Reviews literature on constructivist theories, noting that constructivism challenges some understanding of content knowledge. Asserts that constructivist approaches can provide insights for teacher education as long as student understanding of content remains paramount. (Contains 35 references.) (SK)

Researchers of literacies in out-of-school settings often argue that their studies hold significant implications for teaching practices. This argument seems to be partially supported by studies that have won the Alan C. Purves Award between 1998 and 2001, acknowledging RTE articles most likely to impact educational practice. Yet this line of…

In the Fall of 2007, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA) established the following strategic priority: Develop policy and program recommendations to improve the professional development of English language learner…

This article is about an investigation of six middle school science teachers' beliefs and instructional practice about the coherence of the science they teach as articulated by National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996). Many well intentioned reform efforts focus on improving content knowledge of teachers, but many classroom teachers…

Elementary school children in the United States are not developing acceptable levels of mathematical proficiency (National Center for Education Statistics, 1999), and a major concern of teacher educators is that teachers lack the depth and flexibility of mathematical understanding and the corresponding beliefs they need to teach for proficiency…

The authors describe a partnership between two departments, in a school of education that involves educational leadership and curriculum and instruction graduate students sharing their expertise of teaching and learning with student teachers and alternatively certified teacher interns. This project provides graduate students with active…

A teacher's sense of {instructional} efficacy has been considered a critical variable in student academic performance. Researchers Tschannen-Moran and Hoy Woolfolk (2001, p.783) defined teachers' {instructional} efficacy as a teacher's judgment of his or her capabilities to bring about desired outcomes of student engagement and learning, even…

Teacher educators may need to pay attention to pre-service elementary teachers' motivation to learn mathematics in order to help them develop a deep level of understanding from their mathematics content courses for teachers (content courses) and to help them develop the disposition to learn mathematics throughout their careers. In this…

This study examined the differential effects of two components of the Interactive Strategies Approach (ISA) professional development program on outcomes related to teacher knowledge, teacher practice, and student reading achievement. The professional development for teachers focused on word solving skill among struggling first grade readers. The…

This policy study contributed to an understanding of the types of professional growth activities that improve teacher self-confidence to teach challenging subjects and helped determine the future allocation of resources relative to teaching secondary social studies in Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), the eighth largest school district in…

This paper discusses issues related to the teaching and assessment of 21st century skills and competencies in OECD countries drawing on the findings of a questionnaire study and other relevant background material such as white papers or curriculum documents. Although all OECD countries were invited to participate in the questionnaire survey,…

Professional learning is an important process in enabling teachers to update their pedagogical knowledge and practices. The use of online technologies to support professional learning has a number of benefits in terms of flexibility and scalability. However, it is not clear how well the approach impacts on teachers' classroom practices. This…

The first year college experience is anxiety producing, and for college students who represent traditionally underserved populations, particularly ethnic and linguistic minorities, the anxiety can be even more pronounced. Add to the mix a requirement for students to complete at least one course in mathematics during the first semester and the…

In this paper, the researcher will examine various points of view of the different epistemological schools of thoughts in the first section of the paper. This will be followed by the analysis of the knowledge base and pedagogical reasoning in the second section. The third section of the paper will be devoted to examine the modern pedagogical…

How developed countries train, recruit and retain their schoolteachers is an area of considerable interest in education today. In this paper we consider how the US is addressing the issue of teacher quality by holding schools and school districts accountable for ensuring that all teachers of core subjects are "highly qualified" by the…