A Canadian secondary school teacher relates how reflecting on her teaching decisions through action research enabled her to cope with teaching a course in an unfamiliar subject area. (IAH)

Describes a simple exploratory teaching model including exploration and codification phases. Reports the findings of a small-scale action-research project to implement and evaluate it. Concludes that there was no underachievement for the exploratory approach, and a strong association between student performances for routinized mathematical…

Presents a teaching technique in which the instructor alternately dons hats that represent opposing viewpoints. Discusses the educational value of the hat technique in teaching politics and government. Explains the role of students in the exercise and provides a students' evaluation of the technique. Maintains the technique makes abstract concepts…

Presents a discussion on the significance of questioning techniques in the development of critical thinking skills. Stresses that teachers can increase a student's mental engagement by using appropriate wait time, increasing nonevaluative responses, avoiding rephrasing a question, and avoiding questions requiring a yes or no response. (RT)

Describes the teaching practices of one exemplary physics teacher. Identifies those teaching practices which can be considered exemplary and worthy of attention and analysis by physics teachers and teacher educators. Reports four assertions by the data from observations and interviews with teachers and students. (YP)

Examines the perceived source for generic knowledge and skills held by science teachers as unique to the total population of secondary teachers. Reports that only four items out of 34 are different in the two groups. Provides the survey instrument items. (YP)

Discusses the value of using photographs and pictures as a way to give meaning to facts for all students. Points out that photographs are most successfully used when accompanied by proper questions in an appropriate sequence. Gives examples of such questions and provides a sample lesson. (KO)

Investigates similarities and differences of science and mathematics teachers' teaching practices related to critical thinking. Compares the two groups of teachers in terms of objectives and assessment techniques, teaching preferences, various activities, and use of cooperative groups. Reports the results for all of 53 items. (YP)

Results of a study in which 42 college seniors were given photographs of teachers, accompanied by written statements of the teachers' instructional approach, did not reveal any main effects of attractiveness or gender upon perceptions of competence; although a significant interaction occurred between attractiveness, gender, and authoritarianism.…

A review of teaching and teacher education research, including work on teacher effects, organizational change, undergraduate programs, and institutional socialization, explores how teacher education programs can promote those teaching styles which effect the best type of mathematics learning. (Author/CB)

Reports findings of a class exercise in which students are asked to discuss their perceptions of college classes likely to result in high and low classroom motivation. Identifies eight characteristics that encourage motivation: (1) enthusiasm, (2) relevance, (3) organization, (4) appropriate difficulty level, (5) active involvement, (6) variety,…

Introduces four articles that identify different perspectives on the teaching styles of college faculty. The articles are designed to help college faculty identify attitudes, values, and principles that guide excellent teachers, and to examine the strengths and weaknesses of their own teaching styles. (MDM)

Twenty-five general and 37 special education teachers were compared in their planning and adaptation for students with learning disabilities. Results indicated that special education teachers who used curriculum-based measurement (CBM) adapted students' programs more frequently and relied on more objective databases than did non-CBM special…

Case studies of three rural K-12 music teachers, identified as effective by peers, revealed common features contributing to their success: autonomy, flexible master schedule, strong community support, high student participation, particular strengths, high expectations, emphasis on solos and ensembles, and use of high quality literature. Contains…

An education course for prospective teachers was designed to include a field experience that challenged students' underlying beliefs about teaching and learning. This article describes and discusses prospective teachers' reactions to encounters with an unconventional third grade teacher's approach to teaching negative numbers. (IAH)