Despite repeated warnings from K-12 online learning scholars, media, and U.S. government bodies about the need for teacher readiness in the face of school disruptions like COVID-19, teacher education programs have largely fallen short in preparing educators for effective online and blended teaching during extended school closures. In this paper,…

With the growth of blended teaching comes a need to support teachers that are shifting their instruction to this mode of teaching. Coaching is a form of professional development that is growing in K-12 institutions. However, research of coaching specifically intended to support blended teaching practices is lacking. This phenomenological…

If there was a bright side to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly related to education, it was the massive and rapid introduction of educational technologies to scaffold teaching and learning. Most notably, within teacher education, this included extended reality (XR) technologies to supplement or replace face-to-face field experiences. With the…

Cybersecurity educational efforts are urgently needed to introduce young people to the profession and give students and teachers cybersecurity knowledge to protect themselves from increasing cybercrime. In this study, 56 elementary preservice teachers participated in a 3-hour intervention within a technology integration course that introduced them…

K-12 teachers and students are vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks and mostly ill-prepared to deal with them. The COVID-19 pandemic has only increased these risks because of the reliance on digital technology in education and increased free time young children and adolescents spend online. Simultaneously, the U.S. is facing an extreme shortage of…

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, some teacher education programs started maker education initiatives to integrate the tools, practices, and mindset of the maker movement into their curricula. These efforts came to a grinding halt at the beginning of the pandemic due to the sudden transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT). Post-ERT, educators have…

Computational thinking (CT) involves breaking a problem into smaller components and solving it using algorithmic thinking and abstraction. CT is no longer exclusively for computer scientists but for everyone. While CT does not necessarily require programming, learning programming to enhance CT skills at a young age can help shape the next…

This paper describes a collaborative project between a district curriculum specialist and university-based researchers to provide on-going support to social studies teachers as they transitioned to digital learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. We developed an asynchronous, on-line and self-guided professional learning project to support teachers…

The current study analyzed the impact of a year-long adoption of an online curriculum planning tool on teachers' thinking about content and pedagogy, as well as their use of technology in the classroom. The online planning tool was adopted district-wide following professional development training with the purpose of supporting teachers'…

Understanding the dynamics of individual or group adaptation can provide valuable information for constructing professional development strategies to increase chances of instructional success. This paper reports on an exploratory study that identifies indicators of convergent vs. non-convergent adaptation in two cases of teachers working together…

Teaching and learning about geospatial aspects of energy resource issues requires that science teachers apply effective science pedagogical approaches to implement geospatial technologies into classroom instruction. To address this need, we designed educative curriculum materials as an integral part of a comprehensive middle school energy…

The Arctic Climate Modeling Program (ACMP) offered yearlong science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professional development to teachers in rural Alaska. Teacher training focused on introducing youth to workforce technologies used in Arctic research. Due to challenges in making professional development accessible to rural teachers, ACMP…

Virtual Schooling (VS) for K-12 school students using distance technologies has increased rapidly in the 21st century with the growth of online learning and virtual schools in more than 44 states in the USA and as e-learning in over 20 clusters of rural schools in New Zealand. Although VS requires a special set of teaching methods, teacher…

Analyzes trends in computer-literacy skills of preservice teachers during the period 1991/92 to 1996/97. A significant linear pattern of increasing means was found in word processing, spreadsheet, hardware, operating system software, and the mouse. Analysis provides a perspective on how increasing access to computers in high school translates into…

This special issue of JTATE is focused on evaluation and research studies conducted under the PT3 program of the U.S. Department of Education. PT3, Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology, is a program designed to ensure that new teachers are prepared to use computers and other technology when they reach the classroom and, in the effort to…