Addresses the need for greater understanding of the complex, contradictory nature of preservice teachers' life experiences as they interact with a multicultural, social reconstructionist teacher education course. The paper describes a study of the course and portrays two students' prior experiences that influenced their motivations to teach…

To explore why teachers rejected videotaping as an observation and coaching method, researchers interviewed 29 teachers enrolled in teacher supervision classes to determine the human and the technical issues involved. About one-quarter of the problems were technical malfunctions and limitations, and the rest resulted from human responses to…

Describes a social science methods course where preservice teachers taught a unit on controversial topics involving tolerance and intolerance. Students were forbidden to lecture. Permitted methods included cooperative learning, inquiry, simulations, jackdaws, documents, and sociodrama. Student response was generally positive. (MJP)

Reports on a study that examined the comfort level of eighth-grade teachers who used nontraditional teaching strategies in sexuality education classes. Surveys indicated that most were comfortable teaching sexuality education, though a quarter to a third never or rarely used nontraditional strategies such as role playing, small group discussion,…

A study compared the performance on a national licensing examination of University of Southern California dental students in problem-based learning (PBL) versus those in conventional educational tracks. PBL track students scored significantly higher in all four discipline-based portions of the exam and also in the aggregate, and scored well in…

Describes NASA's Learning Technologies Project at the Glenn Research Center (Cleveland, Ohio) that conducts research into enhancing elementary and secondary school science and mathematics classrooms through videoconferencing technology. Discusses teachers' professional development videoconferences; distance learning; student videoconferences;…

Israel's Educational Television Multimedia Program supports junior high school teachers in heterogeneous English-language classes. No prior knowledge of multimedia or computers is required. Mixed-ability student groups collaborate on multimedia projects. Students with diverse backgrounds and learning styles work on varying aspects of the same…

Describes the implementation of a humanities program in the context of a developing Erdkinder program in a Montessori secondary school set on a farm. Describes the curricular approach for the developing Erdkinder learning community in the first 3 years. Discusses adolescents' need to dramatize, fictionalize, and role-play to connect with other…

Three studies examining the interrelationship of science, language, and cognitive strategies involved limited-English-speaking and mainstream fourth-grade students and culturally congruent teachers. Findings indicate that integrating science inquiry with literacy development required an explicit-to-inquiry continuum for promoting science inquiry,…

Compares Queensland teachers' conceptions of communicative language teaching with those held by 11 Japanese junior high school teachers of English, interviewed in 1997 as part of a s part study on the development of language teaching in Japan. (Author/VWL)

Presents a collection of computer software programs designed to spark learning enthusiasm at every grade level and across the curriculum. They include Reader Rabbit's Learn to Read, Spelling Power, Mind Twister Math, Community Construction Kit, Breaking the Code, Encarta Africana 2000, Virtual Serengeti, Operation: Frog (Deluxe), and My First…

Discusses the first plane of development in the context of language work of the age 3-6 classroom. Examines the connections between spoken and written language and explains how literary images reflected in prose and poetry all contribute to a child's development as a reader and a writer. (TJQ)

Discusses language in the context of human development and civilization, examining a limitless field of studies and observations including the absorbent mind, the acquisition of language and grammatical structure, the linguistic capacity for abstract thought, the power of language and world community, the role of language and human uniqueness, and…

Examination of gender differences in self-efficacy, attitudes toward mathematics, and achievement of 48 gifted 7th and 8th grade students after participating in a 2-week course on probability and statistics found no differences in achievement or self-efficacy between cooperative learning mixed gender or single gender groups. Differences in…

The author's gaming-simulation course at Western Carolina University has been 30 years in the making. Its structure, content, and instructional methods are heavily influenced by the author's professorial aspirations and experience in the use of simulations. In this brief article, the author shares some of his early use of educational games and…