Lack of confidence towards science is a major factor in the avoidance of teaching science at elementary school. This paper reports the results of a survey that asked 28 pre-service elementary teachers what they believed contributed to their confidence towards science and the teaching of science during a second year science unit where an holistic…

This study compares the views of teachers and professional development facilitators about effective professional development (PD). We analyzed interviews with 72 teacher participants and 23 PD facilitators involved in nine science and mathematics PD projects. The teachers' themes for characterizing effective PD included classroom application,…

This study explored the potential acceptability of performance pay to new teachers by investigating attitudes toward performance pay of students preparing to be teachers. Focus groups and a survey of students preparing to be teachers at a large U.S. university were conducted. Most students expressed a preference for some form of performance pay…

Although nearly every college offers a major in computer science, many computer science teachers at the secondary level have received little formal training. This paper presents details of a project that could make a significant contribution to national efforts to improve computer science education by combining teacher education and professional…

Background: A paradigm shift in educational policy to create problem solvers and critical thinkers produced the games concept approach (GCA) in Singapore's Revised Syllabus for Physical Education (1999). A pilot study (2001) conducted on 11 primary school student teachers (STs) using this approach identified time management and questioning as two…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between science teacher knowledge and changes in student content knowledge after students experienced microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) instruction about heat energy and temperature. Investigation of teacher knowledge included evaluation of content knowledge and pedagogical content…

At Sage Colleges (New York) the Faculties of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty of Education have collaborated to involve undergraduate students in actively thinking about teaching subject matter. First an education/liberal arts advisory group was established to bring the faculties together. Out of this group came one collaboration between…

The goals of secondary preservice science teacher education are to prepare future science teachers with competency in both science content knowledge and science teaching ability. The study reported in this paper investigated the development of pedagogical content knowledge of three preservice chemistry teachers in Taiwan during one year of a…

The use of case studies to teach educational psychology was studied, focusing on their effectiveness in helping students become more reflective in their thinking about the roles of teachers. The effects on content learned, affect and motivation, and performance were studied for students taught through case studies and through traditional…

Music educators are required not only to master the body of knowledge representing the music curriculum, but to manage instruction so that they may convey this knowledge effectively and efficiently to their students. In order to promote good instruction, teachers find that a systematic behavioral management plan is required. Unfortunately, many…

This paper describes a university program designed to upgrade the presentation of course content in the sciences and mathematics to prospective elementary classroom teachers. Presented in the paper are data on efforts to evaluate implementation and perceptions of the science and mathematics faculty (n=5) who played an instructional role in this…

The mathematical growth of a pre-service elementary teacher over the period of a semester is detailed. This student had an unusual combination of very poor basic computational skills and a capacity for higher level problem solving involving algebraic notation. The extent to which one or two semesters of mathematics content, however…

In this paper the development of science pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in elementary teachers is considered, with a particular focus on beginning teachers. Explored is a conceptualization of the development of science pedagogical content knowledge in elementary teachers which emerged from two studies. The first examined the science teaching…

This self-study was designed to explore problem based learning (PBL) as an instructional approach in the context of a large preservice science education course. It addressed how the teacher educator would structure PBL to foster student engagement in learning, how she would enhance her own pedagogical content knowledge through the self-study, and…

Environmental educators often maintain that elementary education should work to improve and protect the environment by producing environmentally informed, committed, and active citizens. However, research shows that implementation of environmental education in elementary schools is problematic and not very successful. This paper identifies a…