The educational technology course for preservice teachers at Texas A & M University incorporates a constructivist model for professional development. A study of this model examined how it helps teachers change from disseminators of information to facilitators of learning and how it underscores differences between preservice and inservice…

Draws on published evaluations of Internet-mediated (I-M) educational, business, and policy games to establish an inventory of lessons for future I-M ames. These types of I-M games have important concerns in common: objectives, role-play, synchronicity, game facilitation, and participant interaction. Lessons of design and implementation derived…

Describes a summer institute for classroom teachers and arts specialists on integrating the arts into language arts in order to meet newly mandated viewing and representing strands in school curricula. Outlines the results of a survey sent to participants one year after the institute. Concludes that an intensive professional development experience…

Indicates that a teacher-centered, direct-instruction model often did not fit well with more in-depth problems and tasks. Suggests a student-centered, problem-based approach. Presents questioning strategies used to help students engage in learning. (KHR)

Presents the Collaboration to Advance Teaching Technology and Science (CATIS) Program that supports a variety of partnerships bringing faculty and students at the university level together with K-12 teachers and their students to promote research projects as well as inquiry science and mathematics lessons. Discusses the impact of the program on…

Content and methods are outlined for an undergraduate elementary social studies methods course. Course topics include structure of the discipline and its place in the curriculum, selecting concepts and facts to teach, how children reason and the implications for social studies teaching methods, instructional planning and techniques, and…

An approach to inservice education in the use of computers in the classroom is proposed that takes into account: (1) reactions to innovation; (2) competing demands for teachers' time; (3) adaptation of available software; (4) integration of courses and practical experience; and (5) provision of ongoing support. (SLD)

Theorizing on diversity in child development has shown three distinguishable phases, and there are signs that a fourth phase may be emerging, resting on the principle of fundamental heterogeneity in human development. Issues related to classroom applications of such an approach, dealing with culture and content, are discussed. (SLD)

A training study involving 146 elementary school teachers found that training that corresponded with teachers' beliefs was more likely to enhance learning. However, providing the trainer with diagnostic information was not an effective strategy for achieving greater congruence between teachers' beliefs and instruction. (SLD)

Describes practical questioning strategies for use in adult literacy classrooms where teachers attempt to balance the daily needs of literacy learning with the broader issue of education for social change. Also discussed is a study of one such classroom and its implications for adult literacy teacher education. (15 references) (MDM)

Provides details of a science teacher inservice model centered around the methodology of problem solving and ownership of outcomes associated with an issue or problem. Describes perceptions of the program by staff and participants. (Author/MKR)

Efforts to professionalize teaching may increase teachers' commitment, but reforms may not be entirely successful without attention paid to their pedagogical content knowledge. One hypothetical district adopted a career enhancement plan offering curriculum-specialist and teacher-leader opportunities and encouraged teacher collaboration. The…

Analyzes the role/function of didactics in preservice teacher education as presented in official texts from the ministries of education of Quebec and France. Demonstrates the vulnerable and limited position of didactics in teacher-education. Compares features of the two teacher education systems; notes differences relating to training in…

Advocates broadening of professional development options for graduate students to take into account the disciplinary expertise and teaching practice needed for courses beyond the beginning and intermediate language sequence. Concludes that readings, workshops, and discussions with faculty allow graduate students to gain experience with the range…

Describes a training program for graduate teaching assistants that utilizes examples, coaching, evaluation, and "prep meetings," conducted like a class in cooperative learning, but emphasizing teaching techniques as well as subject matter. Notes program effectiveness is assessed by classroom evaluations, student feedback, and self-evaluations.…