This study examined the impact of action research conducted by five science teaching methods course instructors on their students' perceptions of the classroom learning environments at a large public university in Texas. The study analyzed the results from 133 students who completed two administrations of the What is Happening in this Class…

Critical thinking is an important life skill that needs to be nurtured in young minds during the primary education years. This study explored pre-service teachers' perception of barriers to their efforts in promoting critical thinking skills in classrooms, and further explored possible solutions to overcome these perceived barriers. The study used…

Problem Statement: Research studies indicate that teachers with negative attitudes toward science tend to use didactic approaches rather than approaches based on students' active participation. However, the reviews of the national academic literature in Turkey located a few research studies on the relationship between playful science experiences…

In this study, I recount my experiences teaching elementary literacy methods courses and interacting with my racial Others--my White preservice teachers/students, senior faculty, and administrators at a predominantly White university in the rural Mountain West. Using an ethnographic approach (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 1995), I analyzed students'…

Bringing together educators from a range of backgrounds--psychology, sociology, social work, counseling, and teaching--this volume shows how Asian cultural values and beliefs can provide a lens through which to understand and envision how curriculum and pedagogy can be creatively adapted, not only in a local Chinese classroom context, but in a…

A study examined students' reactions to the Student-Directed Discussion technique (an attempt to develop a class "text" from the students' joint construction of meaning) as used in a methods course on language development. The students (25 of 27 were present the day of the survey) responded anonymously concerning whether they thought the…

Described is a pilot study at North Carolina State University that assessed introductory science education students' reactions to the effectiveness of three instructional techniques (small group discussions, role-playing, and computer-based simulation) in dealing with incidents of classroom management. Conclusions indicated no statistical…