The paper presents the aims and the design of the international e-learning course for teacher training "International Project" / Internet and Competence to work on the Project"/IPC/, organized with students from the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" (Bulgaria) and universities from Germany, USA, Spain, Japan, Sweden…

The story extracts presented here reflect the experiences of five teacher candidates from Japan on a shortterm study abroad program focusing on developing English-language skills while exploring Canadian culture and English-language teaching methods. Narrative inquiry techniques were employed to gather data related to the participants' program…

The first six years of the child's life are infinitely the most important, as they are the years in which attitudes are being established, habits formed, and character trends largely fixed. This article examines topics such as race relations and prejudice in kindergarten, the role of kindergarten teachers, soldier play in kindergarten and its…

The purpose of this paper is to describe the historical development of science teacher education in pre-service and in-service education in Japan with a focus on the systemic changes and teachers' professional learning culture. The characteristics of science teacher education generally are elucidated through an analysis of the system and…

This article addresses the struggles teachers face when they attempt to change their teaching style in order to achieve an ideal mathematics classroom. With the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, many of the behaviors associated with an ideal mathematics classroom appear within the Standards for Mathematical Practice, on which…

Contrary to what many people assume, writes Stewart, a high-quality teacher workforce is not the simple result of some traditional cultural respect for teachers that exists in some countries. Rather, it requires deliberate policy choices. In a tour of seven countries that traditionally score high on international tests of student performance…

Given California's role in the Pacific economy, its historic Asian heritage, and the strong and growing presence of Asian communities and businesses in the state, it is imperative that students statewide understand the history of Asia. Unfortunately, the California state curricular framework and standards in history and social science limit the…

This article presents four-column lesson planning, an adaptation of lesson study, for preservice secondary school teachers. Four-column plans, an integral part of Japanese lesson study, have been less emphasized in the United States. This article presents study results indicating how these teachers were affected by this lesson study adaptation:…

Lesson study is a form of teacher professional development that is intrinsic to the Japanese educational system in first and second level schools and in teacher education. Lesson study has been credited with the success of Japanese pupils in international comparative tests of mathematics achievement (Stigler and Hiebert, 1999). It is gaining…

In the fall of 2003, the author conducted research on the student teaching process in Japan. The basis for most of the lessons observed was rich mathematics problems. Upon returning to the US, the author used one such problem while teaching an algebra 2 class. This article introduces that problem, which gives rise to both linear and quadratic…

This booklet targets policymakers and educators with busy lives (especially those in developing countries) who may neither have the time nor the opportunity to read widely across all the issues raised herein. This publication looks at all forms of teacher learning, formal and informal, from teachers' own early schooling, through their training,…

Reviews teacher professional development in the United States and Japan, discussing similarities and differences. Faced with increasingly diverse and rapidly changing societies, both counties recognize flaws in their current systems and want to reform teacher education by finding ways of revitalizing professional development. The paper notes that…

In December 1998, faculty from Middle Tennessee State University visited the Faculty of Education at Fukushima University in Fukushima, Japan. The purpose of the visit was to share with Japanese educators the processes through which school counselors are trained to deal with school violence in the United States. Because school staffing patterns…

Cross-cultural teaching and research in Canada and Japan is reported. Ethnographic narrative methods were used to examine Japan's teacher acculturation. Canada's teachers are largely required to work in isolation, to learn their practice through trial and error. There is little provision for mentorship and insufficient time to reflect. In…

A suggested approach to teaching instructional skills to future teachers of English as a second language incorporates microteaching techniques. These techniques include the practice teaching of limited and coherent groups of skills, one group at a time, scaled-down practice teaching situations, maximum relevant feedback to each trainee, and the…