A 12-hour curriculum/methods block designed to lead elementary education teacher candidates through a constructivist, integrated model of teaching and learning is outlined. This block is part of a graduate level program that leads to licensure and a master's of Curriculum and Instruction in Curriculum and Instruction called Initial Teacher…

Whether for use in a special methods course in teaching chemistry or a general methods course in teaching science, this guidebook is designed to assist the methods instructor in the task of fitting the ChemSource materials into the established patterns of the course. Each of three sections contains a number of units that accommodate the patterns…

A study examined the interaction of teacher and student in a methods preparation course for undergraduate special education majors. The course was structured around several projects, two types of writing logs, and readings. Fieldnotes from an observer participant, records of a debriefing meeting, students' weekly entries on content learning logs…

A study assessed whether means for student evaluations of instruction tended to be lower in research methods classes than in other communication classes. Questionnaires were sent to 126 communication departments listed in the 1993 Speech Communication Association Directory and which were thought likely to require undergraduate research methods…

Intending teachers in two science education methods classes (Fall Quarter, n=27; Spring Quarter, n=21) read and discussed a qualitative study describing science teaching and learning in a culturally diverse middle school. The two primary participants in the qualitative study were a white female veteran life science teacher and a white male…

Seventy-six undergraduate students in an introductory science methods class for prospective teachers were randomly assigned to either a student directed or an instructor directed section. Using analysis of variance, it appeared that neither approach had an overall advantage in the attainment of course objectives, although interaction patterns…

Presented is an attempt (1) to provide operational definitions of the learning objectives that have been clarified through firsthand experience with students in the physical science course for preservice elementary teachers at the University of Washington, Seattle, and (2) to identify some of the problems of intellectual development that have been…

Teacher educators from the preservice programs in the Teacher Education and Learning to Teach Study were interviewed about the purposes of their methods courses, using an interview schedule constructed around individual course syllabi. The respondents seem to have complex, hazy, and perhaps unconscious purposes for these courses. Many of the…

Through specific practices in methods classes, prospective teachers can be taught the benefits of professional activism. One such strategy is to provide students with complimentary copies of "Language Arts" and ask them to read two or three articles that especially interest them. Another strategy asks students to read, select, and submit one or…

This study identified strengths and weaknesses of the components in the general methods course, "Micro-teaching: Practice in Teaching Techniques", prior to a curriculum reorganization. The course included four basic components: (1) classroom instruction; (2) laboratory pre-conference; (3) laboratory teaching practice; and (4) laboratory…

This study assessed the reactions of 39 teacher candidates toward the following components of a general methods course, "Micro-Teaching: Practice in Teaching Techniques": (1) instruction in methods; (2) pre-teaching conferences; (3) laboratory teaching; and (4) post-teaching conferences. The subjects, who were enrolled in two sections of the…

A policy decision taken at Michigan State's College of Education profoundly changed the nature and orientation of the elementary social studies methods courses taught. It was decided that the college would move from a relatively monolithic program to offering incoming students a choice of alternate programmatic routes to certification.…

Elementary language arts programs demand a balanced use of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. (JH)

Student teachers in the program described are given a great share of responsibility for shaping their own student teaching experiences. (JH)