Critical friendship is an innovative method used to strengthen an individual's professional skills, including critical reflection, thinking, and problem-solving abilities in educational settings. Critical friendships can occur through one-on-one relationships or in groups known as critical friendship groups (CFGs). Literature on CFGs examines the…

This study aimed to investigate Chinese students' perceptions of effective teaching. Four hundred and thirty college students participated in this investigation. They were asked to identify 3 to 6 characteristics of effective college instructors and explain why. Themes were extracted from these qualitative data via constant comparison analysis,…

The linguistic diversity in schools is increasing throughout the United States and as state and federal accountability increases in the instruction of English language learners (ELLs), many teachers who never before were asked to work with ELLs are now required to contribute to the education of these students. In some states, all education majors,…

The musical and educational identities of music students are often at odds with one another, and yet teaching plays a role in the working lives of almost all musicians. Similar conflicts arise when music education majors view themselves as either musicians or educators, but not as both. This article reports results from parallel studies in two…

The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, it investigates the self-images of science teaching held by early childhood pre-service teachers who took constructivism early childhood science education courses. Second, it analyzes what aspects of those courses influenced these images. The participants were eight pre-service teachers who took these…

Math education in the United States remains resistant to systemic change, and our country pays the price. Stemhagen's article "Democracy and School Math" further confirms this trend. Despite repeated calls for reform, decades of research on how people learn, millions of dollars invested in teacher professional development, and years of…

This exploratory paper focuses on applying information and communication technologies (ICT) in educational settings, particularly in higher education. Based on qualitative data studying four courses in detail, the article starts by discussing educators' expectations associated with technological advances. It proceeds to discuss the concept of…

This cross case analysis synthesizes results from two qualitative studies on mathematics content courses for prospective elementary teachers: one from the U.S. interviewed instructors, one from Canada interviewed students. Results were examined for common themes. Salient commonalities were found. Two will be discussed here: the role of affect in…

In education, as in other realms of life, motivation plays a crucial role in the performance of students. Deci and Ryan's (1985) Self Determination Theory identified various types of motivation along a continuum from weakest to strongest. Yet, until recently, no reliable method existed to accurately measure the strength of motivation along this…

Since the 1970s an "ethics boom" has occurred to counter the disappearance of ethics education from tertiary institutions. This "boom" appears to be absent from teacher education programs in Australia and the United States. Given persistent calls to enhance teacher quality this is problematic because quality teaching is…

Technology integration is an approach which has been stressed in higher education in the USA for several decades. Many colleges and universities now offer online courses and encourage faculty to incorporate technology into courses. Technology integration in teacher education courses is particularly important. In general, pre-service teachers are…

Higher education is the linchpin of music education in North America. It is primarily in collegiate institutions that music teachers are educated throughout the life cycles of their careers. This begins with preservice programs, typically at the baccalaureate level, and continues with in-service professional development and graduate degree…

This article is a mixed-methods exploration of the levels of stereotypic views about gifted individuals held by current and future educators. Because educators are often asked to provide recommendations for participation in gifted programs, it is important to determine whether those recommendations are based, in part, on stereotypic thinking.…

The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in concepts of reflection among American and Japanese pre-service teachers majoring in early childhood education. Pre-service teachers completed a survey asking them to describe approaches and processes of reflection in their daily practice. The quantitative and qualitative data…

This study investigated whether infusing "causal" story elements into mathematical word problems improves student performance. In one experiment in the USA and a second in USA, Finland and Turkey, undergraduate elementary education majors worked word problems in three formats: 1) standard (minimal verbiage), 2) potential causation…