Describes the provision of early childhood education for the toddler children of Dutch itinerant "bargees," children who live with their parents on ships until they enter boarding schools for the school week at about age 7. Education for these young children is a microcosm of continuing changes to the educational system and the socioeconomic…

Explored educational practices in Australian circuses between 1847 and 1930 through interviews with several elderly circus people. The route by which the child entered the circus environment more or less defined the quality of education he or she could expect to receive. "Apprenticed" and "adopted" children generally received little attention and…

Studied how circus personnel of all ages interact in Australian circuses to preserve traditional circus lifestyles and entertainment. Interviews with 30 personnel from 4 circuses show the importance of learning to be a member of a cooperative society through immersion. Results provide information about the education of a community of occupational…

Uses semi-structured interviews with Australian show people, children and adults, and their home tutors and teachers to show how the Traveller people's dissatisfaction with the learning opportunities available in the past has fueled their determination to have a separate school for show children. (SLD)

Investigated the effects of positive versus negative orientation in item wording on interpretation of the Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES) factor structure by varying the orientation of items across both dimensions of efficacy. Teachers completed one of two forms of the TES. Three potential factor structures were examined using principal axis…

Explored 9th-grade urban and rural English students' reading engagement and interpretation of a multicultural novel involving bi-ethnic identity. Students read and responded to the novel via journal writing and a research paper. Results indicated that students produced more personal and interpretive reactions to the novel than simple descriptions…

Used data from the New Brunswick Elementary School Study to examine how teacher professional satisfaction related to background characteristics and workplace conditions. Female teachers had more job satisfaction than males. Teachers who stayed in the profession longer were less satisfied with their professional role. Workplace conditions…

Surveyed science students in Australia and Taiwan to explore their perceptions of seven dimensions of the classroom learning environment. Some students and teachers also completed interviews. Results highlighted differences in student attitudes between countries and emphasized the importance of cross-national studies to further understanding of…

Explored within-school differences in teachers' sense of community. Surveys of teachers in three public high schools investigated time-related, work-arrangement, and school-organization variables. School organization (support for innovation and orderliness of student behavior) and time-related variables (tenure in school and time spent interacting…

Surveys of rural and urban secondary teachers examined teacher stress and burnout. Urban teachers experienced significantly more stress from poor working conditions and staff relations. In both types of schools, student misbehavior and time pressures caused the highest stress. Working conditions and time pressures predicted burnout for rural…

Investigated a secondary student's development of geometric thought during instruction using dynamic computer software. Clinical interviewing determined his predominant level of thought and highlighted the developmental process of geometric reasoning. Four learning stages were identified in terms of symbol, signal, and implicatory practices. Using…

Investigated relationships between school and social factors, reported on the Illinois School Report Card, and student achievement, indicated on the Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP). All of the independent variables except high school per-pupil expenditures significantly related to achievement scores. A school's IGAP achievement score was…

Examined the comparative efficiency of inquiry-group instruction and traditional teaching methods on Taiwanese junior high school students' achievement and attitudes toward earth science. Surveys of students in both groups indicated that students in the inquiry group had significantly higher achievement scores and significantly more favorable…

Surveyed public elementary schools to determine whether they used special-education personnel on their intervention-assistance teams, grouping schools according to their inclusion or noninclusion of special educators and comparing the groups for rate of student retentions and special-education referrals. There were fewer retentions and…

Compared the effects of three cooperative-learning environments on Israeli seventh graders' mathematical problem solving (metacognitive training, direct strategy instruction, and neither). Pencil-and-paper testing assessed students' problem-solving abilities. Results indicated that students exposed to metacognitive training significantly…