Using methods of naturalistic inquiry, this study examines preservice teachers' conflict with classroom management strategies used in a predominantly African-American urban elementary school. It highlights the theory/practice dilemma, focusing on the tensions between the democratic strategies taught in university classes and the more authoritarian…

The author begins with an extended account of the manner in which popular accounts treat the topic of mentoring or coaching. This treatment is contrasted with the problems of coaching described in other articles in this issue, especially in connection to the National Board portfolio assessment. The distinction between "mediated" and "unmediated"…

A decade ago, the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology had a few simple goals. It wanted to sharpen its educational mission, broaden students' skills, improve graduates' job-placement rates, and give the institution better ammunition for proving its worth to accreditors. It turned to the "electronic portfolio," becoming one of a small but growing…

This report describes a program for increasing students' intrinsic motivation in an effort to increase academic achievement. The targeted population consisted of secondary level students in a middle to upper-middle class suburban area. The students of the targeted secondary level classes appeared to be disengaged from learning due to a lack of…

Many teacher educators have enthusiastically embraced case-based instruction in teacher education programs. However, the research base is equivocal on whether preservice and in-service teacher educators' case-based reflections on educational issues are comprehensive and critical. This study explores the use of a metacognitive strategy--the case…

Despite its central role in science, creativity is a characteristic consistently ignored in popular representations of scientists and their work, especially as they are presented in science classrooms. Ignoring creativity and other qualities that are important to the practice of science not only leaves students with a misunderstanding of science,…

Digital learner portfolios are of growing importance in higher education as the sector seeks new teaching-learning-assessment methods which promote students' autonomy as managers of their own virtual learning environment. The purpose of this study was to analyse descriptively the undergraduate students' perceptions, attitudes and behaviour when…

This article analyzes the findings of a pilot project conducted in 2008-2009 as a partnership between University Studies, Portland State University's interdisciplinary general education program, and the University's Russian Flagship Language Partner Program. The project proposes a new approach of integrating non-English speakers' language skills,…

Over the past three decades, researchers have studied doctoral research training programs using large scale surveys making visible trends in numbers of and kinds of research courses required, or using focused qualitative methods to gain rich, textured accounts of graduate school experiences. Both kinds of studies fail to capture the local,…

Recent research has demonstrated a significant disadvantage for rural teachers in a variety of aspects of ICT use. This context provides a backdrop for two professional learning programs designed to support ICT-based pedagogies in teaching science in Victorian rural primary and secondary schools. In both programs the school-based workshops…

With the explosive growth of e-portfolios in teacher preparation programs, it is essential for administration and other relevant stakeholders to understand the student perspective of e-portfolios' organizational uses. This article describes the validation of the modified Electronic Portfolio Student Perspective Instrument (EPSPI). The analysis…

The documented social-subjects curricula for Scottish 5-16 year olds are analysed for representations of "self-in-society". Such representations are important in Scotland because it is expected that the new Education-for-Citizenship framework will in part be delivered through the social subjects. However, citizenship education is also…

This article examines the growing body of literature on service learning as a pedagogical tool within political science. It also reports the results of a service learning experiment used in a course on State and Local Politics. Students completed service learning projects that combined community service, attendance at local political meetings…

Few current definitions and assessments of teacher "quality" have considered the social justice-oriented characteristics the authors consider most important in their work with future city teachers. This paper describes the masters licensure program with which the authors are involved, the portfolio assessment system this program utilizes to…

The study presents the process of differentiated instruction, its implementation, and impact on second graders in a Lebanese school. It analyses how writing instruction has been differentiated through implementing the writing workshop to help students demonstrate improved writing skills. It examines the effects of second graders' participation in…