The nature of science (NOS) has a prominent role among the national science education content standards at all grade levels, K-12. Results from a national survey of collegiate science educators indicate the perception that the greatest contributors to preservice teachers' understanding of the nature of science were science methods courses,…

The purpose of this 2-year study was to investigate Malawian teacher educators' perspectives and dispositions toward teaching about ecological sustainability issues in Malawi, a developing country in sub-Sahara Africa. This study was embedded in a larger theoretical framework of investigating earth systems science through the understanding of…

This study documents literature discussions between groups of teacher education students in two geographically and demographically different universities. Students from an education methods course at each site discussed "The Friendship" by Mildred Taylor with one another as part of a distance reader response project. The project was designed to…

This study investigated the possible impact of a science teaching methods course on pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and perceptions of self as science teachers. The study also investigated the probable relationship between these two variables, which both measure issues related to the expected behaviour teachers adopt when teaching science.…

This study was conducted to determine if an integrated content-methods, two-course sequence for preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) affects the mathematical beliefs of these students in three main areas: (1) beliefs about mathematics as a discipline; (2) beliefs about how mathematics is learned and should be taught; and (3) beliefs about…

A cursory examination of current measurement texts used in teacher education reveals a treatment of such topics as test reliability, item analysis, and test interpretation based largely upon classical test theory. In the meantime, the landscape of the classroom has been significantly impacted by a growing emphasis on more authentic assessment…

The preservice teachers who participated in this study were first semester seniors in a Social Studies Methods class. The study took place in the second year of a university/public school partnership program between the elementary education faculty at Indiana University South Bend and teachers at six schools within the South Bend Community School…

An instructional program was constructed that explored the responses and perceptions of preservice elementary school teachers while finding and using characteristics to construct categories or concepts. The program integrated ideas about teaching thinking skills using computers. HyperCard and videodisk images were used to develop a program so that…

This practicum was designed to lessen the computer anxiety of early childhood education majors enrolled in General Curriculum or General Methods courses, to assist them in learning more about computer applications, and to increase the amount of time spent using computers. Weekly guidelines were given to the students, and a hands-on approach was…

Portfolio assessment is increasingly used in teacher education courses as teacher educators become aware of the importance of modeling best practice in methods classes. However, implementing portfolio instruction is not an easy task. Because this approach to evaluation is so different from previous educational experiences, preservice students…

This document details the development and implementation of a course for teacher education in Poland. The course, "The School in Democratic Society," was prepared between September 1992 and December 1993 as a cooperative effort between the Polish Ministry of National Education and the Citizenship Development for a Global Age Program of…

Teacher educators have become increasingly interested in the beliefs preservice teachers bring to their undergraduate methods courses. S. Lortie (1975) posited that the major influence in shaping future teachers' conceptions of teaching is their previous years of experience as students. A study of students in preservice reading methods courses…

College-level students' achievements may be negatively impacted because college-level instructors, though well educated and informed in their particular subject area, may not be effective classroom teachers. A study was conducted to examine the preparation of postsecondary educators to determine if methodology training is considered to be of any…

This paper presents the course outline of a methods course for elementary education majors that is based on the structure of the Florida Sunshine State Standards pertaining to science. This structure provides education majors with the vertical scope and sequence of public school science education. The focus is on pedagogical knowledge beyond the…

An important topic presented in introductory statistics courses is the estimation of population parameters using samples. Students learn that when estimating population variances using sample data, we always get an underestimate of the population variance if we divide by n rather than n-1. One implication of this correction is that the degree of…