Two studies have explored how teachers in the Netherlands think about value stimulation and how teachers combine stimulating the development of specific values with teaching skills that enable students to adopt critical thinking or to analyze various opinions. The results of an investigation into the importance attached by teachers to stimulating…

Constructivist epistemologies have been instrumental in recent research on mathematics learning and have provided a basis for recent mathematics education reform efforts. Although constructivism has the potential to inform changes in mathematics teaching, it offers no particular vision of how mathematics should be taught; models of teaching based…

This study examined factors that influenced the acquisition of pedagogical content knowledge for two groups of prospective secondary mathematics teachers (undergraduate mathematics majors and post-graduate scientists and engineers seeking mathematics certification) in the content domain of functions and graphs. Both groups, enrolled in a…

Consistent with education reform efforts, the Jamaican Government invited The Commonwealth of Learning to participate in an on-site needs assessment survey. Previous examination results revealed a need to strengthen teaching and learning in English, mathematics, and science, as most primary school teachers required enhancement in both the content…

The problem beginning secondary school teachers face in bridging the knowledge gap between the subject discipline studied in college and the content that must be taught to high school students is analyzed in this study. To demonstrate this problem and follow the progressive steps taken to partially solve it, case studies are presented of two…

The chemical content knowledge of secondary science teachers is seldom measured directly in developed countries as there are practical, ethical and political problems involved that would be likely to be insuperable. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the author assisted in some of the work involved in the second IEA Science Study (SISS), where the PNG…

This study investigated the interactive effects between students' opportunity to learn (OTL) in the classroom, two language-related testing accommodations, and English language learner (ELL) students and other students of varying language proficiency, and how these variables impact mathematics performance. Hierarchical linear modeling was employed…

This research literature on educational technology has identified important contextual factors that influence how technology is used in educational settings. In May of this year, EDC conducted the 2006 Instructional Practices and Classroom Use of Technology Survey with over a thousand teachers. This report first presents the overall survey…

This digest examines research on indicators of teacher quality. While research on the value of a teacher's advanced degree is mixed, all studies suggest that teachers with degrees in subjects different from the subjects they teach have little impact on students. There is no strong consensus about the value of pedagogical preparation for teachers,…

This study investigated how the adoption of a constructivist model of teaching and learning and simple item analysis techniques can be used to explore the instructor's pedagogical content knowledge in teaching elementary statistics. Descriptive data (percent of students responding to multiple-choice test options) are provided that support the case…

A case study approach was used to explore the relationship between subject matter knowledge and the acquisition of pedagogical content knowledge in the preparation of preservice elementary mathematics teachers. A preservice elementary teacher was interviewed prior to her mathematics methods course to ascertain her subject matter background and…

Preservice teachers in special education at Eastern Illinois University take two concurrent courses--one teaching instructional techniques for individuals labeled mildly exceptional and the other a practicum experience in a local rural school. A study examined the preservice teachers' perceptions of what they learned working with special needs…

This study examined how the teacher's role is dependent on what they know and how what they know is affected by how they learn, focusing on the acquisition of knowledge regarding educational technology by student teachers and their mentors. The study emphasized three types of educational technology knowledge: content knowledge, pedagogical…

This paper examines what it would take to expand the number of teacher leaders in mathematics, noting that one of the major obstacles facing reform in mathematics education is the lack of adequate preparation among teachers currently teaching mathematics. The paper highlights experiences that have promoted the development of three middle school…

Looks at "pedagogical knowing" as one facet of a larger conceptual framework that grounds a teacher's self-knowledge as a person and as a teacher. With the help of two middle school English teachers, the paper argues for a view of subject matter knowledge that is dynamic, relational, practice-oriented, and useful. (SM)