Few studies address what graduate students actually learn in teacher training courses, or how graduate instructors implement their knowledge of teaching in their classrooms. Our research addresses the apparent divergence among advocacy, training, and actual practice through a comparative analysis of graduate instructor teaching philosophies and…

Background: Experiential learning has been posited as an approach to influencing preservice teachers' understanding of diversity and social justice. The research reported here examined the impact of a field-based experience in Poland focused on the Holocaust as it pertained to the beliefs and actions of 12 future education professionals. This…

Nine graduate students (teacher-researchers) with an average of 6 years teaching experience (1-15 years) participated in action research to examine the influence of teacher-chosen visual aids (pictures) on children's writing. A total of 165 elementary students participated in the two phases of the research project: 83 boys and 82 girls in…

The purpose of this study was to explore faculty perspectives about the role spirituality plays in curriculum and pedagogy in preparing student affairs professionals to respond to undergraduates' spiritual searching. Twelve faculty from three college student personnel programs, one at a state university and two at religiously affiliated…

Beginning users often exhibit confusion about what it means to be "on" the Internet, and they would likely benefit from a discussion of the scope and structure of Internet connectivity. The problem lies in creating a meaningful visual which would accompany the verbal information. This document discusses an exercise whereby graduate…

This study demonstrates the advantages of using a constrained optimization algorithm to explore the optimal number of prompts, modes of discourse, and raters for achieving an acceptable level of reliability during a direct writing assessment. Writing samples elicited from 50 college students were rated by 3 graduate students and the scores…

In response to the difficulties of many masters degree students, this on-going project aimed, first, to identify cognitive and metacognitive skills needed for masters level study; second, to develop an instrument to determine students' readiness for masters level work; and, third, to design bridge courses to prepare prospective students. An…

This study analyzed personal and collaborative reflective activities and their effect on the development of a graduate student as both a learner and a teacher. As a learner, the graduate student kept a reflective journal for 5 consecutive quarters (15 months). Collaboration with colleagues took place in both formal and informal settings and…

Five universities in New York State (SUNY--State University of New York at Stony Brook, Syracuse, Cornell, Binghamton, and New York Universities--are involved in a 3-year project to better prepare graduate students to become teachers. The State University of New York, Stony Brook, English Department is providing graduate teaching assistants with…

In a creative writing workshop of seven male and nine female graduate students, two female students became increasingly aware of a sexual bias. Though the male instructor made an effort to create a non-hierarchical, student-centered environment, informal hierarchies developed among students that granted the male instructor and the male students…

The continuing small number of social work students who enter the concentration of social administration poses conditions that have potentially negative results for the field of social work. This study surveyed 131 graduate social work students at a large, public Midwestern university to determine the factors they considered important in making a…

This research investigated the prevalence of mystical experiences and how these experiences relate to beliefs about drug addiction, drug use, and spiritual practices. Subjects were 300 undergraduate and graduate students at a large midwestern university who filled out self-report scales on mysticism (Ralph W. Hood, Jr.'s Mysticism Scale) and drug…

Although Chinese-speaking men and women constitute the largest group of international graduate students in the United States, contrary to expectations, some China-born communication scholars have had difficulties publishing their China studies in the United States. If a China-born scholar conducts two studies, one based on data from China and one…

The reason for the huge surge in classes taught by graduate students is financial: their services are cheaper than those of "regularly qualified instructors." Recent critics have complained that the high percentage of classes taught by graduate students is a major act of fraud by universities and has contributed greatly to educational…

This study investigated the relationship between graduate grade-point-average (GGPA) and the total score, as well as the scores on each part, of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). It also investigated the relationship between GGPA and the total score, as well as the scores on each part, of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The…