Reports on a study of 110 secondary social studies teachers and the variables that affect the use of learner-centered teaching strategies. Found that methods used in the preservice social studies methods courses had a significant impact on methods used by teachers. Concluded that teacher educators should increase the use of learner-centered…

Students' opportunity to develop high-level competencies depends on teachers' ability to manage independent, thoughtful people who make observations and take initiative. Barriers to competency-oriented education are the absence of summative assessment procedures, the value-laden nature of competencies, and the difficulties in managing…

Discusses the merits of the whole language approach in the context of teaching Canadian Native children to read and write in English. Ways of adapting and supplementing the whole language approach for their specific needs are suggested. (six references) (Author/LB)

A national survey of pharmacy faculty (n=1,326) found widespread current alcohol use, 2 percent diagnosed or undiagnosed self-reported alcoholism, and "drinking problems" in 3 percent. Prior recreational drug use was reported by 32 percent, current use 4 percent. Some reported drug addiction or abuse problems. Alcohol use rates are similar to…

Systematic observation of 60 general education teachers found that teacher behaviors toward mainstreamed students with or without learning disabilities did not differ significantly. However, significant differences in student behaviors were found, with students with learning disabilities interacting with the teacher, other students, and classroom…

Four articles discuss the preparation of dance educators and the development of dance teachers' competencies, focusing on the knowledge base for competent dance teaching, the preparation of effective teachers, motor learning knowledge in the dance education curriculum, and realities, myths, and priorities in dance teacher competency. (SM)

Examines four categories from a longitudinal study of change in teachers' practice: conceptions of practice, tensions in practice, articulation, and local and professional language. Researchers investigated how foreign language teachers integrated inservice information into classroom thinking and activity, noting how teachers used professional…

Reviews literature related to learning styles and gender differences. Determines that abstract and reflection are associated traditionally with mind or masculine, whereas concrete experience and active experimentation are associated with the body or female. Calls for additional experiential activities to provide a more gender-balanced approach to…

Argues that teachers should, in most cases, follow their own and school rules set for students. Surveys teachers and principals from middle and junior high schools on their typical school behaviors. Offers suggestions for preservice and inservice teacher education to heighten teacher consciousness of the classroom behaviors they model--elements of…

Identifies the extent to which seven effective practices for the literacy instruction of second-language learners were present in social studies lessons in fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms; and identifies instructional practices currently existing that approximate the recommendations and can serve as scaffolds for new practices. (SR)

A study of occupational stress and personal-strain levels among new and experienced male and female college faculty found no differences in stress or strain between male and female faculty or between new and experienced faculty. Role overload and avoidant coping were significant predictors of strain, with hardiness and responsibility for…

Notes that teachers make intentional decisions during interaction with children and reflect on what occurs in the environment. Focuses on teacher behavior along several continua: soft-hard, simple-complex, open-closed, intrusion-seclusion, and high versus low mobility. Illustrates theory with a transcribed observation. Adapts Jones and Prescott's…

Describes a study that sought to identify the attributes of high-quality science teachers at the junior high school level from the point of view of recent ex-students. Students described their best science teachers as presenting interesting and well-integrated hands-on activities, using a range of strategies to make lessons fun and interesting for…

Describes the issues and problems encountered in the development of a teaching, research, and professional development collaboration between faculty in a large research university and K-12 teachers focusing on the Transforming Education through the Arts Challenge that is a privately funded project for arts education reform. (CMK)

Argues that the labels "basic" or "developmental" as applied to students often obscure the complexities of knowing who is underprepared for what, kinds of barriers that countermand mastery, and instructors' roles in helping construct these barriers. Views closely the behaviors by which four students in a developmental writing class presented…