Reports on first year college students' opinions regarding their high school chemistry classes. Investigates the relationship between high school chemistry experiences and student attitudes toward chemistry. Identifies characteristics that correlate with positive attitudes such as teacher enthusiasm, teacher effectiveness, the teacher's content…

Professional development for K-12 teachers must become more comprehensive. It should apply findings of cognitive research by including active intellectual engagement, sustained collaboration, and ongoing support. Professional development should be linked to student learning and emphasize subject-specific pedagogical content knowledge. (Contains 28…

Uses L. S. Shulman's three categories of content knowledge as a basis for conceptualizing and examining the knowledge needed by communication educators. Calls for the discipline knowledge produced by communication scholars to be translated into viable school experiences so that students obtain accurate conceptual understandings of communication.…

Explains the format of the AIMS lessons and addresses the teacher who may just be starting to use AIMS activities. Contends that teachers must learn science and mathematics by using hands-on approaches to teach in this way. (MKR)

This study explored the kinds of interpretive frameworks that university professors used in constructing and implementing pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in order to understand better the generic nature of PCK. Phenomenological interviews with professors who were recognized as experienced teachers indicated that they constructed and used…

Discusses ways in which a mathematical pedagogy seminar can be an enlightening, engaging, and sometimes entertaining experience through which to bring together departmental colleagues and their students. Suggests logistics for such a seminar, 25 topics, and readings. Contains 64 references. (Author/ASK)

One rarely engages in a conversation about education without the terms "content" and "pedagogy" finding their way into it. Indeed, the two are inherent to almost everything done in education. Are content and pedagogy separate and separable entities or are they always already implicated in each other? Where does one begin and the other end? Who is…

One of the most recent waves of reform in public education began in 1989 when the governors and legislators identified eight goals for the "Goals 2000: Educate America Act" (U.S. Department of Education, 1994). This legislation promulgated the need for standards-based education and impacted health education in several ways. "Goals 2000"…

Recently, there has been a rapid proliferation of lesson study groups in the United States. Since deep knowledge about lesson study is rare in the U.S., it is likely that some of these groups have an incomplete understanding of this Japanese practice. Some may focus on structural aspects of the process of lesson study or may mimic its superficial…

Examines how teacher networks design for teacher learning, describing several dynamic tensions inherent in the designs of a sample of teacher networks and assessing the relationships of these tensions to teacher learning. The paper illustrates these design concepts with reference to the work of seven networks that aim to revamp teacher' knowledge…

This article examines the critical didactic incidents (CDIs) method used by European researchers in didactics. Originally designed by Flanagan (1954) in psychology, the CDIs method is based on qualitative accounts and analysis of critical moments in the teaching process when content is brought into play. The article reviews the use of critical…

Elementary school mathematics teaching begins with the teacher's understanding of the mathematical content to be taught. The teacher knows how to "do" the mathematics, i. e., understands the concepts and truths concerning that mathematics. The teacher then decides how to present the mathematics. Based on the students' background in mathematics,…

This study reports on a science professional development initiative with elementary school teachers in Canada. Grades 4 and 5 teachers were involved in the implementation and modification of science kits, together with corresponding professional development activities. Each kit was aligned to specific outcomes in the curriculum and provided a…

This report summarizes survey results from 2007-2008 staff surveys on the professional development needs reported by Austin Independent School District teachers and campus administrators.

In this second study of education schools, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) examines the mathematics preparation of America's elementary teachers. The impetus is the mediocre performance of American students in mathematics compared with their counterparts around the world. Mathematics relies heavily on cumulative knowledge. The link…