Despite the long history of the study of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), two facts remain obvious. First, there are almost as many conceptions regarding the definition of PCK as there are researchers interested in it. Second, it is largely unclear which methods enable teacher educators to best prepare teacher candidates to use PCK. Recently,…

The New Teacher Alliance is a major, multi-year initiative of Washington's Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (CSTP). It aims to build capacity within participating districts and ESDs (Educational Service Districts), and eventually across Washington state, to provide high quality supports that lead to effective induction of new…

The inability of students to become proficient in algebra seems to be widespread in American schools. One of the reasons often cited for this inability is that instruction seldom builds on prior knowledge. Research suggests that teacher effectiveness is the most critical controllable variable in improving student achievement. This report details a…

Purpose: The study is a two-stage inquiry into the influence of high school principals and department chairpersons on the nature of science and mathematics teachers' community of practice participation. Of particular interest is the extent to which formal leaders influence the formation of productive communities of practice and the extent to which…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore how teacher leaders help teachers improve mathematics and science teaching. Design/methodology/approach: Research focused on a purposive sample of seven teacher leaders selected to vary in their time allocated to teacher leader work and their content knowledge. Each teacher leader was interviewed, as were two…

Earlier reports have shown that prospective teachers' conceptions about teaching science to a high degree are resistant and do not change substantially during the teacher-training programme. In our investigation we elucidate the prospective teachers' initial conceptions about pupils' understanding of science and mathematics. We applied "The…

The purpose of this chapter is to advance the concept of pedagogical content knowledge in a manner that would better align it with the integrative type of knowledge needed by teachers at all three stages (preservice teachers, induction teachers, and cooperating teachers), allowing them to use model-based instruction (MBI) most effectively in…

One way of better understanding Net-Generation learners is to examine the texts they create on online social networking, blogging, and image sites as well as in virtual worlds. Mark Mabrito and Rebecca Medley explore the nature of Net-Generation texts as a reflection of the cognitive differences between this generation's students and their older…

Over the past few years, there has been considerable explication of what it means to think historically. According to this research literature, expert historians think about such issues as placing historical events within context and chronology, considering the differing perspectives of participants in events, and taking the bias and intention of…

The research described in this paper concerns the acquaintance of student teachers with the educational and wider pastoral experiences of children and young people who are or have been "looked after" and who they may well teach at some point, together with the familiarisation of student teachers with the "looked after" system…

"Training" certainly fit the factory model of education. To others, the word conjured images of what one does to animals, getting them to sit, roll over, and play dead. Few educators now describe their learning experiences as training. The word "development" may be an improvement, but just a small one. It evokes images of what someone does to…

Becoming "Asia literate" is a pivotal part of the federal government's "Education Revolution". The federal government asserts that "equipping young Australians with the knowledge and skills to communicate and work with our regional neighbours...such skills must be a core element of an Australian school curriculum"…

The No Child Left Behind Act requires that all teachers be certified within the content areas that they teach. However, attracting and retaining highly qualified science teachers in rural school districts is particularly difficult due to limited resources and geographic and professional isolation. Science professional development programs could…

The paper examines how community was established in a professional development institute that focused on algebra content knowledge for middle school mathematics teachers. This qualitative study was framed within a situative perspective. We analyzed multiple data sources to identify the ways in which community was established. Results indicate…

This paper presents a case-study of a mathematics teacher who has substantively developed her mediational strategies and her conceptions of mathematical knowledge as a result of her participation in an in- service program. Her new teaching practices raise serious dilemmas for her in relation to her teaching context, in particular, the limited…