Teachers' informed acceptance of challenges associated with teaching technology might ensure the successful implementation of a Technology syllabus in primary schools. They must be prepared to analyse their own understandings of technology concepts and processes, teaching and resource needs, and engage in professional development activities…

This paper describes a module provided to first year elementary participants in a two-year after-degree Bachelor of Education program. The module was specifically designed to address the fact that pre-service teachers can enter the B.Ed. degree with little or no science knowledge. Science experiences were explicitly incorporated into the B.Ed.…

Research has found that teachers of mathematics are more effective when they have a profound understanding of the content that is being taught and the content to which students have previously been exposed. It is clear that professional programs must enable preservice teachers to develop the knowledge and skills they need to teach elementary…

In this article, a new research model for the study of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is presented which aims to improve teacher education. This model called "educational reconstruction for teacher education" (ERTE) represents the framework for an integrative approach to the study of science teachers' topic specific PCK, which is a…

Mentoring is too important to be left to chance (Ganser, 1996), yet mentoring expertise of teachers varies widely, which may present inequities for developing preservice teachers' practices. Five factors for mentoring have been identified herein: personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, and feedback, and items…

For a single authoring environment to be sufficiently general to be applicable to contexts across the whole lifespan of learning, some of the benefits that come from knowledge-rich domain specificity have to be sacrificed. Consequently, it is an open question as to whether it is possible to achieve effective learning environments from a generic…

In this study we measured changes in science teachers' conceptual science understanding (content knowledge) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) while participating in a problem-based learning (PBL) model of professional development. Teachers participated in a two-week long workshop followed by nine monthly meetings during one academic year…

The Norwegian school system gives a high priority to information and communication technology (ICT), and its ICT density is high, with one laptop per student considered desirable and being nearly accomplished. This study seeks to find the reasons for aspects of Norwegian teachers' pedagogical behaviour and choices by focusing on their thoughts and…

Research supports the position that specialists are the preferred providers of physical education in elementary (primary) school settings. We examined whether specialists delivered more physical education lessons and provided greater opportunities for moderate and vigorous physical activity and whether barriers to curricular and extracurricular…

This article focuses on how the teachers' pedagogical awareness is displayed and shaped while they learn to use information and communication technology (ICT) in their teaching and the aim here is to increase our understanding of university teachers as learners and as developers of their pedagogical awareness. The pedagogical awareness of teachers…

Web 2.0 tools offer new possibilities for teaching and learning. PrimaryAccess is a Web 2.0 tool designed for K-12 history education. PrimaryAccess shares many of the characteristics of other Web 2.0 applications, but its educational focus makes it different from generic Web applications. Our work developing and researching PrimaryAccess has…

Adapted primary literature (APL) refers to an educational genre specifically designed to enable the use of research articles for learning biology in high school. The present investigation focuses on the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of four high-school biology teachers who enacted an APL-based curriculum in biotechnology. Using a…

Within the past few years, there have been numerous studies that suggest that preservice teachers need and want opportunities to observe, visit, interact, and collaboratively reflect with teachers who are attempting to implement reform-based teaching strategies. Unfortunately, for many schools of education, it is logistically difficult to locate a…

This research evaluated South Carolina's Program of Alternative Certification for Educators (PACE). Specifically, the study analyzed this nontraditional teacher preparation pathway's outcomes: to recruit, train, and retain effective beginning teachers who fill the growing teacher vacancies in rural South Carolina. From an in-depth review of the…

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the use of interim assessments and the policy supports that promote use to improve instruction, focusing on elementary school mathematics. The authors use the term "interim assessments" to refer to assessments that a) evaluate student knowledge and skills, typically within a limited…