Graduate and undergraduate students participated in the development of a Likert-type rating scale designed to measure teachers' attitudes toward educational research. Preliminary research supported the instrument's reliability and validity. It can also be used to measure attitude change and to improve educational research courses. (GDC)

A wide range of teachers were sampled to study whether attitudes toward the profession change with age and/or generation, or the amount of professional experience. Attitudes concerning the fulfillment of altruistic and pragmatic needs were assessed both for present views and for when the career choice was made. (Author/GDC)

Kindergarten teachers were more likely to discipline when boys were verbally disruptive, but disciplined girls for disruptive aggressive behaviors. Teachers were physical when responding to boys' disruptions and used verbal and nonverbal behaviors when responding to girls' disruptive behaviors. Girls' questions received longer teacher responses.…

Observation data from 46 classrooms demonstrated the importance of context in understanding teacher behavior. Student-teacher interactions for explaining and giving directions occurred a statistically different number of times in self-paced and other-paced (group or interactive) settings. (Author/GDC)

Tenth graders solved mathematical problems assisted by varying amounts of help from their teacher. Significant differences occurred between students receiving aid and the unaided control group. Partial assistance resulted in better immediate performance, but this difference was less observable three weeks later. (Author/GDC)

Graduate students received course grades before filling out the end of course form, or filled out the evaluation form first and later received course grades. Results suggested that knowledge of final grade had no effect on evaluations of course and instructor. (Author/GDC)

The hypothesis that the relationship between the technology and social structure of a school or classroom affects teacher behavior is explored with longitudinal data from a case study of faculty who attempted to replace letter grades and report cards with individualized, descriptive student assessment. (Author/GDC)

Attitudes toward gifted children and toward special educational programs were analyzed among 853 regular teachers, special teachers, parents, administrators, children, community leaders, and lay public. Parents and teachers of the gifted were most favorable; explanations were suggested. (GDC)

The nine essays of this anthology attempt to apply some ideas of the French philosopher/historian Michel Foucault (1926-84) to past and present school practice. However, to follow Foucault's lead is to risk embracing a state of perpetual uncertainty about the fabrication of knowledge and power. (SLD)

An in-depth analysis is presented of four secondary social studies departments that have made structural changes in school organization while promoting higher order thinking. In these departments, certain organizational structures, combined with clear curricular emphases, appear to be associated with higher levels of classroom thoughtfulness. (SLD)

A dialogical model is proposed for connecting theory to practice in teacher education by conceiving of cases from case-based pedagogy as problems that initiate shared inquiry. Cases with genuine cognitive and axiological content can initiate self-directed, student-centered inquiry while building democratic dialogical communities. (SLD)

A retrospective account of the interactive research process in a study of students who left other occupations for teaching describes four research dimensions (initiation of the internal interdisciplinary collaboration, external collaboration with faculty advisors, external collaboration with students, and internal collaboration in constructing the…

Observations of mixed-age classrooms of three and four year olds (n=36), of three year olds (n=27), and four year olds (n=31) found significant age differences in social and cognitive play for same-age, but not mixed-age, classes. Implications for early childhood education are discussed. (SLD)

The social representation attached to an English or Argentinan national identity were studied for schoolboys aged 7, 10, 12, and 17 years (220 in England and 146 in Argentina) following the Falkland Islands conflict. Findings suggest the potential of socially oriented theoretical frameworks for research on political socialization. (SLD)

Historical accounts by fourth graders at the beginning stage of learning history show that these young students lack an experience-based framework for grounding and connecting historical teaching. Implications for teaching history to elementary school students and aspects of children's reliance on imagination in constructing historical narratives…