Despite the growing demands for carrying out intercultural education as part of all teaching and learning, little attention has been given to the ways in which future subject teachers understand the meaning of 'cultural diversity' and how teacher education programmes prepare future teachers to consider intercultural aims in education. Therefore,…

Many high school classrooms in the United States have physics teachers who are teaching the subject outside their certified content areas because of a severe shortage of physics teachers. There is a critical need to improve the knowledge base of these out-of-field teachers. This comparative case study examined the instructional practice of…

This action research study aims to explore the contribution of the use of points of improvement as a reflective strategy to support eleven Chilean EFL pre-service teachers' ability to plan communicative-oriented lessons. Through questionnaires and a focus group, participants' responses were examined using thematic analysis. Findings yielded that…

To meet the demand of the incoming school curriculum reform focusing on competency-based learning in Vietnam, this paper reports on an innovation project on developing secondary mathematics preservice teachers' (PSTs) mathematical literacy and preparing them to teach mathematics contextually. We developed a curriculum and studied the effectiveness…

This paper describes a model for teacher professional development as co-design for curriculum planning in which facilitators with design and pedagogical expertise iteratively work with groups of secondary school teachers, one school at a time, to plan whole terms of work, as a form of teacher professional development. It contains preliminary…

We report a new phase of research of the scaling of Cornerstone Maths (CM), technology-enhanced curriculum units for lower secondary mathematics that embed dynamic mathematical technology (DMT). These combine web-based DMT, pupil and teacher materials, and teacher professional development that focus on developing the mathematical knowledge and…

To organize for the improvement of science instruction teachers need opportunities to collaboratively learn from practice, in practice, and to engage in the revision of classroom tools. In this paper, we examine how a professional learning community (PLC), comprised of middle school teachers and researchers, worked on the improvement of Ambitious…

Despite the advancements in the production and accessibility of videos and animations, a gap exists between their potential for science teaching and their actual use in the classroom. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an approach to boost chemistry and biology teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and their…

This article describes a study undertaken in New Zealand, England and Sweden and is based on the use of a tool developed by the researcher as a professional development and teaching tool in technology education for teachers of students between four and six years of age. The aim of the research was to investigate teachers' views of the…

Subject specialists' knowledge of academic and disciplinary literacy is often tacit. We tackle the issue of how to elicit subject specialists' tacit knowledge in order to develop their pedagogical practices and enable them to communicate this knowledge to students. Drawing on theories of genre and metacognition, a professional development activity…

Practitioner research is an approach increasingly used by and with teachers, including in early childhood (EC) education. Studies outlining the benefits of educator engagement in research show learning, empowerment and self-determination in professional direction. There is also a sense of achievement for university researchers when they research…

Background: In both general education and physical education literature, considerable attention is paid to identifying the effectiveness of communities of practice (CoPs). This literature tends to be more qualitative in nature with less research examining the quantitative nature of interactions in CoPs through direct observation. Purpose: This…

As scientific models of student thinking, learning progressions (LPs) have been evaluated in terms of one important, but limited, criterion: fit to empirical data. We argue that LPs are not empirically adequate, largely because they rely on problematic assumptions of theory-like coherence in students' thinking. Through an empirical investigation…

Background: Professional learning communities are increasingly recognized for their significance in building teachers' competencies for educational reform. However, the knowledge development cycle of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) through multiple professional learning communities is not well researched. Purpose: This…

The aim of this study is to evaluate a continuing professional development (CPD) program designed to improve teachers' professional competences about the nature of science (NOS) by using a new evaluation perspective. The researchers followed a year long CPD about NOS with the voluntary attendance of 18 middle school science teachers and their…