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…

This is the first edited volume dedicated to both teachers and learners of second/foreign language (L2) pragmatics. It comprises a collection of studies that explore how teachers background and practices, and individual learners differences contribute to the teaching and learning of L2 pragmatics. Also included are chapters that present…

The core practice of professional scientists is inquiry, often referred to as research. If educators are to prepare students for a role in the professional scientific and technological community, exposing them to inquiry-based learning is essential. Despite this, inquiry-based teaching and learning (IBTL) remains relatively rare, possibly due to…

This paper aims to contribute to the growing literature on how prospective foreign language teachers can learn to be successful telecollaborators. We investigate Polish and German TEFL students' perceptions of how they develop the competences, attitudes, and beliefs described by O'Dowd (2015) through experiential learning in a virtual exchange.…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the views of German teacher trainers working in Turkey about their level regarding Reigeluth's organizational strategies and to analyze their views in terms of gender, geographic region, seniority, and graduated high school variables. While the population of the study consisted of German teacher trainers…

Critics encourage the process of "reflection" as a prerequisite for professionalizing how teachers behave in the classroom. Reflection helps in recognizing areas in need of improvement. Self-reflection is hence one of the teacher's most important skills in order to work constantly on one's teaching and how to improve it. However, the…

Action research is defined as using research activities to develop concrete societal practices. Action research understands the change of practice as being already a central aim of the research process itself, and it also seeks to contribute to the professional development of all participants in the particular field of study. Even though (or maybe…

Despite the complexity of teaching, learning to teach in universities is often "learning by doing". To provide novice university teachers with pedagogic teaching knowledge and to help them develop specific teaching objectives, we created a structured, video-based, one-year training program. In focusing on the core features of…

Raising standards through inquiry-based science education (IBSE)--what are the challenges for pre-service teacher education? What do ongoing teachers and active teachers learn from each other when planning, conducting and evaluating minds-on and hands-on IBSE activities in the classroom? What do they learn "beyond" IBSE? The Bremen…

Worldwide, a tendency is visible in which upper secondary science curricula are innovated in the direction of context-based education. Crucial to these innovations is the way teachers interact with newly developed teaching materials and implement them in classroom practice. The focus of our research is to identify characteristics of the…

Christine Garbe, a professor at the Institute for German Language and Literature Education at Leuphana University in Lueneburg, Germany, initially focused her research on youth's socialization as readers. Her professional textbooks in this area are innovative. International comparisons of youth's reading achievement drew her attention to…

This paper describes the potential of long-term co-operation between science educators and science teachers concerning the teachers' continuous professional development, based on Participatory Action Research in science education. The discussion is based on a six-year case study observing a group of about ten German chemistry teachers by chemistry…

The study reported in this article draws upon data collected for the programme "Increasing the Efficiency of Mathematics and Science instruction" (SINUS-Transfer), a professional development project in Germany. This programme's approach requires teachers to improve their teaching in a cooperative manner and with regard to pedagogical…

The usage of portfolio methods to document professional development in teaching is increasing in Germany, but despite its proliferation, the issue of how the effects of portfolio methods can be determined has received little attention. This paper investigates the acceptance of portfolio by the pre-service teachers (N = 144, 112 female) and the…

In this article, the curriculum workshop (CW) is elaborated as an approach to professional learning, deliberation and inquiry. It offers a comprehensive framework for school-based deliberation and inquiry, is rooted in curriculum theory, promises a broad range of applications in teacher education and provides tools to assess the trustworthiness of…