This book addresses the teaching and learning of history in the elementary grades. The literature review in the first two chapters presents an overview of scholarship in the field and provides a context within which to interpret the research in subsequent chapters. The remainder of the book presents and discusses research on the teaching and…

This qualitative research study examined the impact of student leadership experiences on the personal and professional lives of alumni three to five years after graduation. Twenty-six former student members of two student alumni leadership groups at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were interviewed by telephone. Interviews focused on…

This study evaluates how various colleges across the country determine the effectiveness of their remedial/developmental programs. The author sectioned the country into 4 quadrants and solicited participation from 80 randomly selected colleges. A total of 50 colleges (63%) responded from over 30 states. Using personal interviews, case studies,…

Descriptions of the creative disposition are caught in a dilemma. If the spontaneous origination of ideas is a product of discrete mental dispositions, then how are these intentional traits made intelligible within conventional discourse? On one hand art students are obliged by teachers to find creative authenticity inside their own intentional…

This study addressed a void in the current literature by identifying and describing positive and negative influences on the persistence in school of African American students attending a private black college (PBC). Four students participated in the study: four males and one female. There were six formal interviews in all, with each subject…

The traditional K-3 social studies curriculum has focused on food, clothing, shelter, communication, transportation, and other cultural universals. Very little information exists about children's prior knowledge and thinking (including misconceptions) about these topics. A study was designed to provide such information with respect to the topic of…

The purpose of this study was to enhance the reflection of pre-service science teachers by infusing museum resources and context into a methods course. Qualitative methods were used for data collection from 21 students who took the course. The data sources came from field notes, reports, diaries, and interviews. The findings showed that when the…

Noting that the quality of early childhood education (ECE) programs offered in public schools is directly affected by the understanding of and value placed on such a program by the building principal, this qualitative study examined principals' understanding and beliefs about children's play and its place in K-2 early childhood programs. Phase 1…

Based on the premise that preschool and school settings fail to take into account children's popular cultural interests when developing curriculum content, this study explored the potential of popular culture for motivating young children to engage in literacy and oracy practices. Participating were 94 three- and four-year-olds in two nurseries in…

In the United Kingdom, the term "outdoor management development" (OMD) is commonly used to describe courses using outdoor facilities to achieve the aims of management development. OMD courses claim to be able to train staff and managers from a variety of organizations. The received wisdom in OMD is that practice in the field has a sound…

This paper examines young peoples' ideas and their dreams of the future. It is part of a longitudinal study in which students at four schools in Australia were interviewed twice a year during their time in secondary school. The paper claims that this long-term engagement with individuals heightened specificity of the dreams, though it was…

This qualitative study examined constructs of "expertise" in the domain of music with five groups of handbell choirs, four of which were comprised of individuals with mental retardation or developmental disability. Subjects with mental retardation also differed in their residential placements (home, community, institutions) and level of…

This paper presents an approach to the improvement of qualitative research courses in graduate schools, based on the case study of a graduate class. The study sought to link research to teaching through a qualitative research workshop. The course was developed to promote two goals: (1) community-building among graduate researchers, and (2)…

This qualitative study examined experiences of 139 individuals with doctoral degrees to identify factors that inhibit and/or facilitate students' success in doctoral programs. The study used an e-mail survey which asked about personal background, entry/structure of degree, university/other support, supervision of program, the process, and overall…

This paper examines issues and areas of concern for the educational researcher moving from the relative safety of academic research to the more perilous arena of practice-oriented or action-oriented qualitative research. The first question is one of purity or objectivity: giving credibility to research results by imposing adequate rigor on methods…