There is an urgent need for primary and secondary students to develop awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and an environmental ethic necessary to undertake environmental issues and problems. The need to adequately prepare teachers to teach about the environment, and the challenges the field of environmental education (EE) faces lead us to the…

The current impetus for increasing STEM in K-12 education calls for an examination of how preservice teachers are being prepared to teach STEM. This paper reports on a study that examined elementary preservice teachers' (n = 21) self-efficacy, understanding of science concepts, and computational thinking as they engaged with robotics in a science…

New accreditation standards for teacher preparation programs call for more seamless and effective connections between methods courses, clinical experiences, and school-based mentoring. Intentional clinical experiences and intermediate instructional strategies can foster collaboration between teacher preparation programs and teacher leaders in K-12…

Research regarding rubrics in K-12 classrooms and in higher education has focused on teachers' perceptions and use of them. Rubrics have been found to objectify subjective assignments, ensure accountability, and improve student understanding of teacher expectations (Andrade, 2000; Hall & Salmon, 2003; Walvoord & Anderson, 1998). This study focuses…

As a social studies teacher educator, the author wants her students, as the nation's future teachers, to aspire to engage their students in K-12 classrooms in meaningful civic activity. Toward this end, she has developed several programs for preservice teachers to gain knowledge and the direct experience of civic participation. The Social Issue…