Despite global interest in inquiry as a teaching and learning approach for school geography, little is known about teachers' knowledge and beliefs for teaching geography through inquiry. This paper reports on findings from a survey of 44 Victorian secondary teachers' knowledge, beliefs and practice of teaching geography through inquiry. Our…

As Agricultural Education shifts to a more science-based curriculum to help fulfill shortcomings of the current United States science test scores, teachers implementing Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) is becoming more important. For Agriculture Educators to do this, training is necessary for both new and experienced educators. This study was…

Science teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning are a vital component of teachers' professional competence and are often assumed to impact classroom practice. To date, these beliefs have been predominantly investigated regarding teaching and learning in general or for a particular science subject (e.g., physics). It remains to be determined…

Experts argue that preservice programs should focus on a defined set of core teaching practices and structure their curriculum around them. Such experts argue that practice-based teacher educators must "represent" and "decompose" core practices with novices and offer them opportunities to "approximate" those practices…

Definitions of teaching quality differ across jurisdictions and have evolved over time. Drawing on a study of five high-achieving countries with strong supports for teachers' professional learning and practice, this article describes the perspectives on good teaching rooted in standards for entry, preparation, and practice. These nations…

Teachers are increasingly being called upon to teach in ways that develop 21st century learning skills in their students. Various frameworks for 21st century learning have been proposed and while they differ, all agree on four components for development--creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. Both individually and…

What kinds of knowledge, skills, and dispositions are needed in order to prepare social studies teachers for twenty-first century learners? Answering this question is the core pursuit of the latest revision of the "National Standards for the Preparation of Social Studies Teachers." For several decades, the National Council for the Social…

This article advances a continuing line of inquiry into an innovative teacher-support program intended to help in-service history teachers develop professional teaching knowledge for inquiry-based history instruction. Two prior iterations informed our design and use of professional development materials; they also informed the implementation…

The purpose of the study was to examine if and how elementary preservice teachers' perceptions about history were changed upon their completion of a class project that engaged them in a discipline-specific inquiry as a method of teaching history. Surveys were administered to assess any changes in their perception of the history before and after…

Despite historical national efforts to improve elementary science education, science instruction continues to be marginalized, varying by state. This study was designed to address the ongoing challenge of educating elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) to teach science. Elementary PSTs are one of the science education community's major links…

Field experience can be a rich site for prospective teachers to develop the knowledge and skills they need for effective teaching, however little is known about how structures for supporting interactions between mentor and prospective teachers can maximize prospective teachers' learning. Lesson study has been shown to enhance practicing teachers'…

This study offers a new way to assess TPACK within the context of a graduate program revitalized to focus on new literacies. Whereas previous studies have focused on teacher lesson planning or modeling best practices, our research examines TPACK by exploring the Creative Synthesis Projects of graduates from our program. These projects reveal the…

Student foundational knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is formed in their elementary education. Paradoxically, many elementary teachers have constrained background knowledge, confidence, and efficacy for teaching STEM that may hamper student STEM learning. The association between teacher preparation to teach…

Investigation of physical education preservice teacher knowledge development has been primarily limited to study of a single semester of early field experience (EFE), with findings from these investigations driving EFE design. The purpose of this research was to investigate what types of knowledge develop and how knowledge evolves and interacts to…

As part of the Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) project, Monash University initiated several strategies to assist pre-service teachers' integration of ICTs in their classroom practice. These included modelling of ICT pedagogical integration, assessment of ICT pedagogical integration, relocating pre-service teacher classes to a working…