Compares the way preservice elementary teachers build knowledge and beliefs to the way learners build science knowledge. Describes a reconceptualization of an elementary science methods course consistent with this assumption about science teaching. Contains 22 references. (DDR)

Describes the experiences of art educators participating in the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification program for early-adolescent and young-adult art. NBPTS candidates are asked to collect data on their own teaching, observe videos of their classes, and analyze their teaching through reflective writing. (MJP)

Describes ongoing case studies of U.S. teacher-education institutions that are reforming subject-matter preparation for prospective teachers. Discusses research goals, theoretical framework concerning levels of disciplinary understanding and the nature of knowledge and skills across university disciplines, and problems with the administrative…

A survey questioned 22 early childhood professionals, 10 parents of preschoolers with disabilities, and 20 parents of typical preschoolers on inclusion at the beginning and end of a school year. Both parents and educators were concerned about general educators' preparation to meet the needs of children with complex special needs. (Contains…

Explores the environmental knowledge and attitudes of secondary teachers (N=360). Reveals that negative environmental attitudes are prevalent and that most of the teachers in the study have never attended any workshop or seminar on the teaching of the subject. (DDR)

This article reports on a survey of 41 special education faculty that found that few included instruction on self-determination in their courses. It then describes a course that was developed on transition planning to ensure that special educators obtain the skills necessary to support the development of self-determination skills. (Contains…

Today, one out of four American children attends school in an urban district; one out of every six American children lives in poverty; and, in urban schools where most of the students are poor, two-thirds or more of the children fail to reach even the "basic" level of achievement on national tests. Urban schools are where most states…

The publication of the new curriculum and subject guidelines for the National Certificate (Vocational) marks an important development in policy by the Department of Education. To implement this new National Certificate (Vocational), the teaching staff at FET colleges should not only be familiar with the new curriculum and its pedagogic demands,…

This article describes a course for reinforcing the knowledge of biochemistry in secondary school science teachers. The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Barcelona designed a course to bring these teachers up to date with this discipline. In addition to updating their knowledge of biochemistry and molecular…

This paper argues for civic education that helps students recognize that reasonable people will disagree about the best ways to live, and that this recognition should frequently impel us toward compromise and accommodation in the public square. Fostering this virtue of reasonable disagreement will require a concerted curricular effort toward…

This study presents the results of qualitative interviews of teachers who completed the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification process. Teachers (N=25) were asked a series of questions about how the NBPTS process impacted their teaching. The findings revealed that the themes of reflection, assessment, and…

In this article, we present findings from a comparative study of 3 teacher preparation prototypes: traditional, university-district partnership, and district add-on programs. Samples of program graduates were observed during their 1st year of teaching using the Praxis III assessment. A larger sample completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing…

This paper examines the role of effective practices in making education "special" for students with emotional and/or behavior disorders and discusses barriers and potential solutions for translating research into practice. These include accessibility of the literature base, teacher training and the role of teacher educators, support to implement…

This article describes a collaborative and cross-curricula initiative undertaken in the School of Education at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. The project involved developing an integrated approach to providing professional year pre-service secondary teacher education students with experiences that would assist them to develop…

In the following article the author presents a methodological framework for the teaching of intercomprehension. Competence in intercomprehension is seen as a realisation of the general human faculty for using and understanding language, which includes the ability to comprehend texts and utterances in "unfamiliar" languages. This competence can be…