Describes use of focused and open-ended instruments in evaluating an introduction to teaching preservice education course which provide early field-based experience to help students decide if they want to be teachers. Six instruments, data obtained, and conclusions are described. (SL)

Examined difficulties Finnish university students experienced in learning quantitative methods. Education and sociology students rated different topics on the basis of their difficulty. Overall, students considered statistics and quantitative methods more difficult than other domains. They tended to polarize academic subjects into…

Describes the use of adolescent fiction to encourage multicultural self-development among primarily European American preservice teachers in literacy and social studies methods courses. Discusses four major themes that emerged from this analysis: struggle, resistance, heightened awareness, and the modification of plans for future action. (SR)

Describes the programs of 43 responding universities that have specialized content science courses for elementary education majors. Provides contact addresses for each university. (MVL)

Presents a qualitative study that problematizes the authors' classroom authority as they sought to enact critical inquiries with preservice teachers. Contends that preservice teachers must face the reality of having to function as authority figures while still maintaining a classroom conducive to meaning making. Provides three lenses through which…

A teacher educator discusses activities which are included in her language arts methods course. Content and process in language arts teaching are explored within a classroom context that encourages reflection, collegial discussion, and scholarly analysis. (IAH)

Contends that the ability and openness to make informed decisions about future classroom reading programs increases with preservice teachers' personal immersion in a whole language environment. Describes strategies used in reading methods courses that allow students to experience what they may be expected to implement as teachers. (RS)

Reports on a study that asked 31 inservice secondary science teachers to complete a survey on topics for inclusion in a secondary science methods course. Concludes that the majority of prespecified potential topics were judged important enough by these teachers to warrant inclusion in a methods course, though no individual-added topic appeared on…

Studied effects of a constructivist and interdisciplinary block of methods courses on the self-efficacy in mathematics of 73 preservice teachers. Significant differences were found between pretest and posttest results. Discusses implications for teacher education programs. (SLD)

Provides a descriptive basis for assessing three areas in research methods course work for United States students specializing in business and technical communication: research methods topics, required readings, and teaching or assessment methods. Suggests a proposed agenda for preparing students specializing in business and technical…

Describes how one instructor used science education methodology in a language arts methods course. The purpose was to understand how preservice teachers might improve their science teaching through language arts methods. Discusses one preservice teacher and her use of the methodology in the science methods course in which she was currently…

Provides an initial theoretical discussion of some student and instructor narratives from an action research project in a preservice secondary English methods course. Discusses an expanded role for the instructor within the constraints and possibilities of the debriefing session as one discursive site in the conceptualization of any program-wide…

Standards this! Standards that! What are standards? Why do we need them? Those are some of the comments the author frequently hears from preservice teachers as they confront the concept of standards in their teacher-education courses. Indeed, why incorporate standards in teacher education? Federal mandates now in place leave little doubt that…

The purpose of this study was to assess student perceptions of the faith-learning integration process in instructional methods courses taught by a single professor. Thirty-one students were asked by the professor to complete an open-ended questionnaire at the end of their course experience. Results indicated that students in this study described…

In this paper, the author, who teaches a secondary arts method course at a southwestern university, describes how curriculum planning enabled her to introduce students to the art of lesbian and gay artists, thereby helping the students to understand what they can expect in the real world of teaching and what they might be up against should they…