Writing a synthesis text involves interacting reading and writing processes, serving the comprehension of source information, and its integration into a reader-friendly and accurate synthesis text. Mastering these processes requires insight into process' orchestrations. A way of achieving this is via process feedback in which students compare…

In this article, we reflect on our experiences with teaching ethnographic skills and sensibilities to MSc students at a Dutch university. Using methods such as (self)observation, journaling and reflection, we highlight dilemmas (conceptual, practical, ethical) faced by students when doing ethnographic fieldwork and dilemmas that emerged in…

Following the pandemic-related school shutdowns in spring 2020, direct observations continued to be a necessary component of special education evaluations even when students were not present at school. As students began learning at home instead of in classrooms, the continued need for observational data likely compelled most educators to use video…

Classroom observations have become an integral part of research related to mathematics education. In this qualitative study, we describe the current state of the mathematics education field with regard to the use of classroom observation. The research question was: "How is classroom observation being used to measure instructional quality in…

This study focuses on the use of systematic social observations (SSO) to measure crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) and disorder. To improve knowledge about measurement issues in small area research, SSO is conducted by means of three different methods: in-situ, photographs, and Google Street View (GSV) imagery. By evaluating…

Feedback is considered of great relevance for supporting student learning. It is therefore the focus of a significant body of theoretical work and is included in many observation frameworks for measuring teaching quality. However, little is currently known about the extent to which the theoretical and empirical knowledge of feedback from the…

This chapter explores the limitations of measuring teaching quality through observation of "observable behaviors" and argues for a more holistic approach to educational development that focuses on the richness of pedagogical qualities.

Although multiple organizational-level databases are frequently combined into one data set, there is no overview of the matching methods (MMs) that are utilized because the vast majority of studies does not report how this was done. Furthermore, it is unclear what the differences are between the utilized methods, and it is unclear whether research…

This article describes and analyzes the findings of children's observation records of block play with a focus on the wide range of mathematical outcomes resulting from children's block play. To this end, children's mathematical learning was analyzed in five areas: set and classification; pattern and symmetry; number and arithmetic; comparison and…

The inclusion of private events in the philosophy of our science is integral to avoid dualism and remain objective rather than making assumptions about an unseen mind. However, the inclusion of behaviors and stimuli which cannot be observed in an analysis poses obvious issues. One established method of studying covert behavior is to examine tasks…

Purpose: Many studies have explored school administrator discretion in the implementation of teacher evaluation and observation systems. However, we are unaware of any studies that quantitatively link discretionary administrator behaviors to student outcomes. The purpose of this study was to (a) explore the determinants of observations arising…

Emergent-based practices of leadership development (such as intentional emergence (IE), case-in-point, or group relations) rely a great deal on stopping the action in order to publicly notice group behaviors and patterns and connect what is happening authentically to conscious actions and ideas (such as course content, readings, theories, etc.).…

Despite the evidence supporting reciprocal peer observation (RPO) for teacher professional development, extant literature has reported that teacher resistance is a barrier to its implementation. Few studies have analysed the variables that moderate resistance to RPO. Based on data from 394 in-service teachers who participated in an RPO…

Instrumental variables is a popular approach for causal inference in education when randomization of treatment is not feasible. Using a first-year college program as a running example, this article reviews the five assumptions that must be met to successfully use instrumental variables to estimate a causal effect with observational data: SUTVA,…

This case study is based on qualitative research carried out with four 4-year-old children attending a kindergarten in Malta. The aim of the study was to first observe children playing without adult intervention to see if, and how, they would engage with mathematical ideas as they played. In the second part of the study, I interacted with the…