This article investigates some of the antecedent conditions underlying the imputation of autonomy within conceptions of "teaching" and "learning". It links the history of those concepts with the separate roles and functions assigned to males and females in specific instances of educational practice. "Teaching" and "learning" are psychoanalysed as…

Japanese (N = 25) and U.S. fifth- to eighth-grade teachers (N = 36) participated in pre- and post-lesson interviews to assess what they thought about when constructing mathematics lessons. To understand the details of this thinking and how it might support classroom instruction, we structured interviews around a specific lesson teachers taught in…

In this study, the author examined special education teacher's perceptions of their effective instruction practices in teaching students with disabilities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Participants included 107 prospective teachers who teach in special education classrooms, and 107 prospective teachers who teach in centers. They responded to…

This paper reports on an investigation into the belief patterns of music teachers with regard to the nature and significance of factors of individual difference and in the context of secondary school classroom music teaching. Belief patterns were collected in the form of Personal Construct models, drawing on Kelly's Theory of Personal Constructs.…

Teacher-educators' conceptions of teaching may influence their teaching practice in a variety of ways. The concept of dilemma may provide an adequate framework to disclose how teacher-educators realise their conceptions of teaching in actual teaching practice. In our view, dilemmas constitute a powerful conceptualisation to find out about the…

The changing demographics within the nation's public schools present teachers with new challenges. According to the 2000 census, the state of Arkansas, for instance, experienced a 300 percent growth in its minority language populations since 1990. That means that educators in regions such as this, and across the nation, are faced with the dilemma…

Although it is widely agreed that teacher sensitivity to individual learning differences (ILDs) is an integral component of effective teaching, little research has focused on how to develop this sensitivity in teachers. This study describes the reported effects of a year-long professional development course designed to sensitize 14 teachers to…

This article is concerned with comparing learning and achievement in the context of computer aided learning (CAL) and traditionally taught environments. The results of a small-scale study involving 49 Year 10 pupils from a school in the north-east of England are reported. Cognitive style, gender, attitude to CAL, and test results from a unit of…

In this analysis, single-sex and mixed schools are compared in terms of pupils' television viewing habits, the latter factor being considered as an indicator of a pupil's sense of educational responsibilities. It was hypothesized that the presumably lower levels of television watching among girls attending single-sex schools could be explained by…

The aim of the paper is to explore teachers' methods of delivering an ethos of tolerance, respect and mutual understanding in one integrated secondary school in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews with 18 teachers in the school, it is argued that most teachers make 'critical choices' which both reflect and reinforce a 'culture of avoidance',…

Whereas there has been strong advocacy of the value of writing for learning in science, the role of student planning in this approach and the relationships between planning, writing, and learning have been underresearched. Our mixed method study aimed to address this issue by seeking to identify quantitative differences in learning outcomes…

Cross-cultural studies on mathematical cognition and education have suggested that curriculum and teaching have contributed to U.S. versus Asian differences in student performance; however, previous discussions of curriculum and teaching practices have been very general and have not focused on a detailed analysis of how mathematics concepts are…

The number of minority students in the schools is rapidly increasing. Simultaneously, the number of minority teachers is decreasing. Achievement gaps by minority students exists across the nation. Due to the lack of culturally responsive pedagogy and practice in their preparation programs, teachers have resorted to less effective measures in…

This study examined 10th-grade students' use of theory and evidence in evaluating a socio-scientific issue: the use of underground water, after students had received a Science, Technology and Society-oriented instruction. Forty-five male and 45 female students from two intact, single-sex, classes participated in this study. A flow-map method was…

The prospect of using internationally generated comparative data, augmented with practice patterns, to provide useful information from which countries can learn from each other, is gaining acceptance from the increasing popularity of such an approach (Stigler and Hiebert, 1999). Using the survey data from TIMSS we examine the beliefs of teachers…