Analysis of National Education Longitudinal Study data found that students attending small high schools (less than 800 students) had higher extracurricular participation than students attending large high schools (more than 1600 students). Participation was significantly related to 12th-grade self-esteem but not to academic achievement. However,…

A year-long ethnographic investigation examined how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they had targeted for reform while resisting state priorities and policies mandated in the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Contrasts KERA objectives with cultural themes prominent in this poor…

This article focuses on the relationship between research and development and the types of justifications given for reform activities. It cautions that research is not to persuade others that an innovation works but rather to examine an innovation critically. (AIM)

Mathematical problems generated by 509 middle school students who were given story-problem descriptions and asked to pose questions that could be answered using the information were examined for solvability, linguistic and mathematical complexity, and relationships within the sets of posed problems. The multiple-step data analysis scheme can be…

Elementary number theory is investigated with the main focus on the concept of divisibility and its relation to division, multiplication, prime and composite numbers, factorization, divisibility rules, and prime decomposition. Preservice teachers' responses indicated dispositions toward procedural attachments even when conceptual understanding was…

Reports evidence of construction and coordination of units in a measurement setting using data gathered from four students during individual problem-solving sessions near the end of their fourth-grade year. Proposes the task of measuring two-dimensional regions becomes possible when a student can construct two-dimensional units and coordinate…

Reports a case study set in the context of a "function" curriculum approach to introductory algebra. The expectation that the teacher's actions would reflect the philosophy implied in the curriculum was not supported. The teacher gave priority to curriculum content coverage, emphasized methods and procedures, and adopted teacher-focused…

Remarks adapted from the Presidential Address at the 74th Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in April 1996 charge educators with believing that every student can learn mathematics, every teacher must have adequate support and professional development opportunities, and every parent must have a vested interest in…

Describes a unit on North American colonization taught in an eighth-grade history class. Profiles the students' knowledge of colonial history before and after the class through in-depth interviews. Discusses current reform movements in social studies instruction and how they relate to this unit. (MJP)

Investigates teachers' interpretation and evaluation of historical documents and the teachers' construction of historical truth. Discovers teachers use a variety of approaches, including comparing historical sources, searching for accuracy, and attempting to discern a narrative or story. Discusses implications of this and poses questions for…

Outlines problems associated with using mainstream research methods for evaluating the representation of marginalized cultural groups in social studies textbooks. Describes an alternative method and ethnographic format for assessing textbooks that uses evaluation criteria developed in cooperation with marginalized people. Includes extensive…

A British university-initiated action research project emphasized development and evaluation of strategies for enhancing eighth graders' self-regulated learning. Case studies indicated the project had limited success in impacting teaching strategies and curriculum development, and the National Curriculum did nothing to increase the likelihood of…

Analyzes the tension between the traditional foundation of efficacy in teaching mathematics and current reform efforts in mathematics education. Presents suggestions for research to chart the development of, and change in, mathematics teachers' sense of efficacy. Contains 56 references. (Author/MKR)

Examined changes in beliefs and instruction of (n=21) primary grade teachers over a 4-year period in which the teachers participated in a CGI (Cognitively Guided Instruction) teacher development program that focused on helping teachers understand the development of children's mathematics thinking. (Author/MKR)

College students (n=32) in their first abstract algebra course were asked to list elements and find the product of 2 elements in the dihedral group D4. Most students found solutions using a combination of visual approaches and analytic strategies. Proposes an alternative model, the Visualizer/Analyzer model, which assumes visualization and…