Examines the inductive approach to learning, which helps ensure an interactive environment where students use their language processes to learn. Preservice teachers can learn to organize their teaching inductively. Such training should include direct experience with the inductive approach, analysis of the experiences, guided practice, and coaching…

A study investigated the relationships among the grades students received in a general methods course and selected variables. The conclusions indicated that: (1) Women tend to make higher grades than men; (2) Older students register for fewer credit hours than do younger ones; and (3) Upperclassmen register for fewer hours than do lowerclassmen.…

A study was done to determine if there are advantages in teaching a science methods course in conjunction with field experience. Results showed that taking the science methods course with the field experience did not help education majors to understand science processes. (JN)

This article describes the design, development, and outcomes of a curriculum module entitled, "The Teaching Biography of (Student Name)." This student-centered methods-practicum course was designed to foster reflection and individual and group inquiry into both the ends and means of education. (IAH)

Complaints have been made that in teacher preparation programs foundations courses are practically irrelevant and methods courses intellectually unchallenging. Prospective teachers should understand that an extensive grounding in the psychological, historical and sociological foundations of education prepares them to make effective decisions on…

Presents examples of how to implement and model authentic assessment for preservice teachers, describing the authentic assessment used in a preservice elementary mathematics methods course. The components of the assessment include reading and writing, examinations, discussions and observations, collection of students' work, and oral and visual…

This article describes a course-specific model for organizing field experience in the teacher education program at Morehead State University. Students in an elementary social studies methods course had class and field experience within the same public school. Guidelines for effective collaboration between the university and the school are…

Describes efforts in a secondary mathematics methods course to make discussions of assessment relevant and accessible for prospective teachers, examining preservice teachers' beliefs regarding assessment and detailing steps to help move them from these initial beliefs to ones more consistent with the philosophy expressed in recent reform.…

This article relates experiences of a sixth grade teacher who taught an undergraduate language arts methods course for a semester and a college faculty member who spent a year observing and teaching language arts methods to inservice teachers in six schools. Both focused on empowering teachers to make curriculum decisions. (IAH)