Preservice teachers engage in clinical experiences with in-service teacher mentors to observe and apply theories being learned in coursework in classroom settings. Among the obstacles with clinical experiences is that mentor teachers may lack knowledge of theories being practiced by preservice teachers and may struggle to provide mentorship…

Joseph Campbell, a literature professor from Sarah Lawrence College, first recognized that the ancient story, the "Epic of Gilgamesh," followed a pattern of recounting the adventures of an archetypical hero that most stories and myths from all cultures across recorded history have followed. He called these similar patterns the monomyth…

The near-peer mentor model provides undergraduates and recent post-baccalaureates in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields with an internship in two related disciplines, STEM research and STEM education. The near-peer mentor is both a mentored research intern and a mentor to pre-college students. During the 2013…

Students learn best when teachers get out of the way. Unfortunately, university classrooms continue to be intensely teacher-centric, are driven by the teacher's agenda and calendar, and embrace simple models rather than complex alternatives. These simple types of learning environments frustrate students' development of the risk-­taking and choice…

There is a dominant paradigm of teacher education within the teaching profession; that only through the experience of undertaking professional practice can a student become a teacher. This approach, the "apprenticeship of observation" model (Borg, 2004 using the term coined by Lortie, 1975) describes the way in which teacher education students are…

Context: Changes in health care and new theories of learning have prompted significant changes in medical education. Some US medical schools employ immersion learning in rural communities to increase the number of physicians who choose to practice in these areas. Founded in 1971, the rural physician associate program (RPAP) is a longitudinal…

Student teachers and teacher educators view the practicum experience as the most significant aspect of learning to teach. Student teachers regard the relationship with their cooperating teachers as the most important part of the fieldwork experience. However, what student teachers learn about teaching practice from their cooperating teachers…

This paper focuses on efficacy beliefs with respect to teaching mathematics; it aims at testing and validating an existing scale for measuring efficacy beliefs in the domain of mathematics, examining the development of preservice teachers' efficacy beliefs in mathematics during fieldwork, and identifying factors that contribute to the development…

Describes a systematic intervention program used at the University of New Haven which increased the persistence of developmental composition students using seminars on goal setting, learning styles, time management, and career planning and informal counseling by mentors to meet students' affective and academic needs. (DMM)

Women are making progress in many areas of science, but a gender gap still remains, especially in physics, computer science, and engineering, and at advanced levels of academic and career achievement. Today's teachers can help narrow this gap by instilling a love for science in their female students and by helping them to understand and develop…

This presentation summarizes effective strategies and programs for nurturing students who are gifted in science. A smorgasbord of educationally accelerative opportunities is recommended, to enhance students' potential for future development in science. These opportunities may include field trips, advanced placement courses, and science summer…