This study identified the problem solving strategies used by students within a university course designed to teach pre-service teachers educational technology, and whether those strategies were influenced by the format of the course (i.e., face-to-face computer lab vs. online). It also examined to what extent the type of problem solving strategies…

This study examines the effectiveness of an educational methods course for changing early childhood preservice teachers' instructional beliefs. The teaching methods course emphasized constructivist teaching principles. Seventy-eight of the early childhood education preservice teachers who were enrolled in this course filled out the Teacher Belief…

This study examines the use of wireless laptop technology to support the application of problem-based learning (PBL) in a special education methods course. This field based course used a progressive disclosure process in weekly seminars to address issues posed in a case study. Eight scenarios, all related to the case, were presented to upper level…

Curriculum materials are a crucial tool with which teachers engage in teaching practice. For preservice teachers to learn to use science curriculum materials in productive ways, they must develop a conception of themselves as elementary teachers in which the use of science curriculum materials is a valued dimension of science-teaching practice. We…

This study examined the methodological training of preservice secondary foreign language teachers through the lens of the college methodology course syllabus from 32 participating postsecondary institutions, survey data from the related methods instructors, and questionnaires from 10 of the instructors. The findings indicate that preservice…

Self-efficacy has been shown to be an issue of concern for primary teacher education students--many of them have low self-efficacy and this can negatively affect their future teaching of science. Previous research has identified four factors that may contribute towards self-efficacy: enactive mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal…

Many American colleges and universities that train English majors for careers in secondary schools (Eastern Washington University, for example) expose students to two radically different modes of literature pedagogy. In the majority of courses, literature is approached as artifact and students are instructed in ways to analyze literary text, with…

Deals with a survey undertaken among 16 higher education institutions in Arkansas. Findings indicated that over 50 percent of Arkansas social studies teachers received their initial certification in another field, 25 percent took no social studies methods courses, and more than 50 percent of social studies instructors expressed dissatisfaction…

This study was conducted to answer three major questions relative to undergraduate preservice secondary education programs: (1) What courses in pedagogy are required of all secondary education majors and how many credits are awarded in each area? (2) What are the current practices relative to student teaching credit and evaluation? and (3) How…