Describes how a teacher's journey of documenting everyday literacy events on the streets in her community changes her understanding of what it means to bring the outside world and local literacies into her classroom. Concludes that educators must place value on who students are and where they come from. Suggests that educators and students must…

Reports a study of the extent that informal support systems might compensate for lack of formal services in rural retirement communities. Demonstrates working with local Extension offices to identify study committees, gather information, perform research valuable to Extension workers, and provide information helpful to the rural population and…

This investigation compared Extension educators' perceptions of community readiness, knowledge of prevention science, and experience with community collaborations with the perceptions of community human service professionals. First, Cooperative Extension System (CES) educators and human service professionals were found to hold similar perceptions…

The Community Organization Sense of Community Scale (COSOC) is a frequently used or cited measure of the construct in community psychology and other disciplines, despite a lack of confirmation of its underlying 4-factor framework. Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesized structure of the COSOC, the potential effects of method bias on…

Research in Indigenous Australian education is at a dead-end. Researchers are still heading out into the field to look for new knowledge to answer old questions. The same epistemology dominates how we look, and where, while the methodology provides the researcher with a forced choice, one where either the student or the teacher is blamed for the…

Explores the increasing difficulty that library decision-makers will face in proving the value of libraries to society, and suggests appropriate questions that they will want to ask in their use of community analysis. (Author/PF)

Describes the diversity in the usage of the term "community" by ecologists and paleoecologists. (BR)

Traced is the history of the Muncie (Indiana) police department from the "gas boom" days of the 1890's through the pre-World War I "dry" years, the Klan-haunted twenties, and the depression years. Events in the community that played a major role in charting the development of the police department are chronicled. (RM)

The concepts of "learning community" and "community of practice" may hold value to researchers, but questions exist as to how well they help in organizing and clarifying the type of critical thinking involved in investigative work. This paper approaches the problem from two directions. One is to deconstruct the two concepts…

The extramural work of the University of Surrey, since its establishment in 1966, has expanded into several areas: activities with the general public, activities with young adults, community studies, work with schools and colleges, work with the health and social services, study of adult education, and research and development. (SA)

Some factors influencing the intensity of school-community conflicts are: (1) degrees of community group organization and integration of such groups into the school system, (2) community racial composition, (3) racial transition threat, (4) political machine strength, and (5) community social status. (Author/RA)

Describes a college course which uses field studies to examine communities and small urban places. The course is designed for undergraduate students with little or no field experience and is offered as an intensive two-week session between semesters. (RM)

Describes high school social studies student projects involving a study of local cemeteries. Projects include charting life expectancies, creating slide shows of community grave sites, and collecting tombstone rubbings. (KC)