Presents a study which deals with cognitive preferences in agriculture of 943 Israeli middle-school (seventh and eighth grade) students and their teachers using a special cognitive preference inventory which was developed on the basis of the agricultural topics studies in Israeli schools. (HM)

Because we live in a society that increasingly depends upon technology, a growing number of voices are calling for the mandatory study of technology by school-aged children worldwide. Technological literacy is the ability to use, manage, assess, and understand technology, and involves the application of knowledge and abilities to real-world…

This study presents a constructivistic viewpoint of the ranked order of ideal high school student traits as perceived by state religious teachers in Israel, and an explanation of their preferences based on the teachers' profile. The sample consisted of 357 junior high and high school teachers, who responded to a questionnaire containing 40 student…

This study examined orientations and attitudes of mid-career teachers faced with the decision of remaining in the classroom only or accepting additional administrative responsibilities and positions. Those who aspire to leadership positions must demonstrate both loyalty to the principal and collegiality with the teachers, thereby placing…

This study examines the mediating effect of teacher empowerment on the relationship between teachers' participation in decision making and their professional commitment. The data were collected through quantitative questionnaires from a sample of 983 teachers in 25 junior high schools and 27 high schools in Israel. Hierarchical regression analyses…

How teachers restructured their professional knowledge (PK) was studied using data from a Tel Aviv (Israel) University workshop for experienced writing teachers that was designed to change their professional orientation from technical rationality to reflection in action. Workshop participants included 18 teachers with 10 to 35 years of teaching…

Reports a study in which Israeli researchers examined school cultural differences between effective and average secondary schools. The 20 participating schools taught mainly disadvantaged students. Teachers completed the Perceived School Culture Inventory. Results indicated that schools varied in their cultural dimensions, and the variation…

Seven papers present research perspectives on how schools can nurture a collaborative relationship between parents and teachers to enhance student learning. Topics include the ways schools involve parents; the ways schools draw on home learning; programs in action; studies of parents, children, and teachers; and contextual and organizational…

Purpose: Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has received much attention in the past decade as scholars have recognized its significant impact on the success of organizations. The current study seeks to enrich our understanding of citizenship behavior in the school setting by identifying the main factors that may enhance this behavior among…

Can teacher-educators and teachers work together in community, to make a difference in society? The aim of this article is to describe a set of strategies the implementation of which will contribute towards the elaboration of a new "culture of teaching". By promoting practices that lead to the development, in students and educators…

Teacher preparation curriculum at Technion--Israel Institute of Technology (Israel) includes courses intended to bridge the gap between the pure mathematics courses and those in psychology. The focus of this paper is an experimental program for one of these courses and data collected while implementing it. This is a second report on a naturalistic…

Two studies examined how student behavior patterns contributed to predicting teacher burnout, highlighting male and female teachers possessing different pupil control ideologies. Teacher and student surveys indicated that student behavior had different effects on teacher functioning within different school cultures. Student disrespect,…

This article reports the development and application of two instruments for assessing science teachers' pedagogical knowledge in the context of teaching higher-order thinking: a Likert-type research instrument, and an instrument that analyzes classroom observations. The rationale for developing these instruments and their main categories is…

A case study of the intervention of external researchers in a process of self-evaluation by a large comprehensive school in Israel is presented. The study shows how the patterns of evaluation provided the necessary types of empirical results and shows how the outcomes were integrated into a final report. (SLD)

Teachers of low-achieving homogeneous, high-achieving homogeneous, and academically heterogeneous classes in elementary and junior high schools in Israel were interviewed to determine their allegiance to academic, personal, and social goals for students. In contrast to results of U.S. research, academic goals dominated for teachers in all…