Results are presented from a formal evaluation of The Pennsylvania Bureau of State Park's Watershed Education (WE) curriculum developed for students in grades 6-12. The primary research objective was to measure the impact the training and subsequent use of the WE curriculum had on teachers' behavior, confidence, and self-efficacy in teaching about…

It is easier to collect data on teachers' qualifications, experience, or training than to get a precise idea of their command of subject matter or their classroom behaviour. However, research consistently shows that "class effect" (the impact on a student of being in one class rather than another) on pupil performance is relatively high,…

This study centred on students enrolled in Work Studies, a vocational education course offered to post-compulsory (Years 11-12) students in Western Australian high schools. Because of the strong emphasis on the teacher providing pastoral care in Work Studies classes, the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), which assesses students'…

We describe a model for new and senior faculty members, integrating a behavioral approach to enhancing teaching skills with research from the field of positive psychology on virtues and character strengths. The Teacher Behaviors Checklist (Keeley, Smith, & Buskist, 2006) identifies target behaviors amenable to modification, derived from…

This study presents an experimental analogue of resistance in the consultation process. Using an ABAB reversal design, the experimenter measured the ecological effects of teacher resistant behaviors on consultant therapeutic behavior. The study defined therapeutic behaviors as teaching, confronting and problem identification, analysis, and…

This article argues that incentives can help increase teacher performance and retention. Incentives send out a clear signal of what an education system expects from its teachers; at the same time teachers do respond to incentives inherent in the education system. Many education systems have weak incentives and therefore fail to signal to teachers…

In this article, the author relates his own experiences as a beginning teacher. Like many hopefuls that began as student-teachers and interns, this author was tormented during the first weeks of his teaching career. For the first several weeks, the author found how he was completely out of element as a classroom teacher. Recalling other teachers'…

The process of teaching is complex and multidimensional. Teaching behaviors and actions are shaped by numerous cognitive decisions made by the teacher before, during, and after instruction. This article examines teacher cognition across the broad field of education and, more specifically, physical education in teacher planning, instruction, and…

All advisers have many concerns and stresses that are unique to their situation. Even though they love their jobs, burnout can creep up without announcing its arrival. Possible signs of burnout may include irritability with students, avoiding responsibility, working harder and getting less done, feeling discouraged and indifferent, showing…

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that reduce mathematics anxiety in preservice elementary teachers enrolled in mathematics content courses. Students enrolled in ten sections of four different, required mathematics content courses in one specific semester were chosen as the population for this study. Approximately 180 students were…

This paper presents the argument that education and the teaching profession have been saturated by a new form of risk consciousness and risk consideration. The aim is to shed light on this issue and present a number of empirical examples and questions of interest in educational research. Furthermore, the paper presents some of the central theories…

Developing a professional ethics is crucial towards amassing the ranks of high-quality teachers, which contributes to the improvement of national education. This study bases its analysis on the survey of humanistic qualities of Chinese citizens. 3348 teachers at three different levels from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of…

This paper uses the first nationally representative survey of teacher absence collected through direct observation to determine the patterns of absence among full-time teachers in public primary schools in Indonesia. Based on the survey data, the authors found a national teacher absence rate of 19%, with almost half of the absences due to…

Variation in how faculty in disparate theory-based academic environments design and structure their undergraduate courses to promote student learning in 12 areas was examined. The findings suggest that faculty create distinctive academic environments that reinforce and reward their preferred patterns of student competencies in a manner consistent…

In May 2006 administrators in the Austin, Texas, Independent School District learned that Tamara Hoover, an art teacher at Austin High School, was the subject of several explicit photographs that had been posted on Flickr, a public photograph-sharing website. Purportedly these photographs were posted on Flickr by the teacher's partner without her…