This study considered a preservice teacher's (PST's) attention to multilingual learner core practices within her approximations of practice of mathematics language routines during a secondary mathematics methods course. We used a framework of approximations of practice to understand how a PST enacted and developed an understanding of multilingual…

Mathematical writing is one way for primary students to communicate their mathematical thinking. Research in the field of writing has shown that to become an effective teacher of writing, preservice teachers must have experience engaging in the kinds of writing given to their students. The study reported in this paper explored how 27 preservice…

Gestures have been shown to play a key role in mathematical reasoning and to be an indicator that mathematical understanding is "embodied" -- inherently linked to action, perception, and the physical body. As learners collaborate and engage in mathematical discussions, they use discourse practices like explaining, refuting, and building…

Visual thinking routines are principles based on several Western theories, approaches, and strategies. Such routines, which are usually used again and again in the classroom, promote thinking skills, call for collaboration and sharing of ideas, make thinking and learning visible, and above all, promote student engagement. Visual thinking routines…

This paper describes the long-term re-development of an introductory graduate research methods course. The initial design is presented, followed by the two re-design phases. Phase 2 introduced additional inquiry-based strategies such as concept mapping and multiple levels of peer collaboration. Phase 3 incorporated competency-based techniques as…

This study examined the impact of explicit instruction on metacognitive reading strategies among 18 K-8 teacher candidates in a literacy methods course. They received weekly explicit intervention about these strategies over one semester. Collected data included pre- and post-scores of the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory…

This paper adds to the nascent literature on teaching research methods and what students learn from courses and assessment. Postgraduate students are often confronted with large amounts of reading, and the content of material can be intimidating. Convincing them also to engage critically with readings is even more difficult. We report on a…

The purpose of this research synthesis is to examine the current research on teaching and learning research methods. The aims are to understand the themes present in the current literature and identify gaps in our understanding of how we teach, and how students learn, research methods. A synthesis of 89 studies generated three themes: (1)…

In light of calls to improve the capacity for social science research within UK higher education, this article explores the possibilities for an emerging pedagogy for research methods. A lack of pedagogical culture in this field has been identified by previous studies. In response, we examine pedagogical literature surrounding approaches for…

Improving students' ability to recognize work-related problems and apply effective strategies and solutions to fundamental challenges in the field is at the crux of a good college preparation. This paper attempts to investigate if active-learning strategies improve students' critical thinking ability in this regard. Participants were pre-service…

Film as a tool for learning offers considerable opportunity for enhancing student understanding. This paper reflects on the experiences of a project that required students to make a short film demonstrating their practical understanding of qualitative methods. In the psychogeographical tradition, students were asked to "drift" across the…

A fundamental goal of any L2 teacher education program is to move novice teachers toward greater levels of professional expertise, both in terms of what they know and what they can do with what they know. Yet, it is less clear how the activities embedded in teacher education programs actually assist novice teachers as they move toward greater…

This quantitative investigation examined the influence of low and high self-efficacy on candidate teacher academic performance in a foreign language teaching methodology course through testing the speculation that high self-efficacy levels would improve pedagogical-content knowledge (PCK). Positivism guided the research design at the levels of…

In this mixed-methods study, we investigated how doctoral students used asynchronous online discussions that were added to a face-to-face research methods course. We focused specifically on what sociocognitive tools the students used and what they thought about the value of the online discussions for their learning. Our data included three online…

Comprehension of statistics and research methods is crucial to understanding psychology as a science (APA, 2007). However, psychology majors sometimes approach methodology courses with derision or anxiety (Onwuegbuzie & Wilson, 2003; Rajecki, Appleby, Williams, Johnson, & Jeschke, 2005); consequently, students may postpone…