Probes the interaction between teacher-education experiences and existing student beliefs, through observation and analysis of two elementary teaching candidates' experience in social studies methods courses and student teaching. Suggests that beliefs can facilitate professional growth if articulated as tools for reflection, but can be obstacles…

Describes efforts in a secondary mathematics methods course to make discussions of assessment relevant and accessible for prospective teachers, examining preservice teachers' beliefs regarding assessment and detailing steps to help move them from these initial beliefs to ones more consistent with the philosophy expressed in recent reform.…

Examines the effects of previous experiences in science learning on prospective elementary teachers' interest and confidence in teaching science. Reports on the effect of an inquiry-based science methods course on teacher interest and confidence. Finds that elementary school experience, plus the number of science courses taken in college,…

Discusses interdisciplinary instruction at the high school level, examines the imperatives of statewide reform in Kentucky, and outlines how and when interdisciplinary instruction improves learning. Describes an interdisciplinary learning project taught in secondary methods classes at Eastern Kentucky University in which students experience…

Studied the effectiveness of having science methods students design their own multimedia programs and then use those programs during a field-based teaching experience. Findings suggested that multimedia can be used effectively in preservice teacher education as a vehicle in content and methodology instruction. (Author/MKR)

Compared pre-service elementary teachers' beliefs about mathematics and science teaching before and after immersion in an integrated, spiral-based, inquiry approach within a mathematics and science methods course. Results highlighted: the importance of the teacher's role; use of methods, strategies, and styles; use of manipulatives and materials;…

This study investigated the degree to which beliefs about democratic theory and practice taught in a social studies methods course would persist after the transition to in-service teaching. The 27 participants were pre-service teachers at initial data collection and first-year in-service teachers at final data collection. Data were collected…

This case study looked at the transition of preservice teachers from world language education methods courses at a major U.S. university to a 5-week field experience in secondary school classrooms. Data included lesson plans and self-critiques of two lessons implemented during the field experience, world language teaching philosophies the…

This article describes initial attempts by preservice and inservice teachers enrolled in university reading courses to devise questions that encourage students to read content texts strategically. Teachers at both levels tended to confuse questions that encourage the use of comprehension strategies during reading with questions that assess…

This study focused on my use of first grade literacy cases to scaffold a diverse constructivist perspective in my literacy methods course for preservice teachers. The cases depicted my concurrent work in a local school with three underachieving readers, two having diverse backgrounds with respect to home languages and socioeconomic status. I…

Foreign language (FL) teachers have long been leaders in the use of technology in the classroom, from short wave radio and newspapers, to film strips, to tape recorders, to records, 16 mm films, video, and now computers, as a means of bringing authentic language and culture to their students. Computer and Internet technologies require…

The study examined the integration of science and mathematics methods courses and preservice teachers' understanding of constructivism. The participants were 50 preservice teachers who were enrolled in early childhood education mathematics and science methods courses, and an early childhood practicum. The two methods courses were integrated and…

This paper reports on a study focused upon 83 pre-service primary teachers in their first mathematics pedagogy subject at the University of Western Sydney. They completed three surveys: an achievement test of the mathematics they would be expected to teach; a survey of their beliefs about mathematics, mathematics teaching and mathematics learning;…

This article details problems and instructional approaches intended to promote preservice teachers' understanding of the reasoning underlying whole number multiplication. (Contains 9 figures.)

The integration of mathematics and science is a recommended pedagogical strategy made by major reform-based documents. The goal is to enhance learner understandings by recognizing the relationships between the two disciplines. Documented attempts to systematically enact this initiative in teacher preparation remain uncommon. As a result, an…