This paper reports on the design of an on-line simulation that enhanced preservice teacher practicum experience in the important area of literacy teaching. Research with more than 200 users of the simulation showed that it developed pre-service teacher understanding of complex classroom situations associated with the teaching of literacy by giving…

Describes a program designed to help rural school staff meet the educational needs of handicapped students and to give preservice teacher education students the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to work successfully with handicapped students in rural schools. Discusses the project's implications for the shortage of speech-language pathologists in…

Describes a program developed to provide a solution to the problem of a lack of qualified mathematics teachers. Discusses the use of a microcomputer-based program to offer undergraduate students a self-paced alternative to traditional mathematics instruction. (TW)

An analysis of the quality of South Africa's distance education for inservice teachers examines curricula dealing with educational theory, noting the narrow view of education theory generally presented. Interviews, course analysis, and data from the South African Institute for Distance Education indicate that the programs do not consider the…

To meet the challenges of student diversity, the Southwest Texas Center for Professional Development and Technology offers school-family-community partnerships with urban schools. Preservice teacher interns participate in field-based experiences where they interact with diverse students in various settings over a semester. They learn to handle the…

Examines the extension of Norway's half-year graduate certificate of education requirement to one year, using as an example the change that occurred at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The paper explains the importance attached by the national guidelines to teaching theory in school-based settings that offer practical classroom…

This annotated bibliography offers information from presentations at a 1995 seminar on practical teaching experience in preservice teacher education programs throughout Europe. Each entry includes a brief abstract of the presentation and a list of keywords. (SM)

Describes a project for preservice art educators where they design their ideal classroom and then build a diorama expressing this vision. The students' ideal schools go through an evolutionary process involving decisions, modifications, and visual risks. Eventually, the dioramas come to express individual philosophies. Includes several…

To successfully implement in the United Arab Emirates the generally accepted principles of operation for professional development schools (PDSs), pragmatic modifications are needed to four major aspects of PDSs: the decision-making process; the need to build autonomous institutions; equity and reciprocity between school and university; and the…

An action research project emphasized the centrality of teachers' values in teaching decisions. After identifying grading papers as a source of tension, a teacher opened decisions about grading to democratic decision making, resulting in more positive professor-student relationships, more emphasis on learning, and improved student evaluations of…

Technology education in teacher preparation should challenge preservice students to build new understandings beyond the technical about the relationship of technology in schools to society and the connection of that relationship to democratic life. The paper examines the perspectives of student teachers in a one-year program that infuses…

Describes preservice teacher education reform efforts at California State University San Marcos via program development and curricular design innovation. Beginning faculty worked on creating a middle level teacher education program informed by critiques of teacher education, visions for restructured middle schooling, and institutional realities.…

Argues that teaching is a form of social activism and that teacher educators should encourage preservice teachers to think deeply and critically about teaching and consider infusing aspects of a multicultural, social reconstructionist approach within their own teaching. (SM)

This study examined the quantity and quality of teacher recruitment programs for K-12 public school students, highlighting the need for minority group teachers. Surveys of 380 California schools in northern California indicated that 96% had no opportunities for students at any grade level to learn in a systematic manner about becoming a teacher.…

Examines technology use in teacher preparation, emerging state and national standards for educators and technology, and benchmarks for teacher preparation programs (including faculty preparation), and notes the importance of creating school-business partnerships to help finance this costly venture. (SM)