The nature of laboratory work has changed in the past decade. One example is a shift from working individually or in pairs on single traditional verification experiments to working collaboratively in larger groups in inquiry and research-based laboratories, over extended periods in and outside of the lab. In this increased era of collaboration, we…

This brief paper captures only a glimpse of the faceted experiences of Alabama State College Laboratory School's students, teachers, and administrators during a period of dramatic societal changes. It is a response to the call for more scholarship in the history of Black education during this period and for case studies of schools that…

In recent years, Arts Education in America's secondary schools has been underfunded, undervalued, and underdeveloped. Music, in particular, has been under siege in the "No Child Left Behind" era as teachers increasingly teach students to pass specific written tests, and administrators focus on improving these test scores and struggle with related…

This ethnographic study explored aspects of how the natural sciences were represented in a Reggio Emilia-inspired laboratory preschool. The natural sciences as a discipline--a latecomer to preschool curricula--and the internationally known approach, Reggio Emilia, interested educators and researchers, but there was little research about science in…

One of the virtues of writing centers is that they compensate for the alienation of writing. If the canonical literate encounter is one where writer and reader meet only through the medium of the text, then the writing center consultation restores immediacy to written communication. Like an author-attended rehearsal, writing center consultation…

The dissociation constant, K[subscript d], of the binding of riboflavin-binding protein (RP) with neutral red (NR) can be determined by titrating RP to a fixed concentration of NR. Upon adding RP to the NR solution, the maximum absorption peak of NR shifts to 545 nm from 450 nm for the free NR. The change of the absorption can be used to determine…

The speed of light is an essential topic in the teaching of physics at school and at university, either with respect to the type of experiment or of course with respect to its genuine inherent importance. In reality, the various available experiments are hardly ever performed in class for many reasons. Therefore, we offer this experiment as a…

In this quantitative study, we compare the efficacy of Level 2, guided inquiry-based instruction to more traditional, verification laboratory instruction in supporting student performance on a standardized measure of knowledge of content, procedure, and nature of science. Our sample included 1,700 students placed in the classrooms of 12 middle…

As part of a broad, campus-wide Writing Initiative designed to improve student-writing skills, Fairleigh Dickinson University opened a new campus writing center in fall 2006. Concurrently, a separate component of this initiative was launched to replace the English for General Purposes instruction offered in the traditional English as a Second…

As teachers, the time they get to talk with peers, their friends, is an important time because there is never enough of it. Why not allow students the opportunity to chat with friends--the same courtesy the author appreciated in meetings with peers? Through talk, students can improve their conversational skills, which in turn would help their…

Laboratory experiences play a substantial role in most high school science courses, and many teachers believe the number of labs they offer is a measure of the quality of their curriculum. While some teachers believe labs are meant to confirm concepts taught during lectures, others feel labs should address students' everyday beliefs about the…

We evaluated the feasibility and utility of a laboratory model for examining observer accuracy within the framework of signal-detection theory (SDT). Sixty-one individuals collected data on aggression while viewing videotaped segments of simulated teacher-child interactions. The purpose of Experiment 1 was to determine if brief feedback and…

This paper reports on a study which examined students' attitudes to learning grammar in autonomous contexts and their preferences for the learning materials with which to do so. In all, 38 students were surveyed and 13 of these then spent some time working in a language resource centre (LRC) with web- and paper-based materials. Students then…

Accumulation of sodium azide in copper or lead plumbing can result in the formation of copper or lead azide and an eventual explosion. Presents procedures to dispose of azide wastes. (GS)

In this paper, two simple non-contact and cost-effective methods to acquire data in the student laboratory are applied to investigate the motion of a torsion pendulum. The first method is based on a Hall sensor, while the second makes use of an optical mouse.