Describes a study which examined personal teaching metaphors developed by secondary teachers in a graduate course for improving understanding of relationships between teaching theory and practice and factors like school context, subject matter domain, personal history, and teaching experience. Case studies found several themes confirming prior…

Describes an exploratory study that examined the potential of combining teaching cases with telecommunications to stimulate learning communities of new and experienced teachers. Experienced and beginning history teachers had informal subject matter conversations using CD-ROM cases and videoconferencing. There were high levels of engagement between…

This study analyzed data from teachers (personal characteristics, basic skills, concerns, locus of control, and academic achievement) from the beginning of preservice preparation through the fifth teaching year. Results found developmental changes in concerns about teaching over time, indicating relationships between changes in teaching concerns…

Two former staff members reflect on their feelings about the August 1995 closing of Bark Lake Leadership Centre (Ontario, Canada), which for 49 years had offered outdoor adventure and environmental education courses to youth and adults. They discuss their experiences as both students and teachers at the center, which helped shape their careers in…

Outlines how a museum visit and the Looking/Learning article, "Painting: Neo-Impressionism," ("School Arts," September 1989) were used to inspire sixth grade students to make their own Neo-Impressionist works. Comments on the diversity of the students' techniques in attempting to blend color visually. (KM)

This article provides evidence regarding the effects of schools, teachers, and teaching processes on enhancing eighth grade mathematics achievement in Nigeria and Swaziland. Findings suggest that teaching quality (teaching practices) is more important than teacher quality (education, experience, certification) in determining student outcomes. (IAH)

Examined attitudes of teachers in religiously integrated schools in Northern Ireland with regard to their motivation for teaching in an integrated school, comparisons between their teaching experiences in integrated and nonintegrated schools, and how teaching in an integrated school may affect their future career prospects. (LP)

This study investigated what teachers understood from reading, writing, and discussing a case versus just reading and writing. Analyses of writing and oral discourse from student, beginning, and experienced teachers indicated that the addition of discussion affected their thinking about the case, benefiting teachers at different experience levels…

This article describes the effort to prepare college students for lifelong learning through "connected learning," in which learning occurs through active engagement. It also offers guidance for classroom practice including class discussion, reading lists, journals, cooperative learning, questioning and listening skills, and listening and teaching.…

Teaching conformity through coercion limits students' willingness to take risks and make decisions regarding their learning. In contrast, a Foxfire classroom environment that meets psychological needs empowers students to make choices about their learning, eliminates fear of failure, allows students to establish their own standards of achievement,…

Describes how indigenous students in a remote Mexican village learned ways to document their culture and history; how teachers in this same village learned to teach reading and writing in Ayuuk, their native language; and what a Foxfire teacher learned as an instructor in the teacher workshop. Includes the Foxfire "core practices" in…

Discusses the importance of attracting and maintaining student interest when teaching history. Argues that students learn best when they participate. Recommends using open-ended questions to motivate students to the process of studying history, making choices, and looking for answers. Emphasizes the value of mentoring, continuing education, and…

This study examined whether concept-based or experience-based training designs and their subsequent execution would create different training effects in teachers (depending on whether trainers took into account diagnostic information on existing teacher beliefs and preconceptions). Pretraining and posttraining data indicated that teachers' beliefs…

Presents seven Soviet educators' experiences with cooperation in the classroom. Emphasizes building student confidence and esteem to develop students' intrinsic motivation to learn. Examines teacher-student relationships, student evaluation, and creative teaching methods that envision teachers and students as equal partners in the educational…

Concept mapping was used to tap the conceptual disciplinary (science subject) knowledge and pedagogical knowledge of seven biology and six geography teachers with short or long teaching experience. Results indicate that knowledge in both areas is unsatisfactory, experience does not improve the knowledge, and teachers mastered disciplinary…