STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education is a national instructional priority. As part of Southeastern Louisiana University's STEM Outreach Initiative, funded by a Shell Oil Company Foundation grant to raise interest in STEM-related activities, teacher candidates were given the opportunity to leave their classroom to…

Previous mathematics and science education research indicates that knowledge and beliefs, including teaching efficacy, affect teachers' actions and effectiveness in a classroom. Our middle grades and high school Self-Efficacy to Teach Statistics (SETS) instruments, aligned with the statistical concepts in national and state guidelines such as the…

Previous research has suggested that sport education (SE) may be a superior curriculum model to multi-activity (MA) teaching because its pedagogies and structures create a task-involving motivational climate. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the objective motivational climates teachers create within the MA and SE models.…

There is currently a dearth of research inquiring into the ways that pre-service teachers (PSTs) are prepared to teach writing, including reading and responding to student writing. Furthermore, although the benefits of a practice-based approach to teacher education are widely cited, increasing financial and legislative pressures to shorten the…

From the perspectives of Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs), this study examines the design and implementation of a simulated teaching environment in "Second Life" (SL) for prospective teachers to teach algebra for diverse learners. Drawing upon the Learning-for-Use framework, the analyses provide evidence on the development of student…

As technology become more ubiquitous in the classroom, teachers need to overcome two types of barriers to use it effectively: access to resources (including the development of knowledge) and the development of appropriate beliefs. To assist teachers in overcoming these barriers, we must understand the relationships that exist among them. We…

This study examined prospective middle school mathematics teachers' problem-posing skills by investigating their ability to associate linear graphs with daily life situations. Prospective teachers were given linear graphs and asked to pose problems that could potentially be represented by the graphs. Their answers were analyzed in two stages. In…

The impetus for this study occurred when the principal of a secondary Professional Development School (PDS) questioned the traditional teacher education model utilized by the university partner. This principal asked the university to consider a model that better utilized both the teacher candidate and supervising teacher collaboratively to promote…

The Republic of South Korea is a nation that has seen dramatic changes in its economic and educational systems over the course of the last 50 years. These circumstances present unique views of citizenship and the roles that teachers and teacher educators play in this process. This study presents two case studies, one a classroom teacher and the…

Specialized middle level teacher education programs are an oft-purported lever for middle level education reform. Preparing teachers to enact "new" teaching practices that challenge the status quo in field placement schools presents a formidable challenge, however. This research investigated reform-oriented collaborative inquiry (ROCI),…

Within the educational research community, there have been a growing number of published research studies in teacher education that adopt a self-study approach. Researchers suggests that self-study in teacher education has the potential to animate the idea of teaching as reflection, model an inquiry-based approach to pedagogy, and generate rich…

The theme of this year was educate to liberate. A reminder to the literacy community that education, and literacy extend beyond the content and courses we teach. As Freire puts it, "Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people--they manipulate them. They do not liberate, nor are…

A university near a major city in Georgia and a large, urban school district established a Professional Development School (PDS) in which the majority of junior and senior-level preservice teacher coursework and fieldwork took place at seven urban, high-needs public schools. The purpose of this study was to provide preliminary feedback to the…

This study aims to investigate the nature of different mathematics teaching modes (prescriptions) that guide prospective teachers during their instruction. The participants were 24 junior prospective middle school mathematics teachers (19 females and 5 males) who were attending a mathematics methods course at a private university in central…

The ubiquity of the subject of percentages in our everyday life demands that math teachers and pre-service math teachers demonstrate a profound knowledge and thorough understanding of the concept of percentages. This work, which originated from one specific lesson in an 8th grade math class, studies the conceptual understanding and problem-solving…