This paper demonstrates how the features and affordances of open learning have been developed in new and productive ways to provide school-based continuing professional development for teachers in Zambia. It presents and critically reviews data from 200 teachers who have taken part in phase 1 of the Zambian Education School-based Training (ZEST)…

The paper investigates how a student on a master's-level teacher education course for English language teachers goes about constructing her grammar knowledge. The learner is a novice teacher with English as a foreign language. Learner diary, interview, and group interaction data were analysed thematically, revealing that she made relatively few,…

Teacher education in India, including that offered by the open distance learning (ODL) system to thousands every year, imparts mainly pedagogic knowledge, although the need for integrated teacher education programmes has been underscored. As the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), an ODL institution, will develop an integrated Bachelor…

This study examines professional development activities provided for mathematics and science teachers in the National Science Foundation's Math and Science Partnership Program by analyzing a cross-sectional sample of over 2000 professional development (PD) activities in the program. Data were gathered from secondary source documents and surveys to…

This article reports on issues arising from the external evaluation of a teacher development project--the Active Learning in Primary Science (ALPS) project--undertaken in eight Bristol (UK) primary schools during 2007. The ALPS project aimed to raise pupil attainment in science by developing participating teachers' skills, knowledge and enthusiasm…

This article addresses issues that are related to the empowerment of elementary teachers through teaching and learning science in socially and culturally meaningful contexts. It is based on the analysis of the attitudes and relationship to science of 10 elementary school teachers from inner city schools in Caracas, Venezuela. In the context of a…

Research shows that unless university-based teacher educators effectively integrate technology into teacher education courses, students (pre-service and in-service teachers) are unlikely to use technology effectively in their own teaching. This creates negative repercussions in teacher education and in the schools. However, many teacher educators…

This paper summarizes the content and results of a workshop about the teaching of evolution presented to public middle school and high school science teachers by individuals involved both in university education and the professional development of teachers. The goals of the workshop were to: (1) provide teachers with knowledge and resources to…

The purpose of this paper is to describe the model of a mathematics and science staff development cooperative and focus on the evaluation of the mathematics component. The Mathematics and Science Education Cooperative (MSEC) was a comprehensive, long-range staff development program to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science at…

Widespread agreement exists that U.S. teachers need improved mathematics knowledge for teaching. Over the past decade, policymakers have funded a range of professional development efforts designed to address this need. However, there has been little success in determining whether and when teachers develop mathematical knowledge from professional…