A content analysis of research published in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching from 1985 through 1989

To determine if actual practice was consistent with commonly recommended research methods and procedures, this study examined 130 studies reported over a 5-year period in three volumes of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST). The results were consistent with similar previous analyses (Shaver & Norton, 1980a, 1980b; Wallen & Fraenkel, 1988a) and indicate that appropriate generalizations beyond the confines of the reported studies may be impossible for most (64%) of the JRST studies surveyed. The findings also show that replication studies, which could be employed to offset deficiencies in generalizability, were not commonly encountered (3%) in these 130 reports. In addition, the study results indicate that many researchers (48%) do not properly restrict their conclusions based on the limits imposed by the accessible populations and samples used; nor do they typically provide possible alternative explanations for the outcomes obtained (76%). These findings prompt the following recommendations: 1. A greater awareness and use of replication as a check on generalizability should be encouraged by the science education community. 2. Clearly defined populations (target and accessible) and fully described samples warrant increased attention as report components from authors, reviewers, and editorial board members of JRST. 3. In light of the difficulties inherent in effecting random selection in educational settings, a greater emphasis should be placed on recognizing the limits that the underlying assumptions of inferential statistics place on research conclusions. The results of this study indicate that the methodological quality of published science education research should remain a concern for both practitioners and readers.     

Identification and placement for deaf students with multiple disabilities: choosing the path less followed

Students with a hearing loss often have an additional disability. Although the number of deaf students with multiple disabilities is growing, research on this population has significantly decreased over the past quarter-century. The article reviews the literature on identification and placement of deaf students with multiple disabilities, specifically deaf students with one of the following disabilities: autism, emotional/behavior disorders, attention deficit disorders, or mental retardation. Degree of incidence is also reported, and is compared with statistics from the annual report of the Gallaudet Research Institute (2005). Included in the review are suggestions for future research and implications for professionals in the field of deafness.     

Multiple description coding with spatial-temporal hybrid interpolation for video streaming in peer-to-peer networks

INTRODUCTION Multimedia services over the Internet are be- coming popular due to the widespread deployment of broadband access. However, the conventional cli- ent-server architecture severely limits the number of simultaneous users, especially for bandwidth inten- sive applications such as video streaming. P2P net- works, on the other hand, offer a solution to the scalability problem. As a node joins a P2P network, it not only consumes resources but also contributes its bandwidth or comp…     

Effects of preschoolers’ storybook exposure and literacy environments on lower level and higher level language skills

Reading and Writing - The development of preschoolers’ language skills is influenced by literacy environments and individual differences in storybook exposure. Extant research is limited as...     

Democratising Teacher Education Research in India

This paper argues for the need to adopt a more participatory and research-based approach to teacher development in India. Drawing on the experiences of a participatory teacher educator development project in three States, we discuss processes of developing a democratically orientated qualitative research team to work with teachers and teacher educators, highlighting the interplay between their education and socialisation and the demands of the methodology. In the second part of the paper, aspects of developing collaborative action research projects with teacher educators in the context of District Institutes of Education and Training are discussed. Both these approaches require the development of autonomy and critical reflexivity, and although there are tensions in this process, these emerge as vital components of developing a more democratic approach to teacher education.     

Dialogue's Impact on the Quality of Relationships

This paper presents the findings of an action research that examines teachers' perception of the quality of dialogue and how it impacts on the quality of relationships in a primary school in Singapore. The paper explores how school leaders can facilitate dialogue and also discusses the issues and factors that affect teachers' perception of dialogue. Analysis of the data obtained through a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews shows that the more favourable the perception of dialogue amongst teachers, the more favourable is their perception of the quality of relationships in the school. The implication for school leaders is that by developing a higher quality of dialogue, a better school climate is fostered. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Children writing funny stories: some reflections on the impact of collaborative talk

This article describes work undertaken with a class of Scottish Primary Six children (aged 10) that encouraged them to write humorous stories. It reflects on the impact of different teaching approaches, in particular exploring how teacher‐led input combined with opportunities for peer talk might serve to influence children's writing. The aims were first, to investigate whether, through ‘mini lessons’, children's story schemas could be expanded to include ideas about incongruity, and second, to discover how independent talking in pairs might encourage children to take up and reformulate ideas given in the initial teacher‐led input. During the sessions following the ‘mini lessons’, many opportunities for paired talk were offered. These were found to lead to a reinterpretation of ideas of incongruity, and to affect the selection and devising of voices for characters. The children's talk often gave evidence of a marked ability to describe humour and act it out orally, but analysis of the written stories reveals difficulties in writing down comic events. This has implications for the role of the teacher in finding ways to intervene sensitively to introduce new strategies.     

Student assessment and learning for a changing society

This article examines the traditional roles of assessment and the current demands for assessment to ‘gear up’ education systems in response to global economic changes. It argues that in the next millennium, and with the information revolution, it will be important to foster higher order skills and good learning strategies in a high proportion of our students. The article goes on to consider, set against the critical relationship among high-stakes testing, teaching and learning, the nature of high-quality assessment programmes. It will present evidence of impact of the national assessment programme on teaching in England and Wales in the United Kingdom.