Several studies examining computer-mediated communications (CMC) in online courses have found low levels of participation under both voluntary (ungraded) and mandatory (graded) conditions. This is troubling since student participation is widely considered to have a positive impact on performance. Program-level data were analyzed to explore the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how Engestrom's "third generation" activity theory, with its emphasis on developing conceptual tools to understand dialogues, multiple perspectives and networks of interacting activity systems, has informed research into professional learning in multiagency service settings in England.…

Using data from two surveys in three counties among which the prevalence of uxorilocal marriage varies greatly, this paper analyzes effects of marriage form, as well as individual, family, and social factors on son preference in the context of strict birth control in rural China. It is shown that, under the Chinese patrilineal joint family system,…

This chapter outlines the research design including the nature of the research strategy, tools, respondents, and theoretical and methodological concerns in a child and youth care qualitative study. (Contains 3 figures and 9 notes.)

This paper makes the case that if e-learning research and development projects are to be successfully adopted in real-world teaching and learning contexts, then they must effectively address accessibility and usability issues; and that these need to be integrated throughout the project. As such, accessibility and usability issues need to be made…

Internet is the most important technological innovation of today, which can easily be integrated into every field of people's lives. The reason of its rapid improvement is its usefulness and easy access. Web, WWW, is a new technology which is used as a communication facilitator and it is an instructional delivery medium. It is vital to learn…

The growth of international television distribution has resulted in easy access to news, information, and entertainment programs originating in foreign countries. At the same time it has caused some concerns about the spread of values alien to a country's culture or simply irrelevant. The research reported here attempts to quantify the actual use…

This paper explores standards and criteria that can be used to judge the validity of qualitative data as evidence of educational improvement. The paper reports on a self study of the educative relationship between two teacher educators: Pam, from a university school of education, and Moyra, director of an inservice education program at a large…

This report contains the first release of information from the 1995 National Household Education Survey (NHES) on the care and educational experiences of young children who have not yet entered kindergarten. Describing infants', toddlers', and preschoolers' participation in a variety of early care and education settings, the document includes both…

This paper introduces the design for a study to investigate application of a cognitive apprenticeship approach to preservice teacher education. The research will be informed by and build upon the findings of a previous Master of Education dissertation. In particular, the study seeks to investigate answers to the following research question: To…

The papers in these proceedings focus primarily on features of the Head Start Program, contributions made to its research and its future direction. The first part of the proceedings contains presentations from the nine symposia, dealing with the following topics: (1) Head Start demonstration projects; (2) issues relating to education and the…

The four 1996 issues of this journal contain the following articles: "Sketch of Autosegmental Tonology" (H. Andrew Black); "System Relationships in Assessing Dialect Intelligibility" (Margaret Milliken, Stuart Milliken); "A Step-by-Step Introduction to Government and Binding Theory of Syntax" (Cheryl A. Black);…

The study explores the relative effects of a wide range of variables that influence learning, and whether three methods--content analysis, expert ratings, and meta-analysis--agree on whether and how strongly these variables influence learning, using the educational research literature and an expert survey. The presence of an emergent knowledge…

Because human behavior is dynamic and influenced by multiple interacting variables, questions have emerged regarding the usefulness of a science that relies heavily on experimental methodologies. A review of current scientific practices in psychology illuminates how the cognitive authority of the field exonerates the standard view of science. This…

This report details studies by eight researchers from five countries--Australia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Spain--that examine boundary-crossing issues between teachers and parents, between policies and school reality, between cultures, and between research and practice. All of the studies were based in elementary schools and…