This paper describes a model for utilizing national science reform initiatives in an elementary science methods course. By focusing particularly on Project 2061 benchmarks, the reform movement initiated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), teacher candidates were able to successfully analyze, integrate, and utilize…

Literacy methods coursework usually uses an approach in which prospective teachers are asked to apply domain knowledge (concepts and methods of literacy teaching) in field situations structured for its application. However, that methods can be learned in this way and incorporated into actual situations of schooling has been called into question. A…

To prepare preservice teachers to implement performance-based assessment in their eventual classrooms and to give them experience in developing their own academic portfolios, some teacher educators are moving toward the portfolio method for assessing their preservice teachers in methods courses. A study evaluated the nature of preservice teachers'…

It is argued that, given the importance and the increased use of multivariate techniques such as factor analysis and canonical correlation, students need to be made aware of multivariate methods and the appropriate ways in which they can be applied. As a general linear model that subsumes all other parametric measures, canonical correlation…

A study explored the perceptions of 155 early field experience (EFE) elementary education majors who were in one of six sections of a reading methods course at a midwestern university. Responses to an open-ended final examination question at the end of three consecutive semesters asked students to describe and evaluate the classroom reading…

In response to numerous criticisms of technocratic models of social studies curricula this paper describes a critical approach to curriculum design. Major areas of criticism related to knowledge, learning and evaluation, and teaching are explored as they relate to issues of curriculum planning and implementation and a critical approach to…

An adaptation of the dialog journal technique, used for teacher training purposes, is described. The journals were used as medium of communication between novice teachers of English as a second language and their supervisors in a field practicum course. Journals were studied to quantify the types of student comments made, and to track the changes…

Collected in this document are papers presented at a conference on designing a mathematics methods course for secondary school teachers. Papers are organized under the following categories: (1) Realistic goals for a methods course, (2) Minimal content for a methods course, and (3) Teaching strategies used in methods courses. The seven short papers…

Several surveys of students enrolled in elementary school mathematics methods courses provided the background for a pilot study of attitudes on teaching elementary mathematics. In a discussion of the literature on the subject, the importance of teachers' attitudes and their influence on children's attitudes is stressed. Two exploratory studies of…

This paper describes the implementation of a peer-evaluation system in a college-level English methods class. Specifically, a system was developed in which the responsibility for preteaching planning sessions, observation, identification of teaching competencies, and post observation analysis of lessons was shifted to groups of three students…

This study investigated the effects of an interdisciplinary course in inquiry on the self-perceptions of preservice teachers. Sample populations included an experimental group enrolled in an interdisciplinary inquiry course. Control groups comprised students enrolled only in a philosophy course in inquiry, students not enrolled in either course,…

If students are to think historically, then teachers must think historically. One place where future history teachers might gain such cognitive practice is in history courses designed to focus on the ideas and methods of historians. A study focused on teaching future history teachers how to think about history. A course, "Philosophy and…

This paper examines how three preservice teachers, who previously worked in science-related fields, confronted barriers in the process of becoming science teachers. Many of the barriers these teachers faced were similar to the barriers that more traditional teacher education candidates faced, but they also faced some barriers that were less common…

Issues-centered curriculum is an anomaly within the social studies classroom, most often overshadowed by the dominant framework that includes teacher-centered, textbook-driven, subject-focused lessons. An instructor of social studies methods chose to break with the content-dominant tradition and introduce issues-centered social studies to the…

This paper addresses three questions: (1) What key citizenship characteristics are essential for today's highly diverse, complex classrooms? (2) What should be the content of a course that would teach these traits? and (3) What pedagogical strategies could be employed to enhance the delivery of that content and to measure for the desired results?…