Interviews and focus groups with five 9- and 10-year-old girls from rural Nova Scotia (Canada) clearly revealed the power and influence of the media in manipulating young girls' perceptions of themselves and others. Goffman's interactionist perspective of the "theatrical performance" provided a framework for the study. (Contains 47 references.)…

A 4-year study of 9 Ontario secondary schools examined their capacity for change. Change capacity consisted of liberation from structures that inhibit innovation, honoring cognitive dissonance, and forging new relationships. Imposing new organizational structures was less likely to perpetuate change capacity than was a commitment improvement…

Graduate student persistence is related to previous educational experiences of the student, faculty, and departmental support staff and resulting interpersonal dynamics between these three parts of the "academic triad." Any graduate student can be rendered academically incompetent by lack of necessary mentoring support. Graduate student…

About one quarter of first-semester students enrolled in engineering technology programs at a Newfoundland (Canada) college dropped out. Student interviews and surveys indicate that academic difficulty was the most significant factor. Part-time attendance, uncertainty about future employment opportunities, work, and time elapsed since high school…

Surveys of 510 Chinese-Canadian adolescents attending 3 Chinese language schools in Calgary (Alberta) found that older immigrant children maintained or developed the native language better than younger ones, and limited teaching hours and insufficient reinforcement for using Chinese outside school hindered development of literacy in Chinese.…

Focuses on the problem of predicting college success given traditional cognitive measures. The first four chapters describe a study conducted in the United States and Estonia to determine variables associated with college success. The next four chapters contain commentary and critiques of the study, with reaction in the final chapter by the study…

Focuses on "teacher professionalism" as the knowledge and skills of the professionals. Chapters of this special collection address issues pertaining to the importance of school culture on teacher professionalism, the role of on-line professional development, the professional knowledge base for teaching, and the development and use of teacher…

Examined what children learned spontaneously from each other in everyday activities within the preschool culture. Findings from two preschool classes of 14 children aged 1 to 3 years and 18 children aged 3 to 6 years show the knowledge and skills, often tacit, that children learn from each other through social practices. (SLD)

Discusses the relevance of philosophy to education, conceptualizing this relationship in terms of a foundational view of the relationship conceiving of education as resting on a foundation of philosophy and a nonfoundational view that there is a mutual dependence of the two disciplines. (SLD)

Studied teacher-student verbal interactions and questioning and students' curriculum-related performance for bilingual students in Norway in small and large mainstream civics classes. Findings for 77 fourth graders show that bilingual minority students in general, and bilingual minority girls in particular, benefit from civics lessons in small…

Revises the concept of "literary competence" based on the texts produced by two Russian high school students. Shows that literacy competence cannot be reduced to internalized literary conventions, although these are a fundamental component of literary competence, and proposes a model of literary competence. Also explores merits and weaknesses of…

Administered the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) (N. Entwhistle and P. Ramsden, 1983) to 573 undergraduates to analyze a Norwegian version of this inventory. Structural equation modeling techniques reveal the usefulness of this instrument as a research took for the assessment of approaches to learning among Norwegian…

Focuses on the modes of inquiry used in a study of how Norwegian headteachers frame their personal lives and explores some alternative approaches to analysis, especially of content and form. Results show how explorations of the form and structure of headteachers' life stories raise more complex juxtapositions and questions about the meanings of…

Studied how children learn to identify what is meant by what is said in communicative practices, focusing on the interplay between the adult and the child. Results for 21 Swedish children aged 3 to 5 show that whether children are able to adopt other people's perspectives is a situated affair that reflects the way in which they are brought into a…

Studied equity in education during a national recession in Finland in which the supply of special services for children decreased. Results for a sample of 906 sixth graders and their teachers show a considerable gap between need and supply. The selection process was biased against boys in remedial \instruction and internalizing children in…