Reports a study of 12 preservice elementary and 12 preservice secondary science teachers to determine the effects of methods instruction on their beliefs about the teaching/learning process. Results indicate that secondary teachers may have more complex belief structures than elementary teachers and that slight structural changes occurred for both…

Examines how cognitive modeling and self-efficacy affected preservice teachers' learning of teaching strategies. Two groups of students viewed videotaped training sessions with direct instruction or cognitive modeling. They then viewed either self-efficacy or task-oriented commentaries. Results indicated significant effects favoring cognitive…

Discusses Vee mapping, a technique to assist students in categorizing the relationship between the conceptual and procedural aspects of science. Presents a study to investigate elementary education majors' (n=27) use of the Vee heuristic and concept mapping for the construction of knowledge; attitudes toward learning science in collaborative…

Provides a framework for observing and supporting the development of students as constructivist teachers, especially during their field placements as student teachers. The instructional shift to a constructivist approach is described, and guiding principles and possible indicators of the constructivist model are presented. (SLD)

Reports on a study of two secondary teachers who used the practical reasoning or practical argument approach to classroom management. Finds that practical argument techniques can benefit teachers by providing opportunities to question and revise their theories of learning and teaching. Recommends that teacher education programs employ the…

This study qualitatively investigates the taboo and "noa" topics of Science-Technology-Society (STS) taught in two local cultures. Taboos are beliefs that constrain behavior by making those behaviors perceived as threatening by the members of the social group forbidden and improper for discussion. "Noa" is the Polynesian word…

Recent research has focused on how prospective teachers formulate beliefs related to teaching and learning mathematics and science. This paper examines the use of videotaped mathematics and science lesson segments to aid in the description or identification of initial belief structures of prospective elementary school teachers. Using a…

This study sought to determine student perceptions of the relative importance of three approaches toward teaching in the classroom: behaviorist, cognitive, and humanist. A survey of 320 students studying in 4 different schools (social sciences, humanities, engineering, and administration/business management) of a university found some similarities…

Diagnoses of students' performance on procedural mathematical tasks need to display a certain level of stability and robustness if they are to be used as the basis for remediation, particularly with computer-delivered instruction. The purpose of this study was to compare two diagnostic approaches for describing students' (n=231) errors in algebra…

This study examined the cause-effect interconnectivity of various mental models utilized by 10 American and Australian teachers and media specialists when involved in one-on-one teaching-learning episodes using electronic resources in the context of researching information for authentic school assignments. The researchers investigated runability…

The purpose of this study was to document and analyze teachers' and students' activities during physics practicals in order to gain critical insights into why students did not acquire the expected practical skills and how theory and practice interacted in the context of teaching for the practical examination in physics. The study involves three…

This review of the research on the cognitive effects of computer-assisted instruction begins with an overview of the ACCCEL (Assessing Cognitive Consequences of Computer Environments for Learning) research program at the University of California at Berkeley, which consists of several interrelated studies examining the acquisition of such higher…

This study replicates an experimental design testing whether effects of supervisory training in transactional analysis (TA) language cues can be carried outside the laboratory setting of simulated testing into the field testing of professional work settings involving dialogues with supervisees. Transactional analysis theory presumes the…

Intended for teachers of grades 7-16, this book discusses "heuristic" writing--writing that produces new, irreversible knowledge for the writer leading to a fuller understanding of the self and of the act of writing--as well as principles and practices having direct implications for a wide range of students. Chapter 1 examines the…

Students exhibiting failure syndrome approach assignments with low expectations of success and tend to give up at early signs of difficulty. This Digest delineates the nature of failure syndrome, suggests strategies for coping with failure syndrome students, and discusses how teachers can help. Some students, especially in the early grades, show…