The success of tertiary teaching depends much on teachers' approach to teaching. Although the suitability of university teachers is often measured by teachers' qualifications, publications in the relevant discipline, and teaching experience, a teacher's understanding of the nature of what is taught in the classroom may more significantly influence…

Not all instructors in higher education enter the classroom with teaching experience, but all have observed teaching in higher education from the perspective of a student. This "apprenticeship of observation" that Lortie (1975) wrote about decades ago at least gives instructors the opportunity to empathize with their students, an…

Deciphering teachers' paths to their disciplinary professional identities can make important elements of their tacit knowledge explicit and available to their students.

Classroom instruction in China and in the United States have sharp differences. Typically, constructivist learning theory shapes American classroom instruction whereas Confucian educational culture shapes Chinese classroom instruction. Furthermore, typically, Chinese classrooms adopt a direct instructional approach whereas American classrooms…

This article considers what might be taught to meet a widely held curriculum aim of students being able to understand research in a discipline. Expertise, which may appear as a "chain of practice," is widely held to be underpinned by networks of understanding. Scientific research expertise is considered from this perspective. Within…

This article from the 35th Dudley Allen Sargent Lecture addresses the importance of senior faculty in kinesiology providing holistic guidance to tenure-track faculty to foster excellence in the field. The importance of holistic mentoring of all three faculty roles in higher education is illustrated using research on teaching and learning…

This paper describes the structure of the "Air Pollution Course", an environmental science laboratory course developed at the Science Education Laboratory of the Faculty of Primary Education, University of Athens, as well as the findings resulting from its implementation by pre-service elementary teachers. The course proposed in this…

This article uses a conceptual approach to understand how qualified teachers in England with occupational experience use pedagogic and occupational knowledge and experiences in their teaching practices. The conceptual approach consists of two parts: (1.) "Putting Knowledge to Work" (PKtW), a generic concept which uses…

It is commonplace to say that the modern economy is knowledge based but a moment's reflection points to the vacuity of this notion. For all economies are knowledge based and could not be otherwise. The question is rather how is one kind of knowledge based economy to be distinguished from another? This essay proposes that the answer may lie in…

This article is a personal history of the Science and Mathematics Education Center (SMEC) in Perth, Australia, during my time there as a student. I make use of narratives to express what I see as the impact on my professional practice of having attended SMEC. I am grateful to SMEC, but what is being grateful really? In this paper I try to…

The need to effectively prepare faculty to teach in a cross-cultural environment has become imperative in the context of globalizing higher education (Deardorff, 2009; Verbik, 2007). Many higher education institutions around the world have internationalized their degrees and programs, and they have established foreign branch campuses to provide…

Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems. Each additional ton of greenhouse gases emitted commits us to further change and greater risks. In the judgment of the Committee on America's Climate Choices, the environmental, economic, and…

This short discussion article outlines a range of theoretical issues underpinning the formation of subject knowledge for teaching. It suggests a number of practical needs that secondary school teachers of English may be seeking to address in the way of subject knowledge development and how this may relate to the provision made within the United…

The Business-Higher Education Forum's (BHEF's) Securing America's Leadership in STEM Initiative has broken new ground in addressing one of the nation's most critical challenges--increasing the number of students who are interested in and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, the so-called "STEM" fields. The…

Programmes of Islamic Studies have a longstanding status in a number of Western universities, yet the boundaries of the discipline, its institutional locale and its methodologies are still being questioned. This paper is an attempt to go beyond the discipline's "Eurocentric" settings and reflect on the provision of the subject within its origins…