This article presents the results of research conducted at the first place where autism was diagnosed in China, the Nanjing Child Mental Health Research Center. The purpose was to examine the development of service provision for children with autism in this state-run medical institution. Specifically, the specific intervention model for autism,…

Autistic individuals were observed in their familiar residential environment using a time-sample technique. The data do not support the notion that autistic children are unusually "negativistic". (Author/NH)

An educational researcher describes absurdities and paradoxes encountered in the research process, arising from the nature of natural science, subjectivity, education, the profession, the naturalistic paradigm, and ethnography. (SK)

Describes an environmental education program at an Alabama elementary school that integrates nature into every facet of school life. The campus features a small, student-built pond, bluebird houses, and butterfly gardens. The nationally acclaimed program was initiated by Principal Ross Hobbs, who sees the environment as common ground for all…

Evaluating the psychometric properties of the indicators that comprise the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) language-reasoning scale from an item response theory (IRT) perspective on a sample of observations from 334 Caribbean classrooms, Stout's procedure revealed that all indicators on this dimension are not part of a…

This article extends recent work on the consequences of literacy-learning reforms by complicating the notion of "policy." Through a qualitative study in one high school, I explored how policy in its many forms, including the ways it was perceived and misperceived, shaped the literacy learning experiences of marginalized adolescent readers.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to first elaborate on the notion of a learning environment based on an empirical study of care work. Second, to explore how aspects of a learning environment may differ between and within units in the same organization, and how to understand and explain such differences. Design/methodology/approach: The study…

Researchers agree that language and literacy derive from the first days of a child's life. Children become literate members in society by listening and interacting with the people that surround them. This study examines how children develop literacy through play by looking closely at the benefits of uninterrupted play and how it encourages…

Chronicles Henry David Thoreau's early positions as a nontraditional, progressive, futuristic teacher, tutor, and schoolmaster. Explains how Thoreau's disposition for observing, questioning, and evaluating led him to leave education and nurture his role as a naturalist and philosopher. (NEC)

Argues for the application of behavioral methods including natural observations over reification in parapsychological research. Research methodology stressing the importance of observation, replication, and continuity in applied science is discussed. (Author/BL)

Data from a parent training outcome study demonstrated three types of subject reactivity noted by observers while collecting naturalistic observation data in family homes. Suggestions are made for future research, including the systematic collection of reactivity data during the course of observations and the examination of covariations between…

Does one sex explore more than the other? Is one sex more curious than the other? That's a tough question to answer definitively. We know that we explore in varying degrees. Whether sociological or biological, good or bad, this investigation attempts to determine if there are substantive differences in acting upon inquisitiveness between genders.…

Traces the roots of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, which provides programs to encourage outdoor experiences. Summarizes a forum on natural history education titled, "Breaking the Barriers: Linking Children and Nature." Lists strategies for improving environmental education and objectives for the institute. (KS)

Proposes that environmental educators refocus their attention on the study of nature to reach the goal of environmental literacy. (MDH)

The research goals were to use the constructs of harm and intent to quantify the severity of aggression in the real-world setting of the bar/club, to describe the range of aggressive behaviors and their relationship to harm and intent, and to examine gender differences in the form and severity of aggression. Systematic observations were conducted…