A Northern Kentucky University professor questions the relevance and effectiveness of a required fundamentals of secondary education methods course, and discusses his counteroffensive, which combines lecture, field experience, and post-experience reflection on methods to meet state certification standards. (CB)

Presents one educator's efforts to renew himself as a professor of education by returning to the secondary physics classroom, taking his student teachers with him. The experience made him examine new perspectives on physics students, preservice physics teachers, school science teachers, experienced teachers turned graduate students, and teacher…

Focuses on how second-language children are portrayed in reading and language arts methods textbooks and in practice-oriented reading and language arts journals. Suggests that, although teachers probably have had some contact with issues in second-language reading, professional writings do not provide a thorough discussion of second-language…

Presents recommendations for using cooperative learning with preservice elementary and secondary education teachers based on experiences in more than 35 courses. The article describes nine cooperative learning strategies and presents the results of a survey of preservice students' attitudes toward cooperative learning. (SM)

Discussed is the elementary science teacher curriculum and its role in students' interest in science. Qualifications, teacher attitudes about science, college preparation, hands-on experience, science instruction, science method instruction, and the role of the administrator are described in terms of effective elementary science programs. (KR)

Reports on a survey of 122 elementary art education methods instructors in the United States and Canada. Finds that methods courses focus on one of three general areas: (1) those that focus on art itself; (2) those that focus on pedagogical issues; or (3) those that focus on the non-art major preservice teacher. (CFR)

Presents a feedback approach used by the author to evaluate the degree to which the desired outcomes of a science methods course are met and to clarify students' perceptions about the course. (PR)

Examines the efficacy beliefs preservice teachers bring to methods courses in science and mathematics and the changes in their beliefs as a result of the enriched experiences of methods courses. Contains 22 references. (DDR)

A study of 16 language-teacher trainees found distinct differences between perceived and actual language proficiency. During the foreign-language-teaching methodology course, candidates developed greater realism about their own abilities and need for further language development. The investigation illustrates how motivations change over time for…

Discusses the problems and benefits of implementing portfolio evaluation in a preservice teacher social studies methods course. Maintains that adopting portfolio assessment opens the way for students to construct alternative conceptions of teaching. Includes criteria for the development and evaluation of students' portfolios. (MJP)

This study compared preservice teachers' confidence to transfer computer applications into their classroom instruction depending on whether they were taught computer literacy from a theory perspective focusing on skills alone or from a theory and application perspective where their computer skills were learned simultaneously as they completed…

Discusses an innovative process that was used for engaging prospective teachers in collaboration and reflection on their learning as they developed a multi-media portfolio. (Contains 15 references.) (WRM)

The purpose of this study was to develop a picture of how preservice science teachers? instructional concerns changed during a yearlong science methods program spanning initial classroom observations through student teaching. Another goal of this study was to determine the teachers? ideas about inquiry teaching and the influence of their methods…

This paper will explore emerging benefits of telecollaboration and telementoring through an examination of the literature, a reflection on current practices at the University of Virginia and the University of South Florida, and a forecast proposal for potential seamless integration of technology with teacher preparation and training in schools of…

This article describes the use of a lesson study approach to collaborative professional growth in an elementary science methods course. Preservice candidates designed and taught integrated science-mathematics lessons during the semester before their student teaching. Working in 8 teams of 3 student teachers, participants per team designed a common…