This study was designed to combine the voices of advocates for a multicultural teacher education curriculum with the voices of advocates for the case study method in order to explore the possibilities of addressing multicultural issues in preservice teacher education coursework. To examine how preservice teachers make sense of diversity through…

The College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) created collaborative partnerships with nine major school districts in Iowa in order to establish several kinds of relationships between practitioners and university faculty which computer networks facilitated. A new "Cobra" computer conference system was expanded to the…

Findings from a study, which examined the development of leadership skills and roles among the teachers in a professional development school (PDS), indicate the emergence of a nontraditional teacher leadership paradigm at the PDS. In contrast to typical teacher leadership models, in which carefully selected and screened teachers are placed in…

This paper describes how students can be personally challenged in the work they do and how secondary students or tertiary-level education students and teachers can collaboratively diagnose existing quality of classroom practice, via the concepts of personal challenge and interpersonal shared adventure. The approach involves the teacher obtaining…

With the growing interest in leadership in teachers and in the debate over whether teacher education programs should foster leadership qualities, this study assessed how senior students enrolled in the College of Education at Marshall University (West Virginia) perceived their own leadership skills. Participants were a random sample of 170…

In order to investigate how attitudes among preservice teachers are influenced by participation in a computer literacy course and to test the utility of an attitude questionnaire, a study was conducted with 75 college preservice teachers (56 females and 19 males). The course was developed to teach the use and understanding of computer technologies…

Ways that teacher educators can provide opportunities for novice teachers to develop their beliefs about teaching and learning and their teaching practices are discussed. It is suggested that practical teaching experience is essential to teacher development, but that teachers must also be able to process their experiences in ways that allow time…

This study examined the effect of an experimental educational psychology course on preservice teachers' ideas about teaching. The experimental course immersed students in writing as a response to reading, writing to reflect on previous beliefs, and a teaching model to help students question their experiences and beliefs founded in previous school…

Classroom teachers in high school and college need communication skills beyond precise and dramatic lecturing. They must be willing to plan and ask searching questions meant to transform classrooms into dialogic and interpersonal places. Educators must halt the curricular production of passive stenographers and begin the work of assisting students…

Constructs underlying student ratings of instruction in an introductory master's level educational research course were investigated in order to gain a better understanding of instructor behaviors that facilitate student success. During academic years 1990-91 and 1991-92, an institutionally developed scale was administered to students enrolled in…

A teacher educator took over a high school physics teachers' class for a semester in exchange for the physics teacher taking over his university physics methods classes. The paper presents the perceptions of people involved in the experience. Students at both schools accepted the situation well. University students, invited to observe their…

Through professional development schools (PDSs), the College of Education at Texas Tech University has attempted to link school and teacher education renewal with research. In 1990, the university and Lubbock Independent School District initiated PDSs at a junior high school and an elementary school. Three additional PDS sites have been initiated…

Antioch University (Seattle, Washington) established its Teacher Certification program in 1991 with several goals in mind: to provide adult learners with a program designed around their special learning needs, to address critical teaching and learning issues in urban classrooms with diverse populations, to encourage collegial attitudes and…

This paper demonstrates how teacher education institutions can expand understanding of others and tolerance for differences by developing cross-cultural exchange programs in international settings and on the local level. The paper outlines the steps involved in establishing international student teaching programs at three different universities…

The teacher education program at New Mexico State University requires all undergraduate preservice teachers to enroll in a multicultural education course. This study was conducted to assess students' ideas, beliefs, and attitudes about multicultural issues, and to determine how the course may affect their view of the world. Two newspaper articles…