This article reports findings from a qualitative study of preservice teachers' beliefs about the contexts of urban teaching. Participants were in their first semester of a K-6 licensure program designed to prepare them for urban teaching. Interviews and email reflective journal exchanges with the researcher were the data of the study, and…

Journal writing is generally required of student teachers; however, there is a void in career and technical education research regarding this activity. The purpose of this study was to examine student teachers' journal writing experiences to obtain insight into the process of developing reflective practitioners. The study drew on the work of Dewey…

This article describes a curriculum developed by the author and the children in her public school kindergarten class. Teaching practices that foster children's intellectual--and overall human--development are documented. The goals and purposes of schooling are discussed as well as issues pertaining to the role of the teacher, structures that…

This article investigates the value of writing reflective journals for student teachers during practicum placement. The author invited 10 pre-service education degree teachers to write a weekly reflective journal throughout their four weeks practicum teaching. Each student teacher was given the opportunity to revisit the issues in his journals…

The incorporation of diaries and journals as learning and assessment vehicles into programmes of study within higher education has enabled the further growth of reflection, creative writing, critical thinking and meta-cognitive processes of students' learning. However, there is currently little research that aims to compare how different types of…

To determine the conditions that would best encourage reflection in journal writing of preservice teachers in field-based reading internships, the degree of reflective content found in self-contained traditional journals was compared to the reflective content found in journal entries shared over e-mail list serves. Participants were 56 preservice…

Reform initiatives such as "Science for All Americans" (AAA, 1989) and "National Science Education Standards" (NRC, 1996) argue for making science accessible to all children regardless of age, sex, cultural and/or ethic background, and disabilities. One of the most popular and prevailing phrases highlighting science education reform in the last…

This study explored how Thai learners of English as a foreign language, engaged in English activities outside of classrooms to learn and practice the English language. Three research questions of this study include: (a) How do the participants perceive access and availability of out of class English activities in local environments?, (b) How do…

Five undergraduate, dual preparation pre-service teachers who began their program in the fall of 2005 were followed through their second and third semesters of their two-year program of study. The study examined their (a) beliefs about how to teach reading to students with learning disabilities and to students without learning disabilities, and…

This document presents the proceedings of 16th Annual Research Forum held June 15, 2011, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included herein are the following 25 action research papers: (1) The Effects of Prompted Math Journaling on Algebra 1 Students' Achievement and Attitudes (Heidi I. Arnold); (2) Group Work and Attitude…

Investigating University-School Partnerships: A Volume in Professional Development School Research, the fourth book in the PDS Research Series developed by the same editors, includes a collection of organized papers that represent the best and latest examples of practitioner thinking, research, and program design and evaluation in the field at the…

Research points to particular problems in the experiences of White teachers teaching children of color and diverse backgrounds because often they are unfamiliar with their students?' backgrounds and communities. This pilot investigation monitored preservice teachers' attitudes as they progressed through an introductory teaching course and…

This study began in the Spring of 2003, when the Canterbury Adult Basic Education Research Network (CABERN), an informal cross-sector network of local adult literacy researchers and practitioners, sent out a questionnaire. The questionnaire addressed potential respondents by asking: "Are you a tutor engaged in any aspect of adult…

Without proficiency in content reading skills, seventh grade students were at risk of not being able to achieve understanding of what they read in non-fiction texts, a skill that is absolutely necessary for college-bound students. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate whether an approach that involved specific and focused…

Although reading and writing exist only in relation to each other, writing plays little or no role in the usual instructional approaches to reading. Mostly, reading is taught as a sequence of discrete skills, which is ineffective since it accommodates the analytic reading style to the exclusion of global, kinesthetic, and auditory styles. Reading…