When student and novice teachers see themselves as learners or researchers and spend some of their energy trying to understand their students and their students' perspectives, they become less attached to pedagogical techniques and move quickly to a responsive and reflective way of teaching that is more commonly associated with experienced…

An attempt was made to develop an objective instrument to assess a teacher's perceived engagement in reflective practice. A Reflective Teaching Instrument (RTI) was developed around three dimensions of reflective practice in teaching: (1) diagnosis (problem setting); (2) testing; and (3) personal causation. Indicators of each of the dimensions…

In the spring of 1979, an experimental study was conducted to evaluate the possible effects on preservice teachers of Reflective Teaching, a new instructional alternative for teacher education that features peer teaching and evaluation. One of the hypotheses about Reflective Teaching stated that, as a result of engaging in Reflective Teaching,…

This paper reports on the analysis of concept maps of the nature of science constructed by preservice secondary science teachers during a semester-long reflective process. During the 16-week fall semester of 1996, 17 students were enrolled in a 5-credit course. After analyzing all students' concept maps, students were classified as either good…

This study examined the efficacy of a student teaching internship component of a teacher education program in fostering the development of reflective practitioners by investigating the experiences of preservice teachers in the program. The study noted the extent to which the various requirements of the student teachers' internships (e.g., journal…

The California History-Social Science Project (CH-SSP), a legislatively-mandated professional development program is administered out of the University of California, Office of the President. The Executive Offices are based at UCLA, and oversee 17 local sites across California. As part of its mission, CH-SSP engages teachers in action research on…

Sixth-grade teachers from diverse content areas and specialized fields came together as teacher-researchers to infuse principles of literacy/language learning across the curriculum, targeting low-achieving students. Through reflective inquiry, they gained insights into new strategies as they revised their roles from content area teachers to…

Details the process and results of an action research project that explored children's understandings of why toys move in certain ways. The purpose of the project is to inform tutoring sessions and the classroom practices of student teachers. (DDR)

Discusses use of teacher talk about innovation as an alternative to journal entries in eliciting reflective behavior. Describes a study that investigated whether teachers assembled to discuss portfolio assessment would spontaneously engage in four levels of action (describing, informing, confronting, and reconstructing). Analysis of transcripts…

The journals of six special education graduate students were examined in order to define operational categories of reflective thought. The development of reliable and operational definitions for classifying, coding, and evaluating written journals of preservice teachers is described. Past research on the importance of reflective teaching is…

Two teachers participating in professional development involving research were asked to read and respond, in light of their own teaching, to Lisa Delpit's study of the dilemma of progressive education versus teaching traditional skills to disadvantaged black students. The teachers' responses illustrate the importance of teachers' prior beliefs and…

Explored efforts, within an action research study of a 3- year Inservice Education and Training (INSET) program, to implement reflective approaches in training unqualified and underqualified elementary teachers in Namibia. Results found that western approaches to teacher reflection could not be used productively with Namibian teachers unless there…

This study examined the practices of exemplary elementary teachers of second-language learners. Observations of and interviews with eight teachers found five common practices (engaging in reflective practice; embedding instruction in a respectful context; using current instructional strategies; activating students' prior knowledge; and maintaining…

This case study examined changes in a fifth-grade mathematics classroom in Hong Kong when a video-based story involving mathematics problem solving was introduced. Findings suggest that new technologies not compatible with existing practice may lead to intense reflections about which aspects of the individuals, their environment, and the new…

The transition from generic mentoring to specific mentoring practices can provide a stronger focus for developing preservice primary teachers (mentees) in subject-specific areas. Constructivist theory and a five-factor model towards specific subject mentoring are proposed as ways to develop mentees' teaching practices. Firstly, constructivist…