My biggest fear about teaching a social studies methods class with COVID restrictions was talking "at" my teacher candidates and not modeling interactive and engaging social studies education. Social studies education should be engaging and student-centered. In this article, I offer technological adaptations to lessons that center around…

COVID-19 quickly upended life in many ways, presenting teachers with the opportunity to confront the issue with their students or forge ahead in the midst of a societal crisis. Teachers can harness such current events with youth in ways that foster active democratic citizenship, but they must be prepared to implement such pedagogy. This article…

Learning to teach elementary science well is not only a goal for preservice teachers. This article describes a partnership that has led to an on-site science methods course in an elementary school library that blends pedagogical instruction with practical classroom time to the benefit of inservice and preservice teachers. In the course, both sets…

This book presents a range of possibilities and starting points for--and conversations about--meaningful journeys related to the exploration of visual arts content and the engagement of learning. The authors highlight and blend theoretical, practical, and flexible approaches to integrating curriculum inquiry and curriculum design. "Curriculum…

Data-driven instruction is simply good educational practice. In the deaf education certification program--which confers master's degrees in education at Valdosta State University, Georgia, through a variety of online options--the professors address this issue directly with graduate students, all of whom are teacher candidates. One of the ways they…

This article introduces the social studies field to Dorothy Heatchote's Mantle of Expert (MOE). MOE is a dramatic inquiry approach used in several subject areas and can work at all levels in the social studies curriculum. The authors go into the development of using this approach in an elementary and middle teacher education program. After sharing…

Discrepant events are often used by science educators to incite interest and excitement in learners, yet sometimes their results are farther-reaching. The following article describes how one such event--dissolving packing peanuts in acetone--led to a change in the course of a college-level elementary science teaching methods class and to the…

In this article, we describe a fourth-grade inquiry unit on soil. The unit was designed and taught by preservice elementary teachers as part of a university science methods course. Using a student-driven inquiry approach to designing curriculum, the unit engaged fourth graders in learning about the physical properties soil, erosion, worms, and…

In this article we detail ongoing work designed to understand and improve our practice and that of the future teachers with whom we work. This work centers on helping elementary teacher candidates learn to implementinstruction that supports student learning. We have developed and implemented a model--the "Supported, Collaborative Teaching…

The Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST) is a tool to assess stereotypical imagery of scientists. This paper describes the use of the DAST as both a model for inquiry and as a method of assessing the affective domain. The DAST was administered in a science education methods course for undergraduate students of elementary education, a methods course for…

In order to prepare undergraduate students better for the realities of school life, instructors of some methods courses have started to use case studies for teaching. These cases are used to highlight the complexity and variability of the educational environment. This method of teaching, which has its roots in business, law, and medicine, has…

We describe the Science Semester, a semester-long course block that integrates three science courses and a science education methods course for elementary teacher education majors, and examine prospective elementary teachers' developing conceptions about inquiry, science teaching efficacy, and reflections on learning through inquiry. The…

Designed around a practical "practice-what-you-teach" approach to methods instruction, "Your Science Classroom: Becoming an Elementary/Middle School Science Teacher" is based on current constructivist philosophy, organized around 5E inquiry, and guided by the National Science Education Teaching Standards. Written in a reader-friendly style, the…

One proven strategy to help students make sense of abstract concepts is to sequence instruction so students have exploratory opportunities to investigate science before being introduced to new science explanations (Abraham and Renner 1986; Renner, Abraham, and Birnie 1988). To help physical science teachers make sense of how to effectively…

In this integrated inquiry, students in an elementary teaching methods class investigate a real-world problem outside the classroom. The students use the Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT) thinking strategy to find the causes of, impact of, and possible solutions to the problem. They present their findings and then discuss implementation of this…