineated, and their accompanying…

Typically, attributions of attitude are assessed after one instance of an actor's behavior. To determine what types of attributions observers make after the presentation of a sequence of behaviors, 135 college students were asked to make attributions about an actor's behavior after having been provided with category-based (group membership) and…