Explains the status of undergraduate instruction at research institutions in the past half century and discusses effective teaching strategies and methods. Lists components to create a positive teaching climate for instructors. (Contains 28 references.) (YDS)

Attempts to construct an account of how teachers acquire their professional identities as a means to informing professional development. Discusses four significant traditions (craft, scientific, moral, and artistic) in education. Considers implications for practice. (CMK)

This paper examines the partnership established between Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) through the School of Information Systems and the Careers and Employment Office to provide a mentoring program for students in the Graduate Diploma of Library and Information Studies (GDLIS)…

Professional development school (PDS) contexts are increasingly being viewed as powerful sites for the preparation of future teachers in the USA. One of their documented strengths is in the fostering of preservice teachers' inquiry within collaborative frameworks that result from the partnerships between university teacher education programmes and…

Research-based professional development is essential for districts and teachers across the nation that face the challenge of providing a quality education for increasingly diverse student populations. In this study, the researchers surveyed 729 teachers in one midwestern suburban district recently impacted by high numbers of immigrant and refugee…

Following a constructivist view on learning and based on the work of Adey and Shayer a group of teachers and lecturers in geographical education from northeast England developed some successful strategies to stimulate pupils' thinking skills. At the start of this century the ideas reached The Netherlands. This article presents the results of a…

The first part of this paper describes the rationale for and process of engaging student teachers in action research during the fourth and final year of their teacher education, which is also their first year as teachers (induction year). During this year the novice teachers are engaged in an action research project as a compulsory assignment in…

The extensive literature, situated mainly in "first world" contexts, on design and evaluation of distance learning materials, emphasises the importance of student feedback. This paper begins with an account of how two groups of students responded to questions on a text they had used in an inservice professional development programme for teachers…

Recent research emphasizes the context-specific nature of professional knowledge and expertise, implying that developing novel practices in authentic environments is a prerequisite for teachers' professional development. The aim of this study was to find out how teachers develop their practical knowledge and expertise through shared planning and…

This research delves into the reasons and expectations, indicated by three samples of MA students--16 attending a state university, 26 a private college, and 21 an extension of a foreign university, all located in Israel--for choosing an institution of higher education. It was assumed that high cost (tuition) motivates development of high…

This article describes and outlines the implications of a one-year case study of students' use of the computer conferencing facility of a postgraduate module for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) at a distance-learning institution. This facility incorporates a virtual space for a guest expert. The aim of the study was to inform…

Lapwai Elementary School, located on the Nez Perce Reservation in northern Idaho, serves a K-6 population of 302 students, 84 percent of whom are Native Americans. Seventy-nine percent of the students live at or below the poverty level. The remarkable success of this school in teaching minority children represents just one of dozens of schools…

Focus groups with teachers of students with learning disabilities (n=30) and teachers of students with emotional/behavior disorders (n=19) were conducted to examine the the teachers' perspectives about educational research and the extent to which they found research findings to be useful. The study further addressed the ways in which new practices…

A quasi-experimental, statewide intervention targeting preschool teachers' enhancement of children's language and early literacy was evaluated. Across 2 years and 20 Head Start sites, 750 teachers participated (500 target, 250 control), with 370 classrooms randomly selected to conduct pre- and posttest assessments (10 randomly selected children…

This chapter provides an overview of the challenges to and strategies for successful staffing in a small college student affairs division.