Explores the perspective that teacher education programs should assess their effectiveness on how well they nurture beliefs that are consistent with their philosophy of learning and teaching study. Reports on a study with preservice elementary teachers participating in an alternative certification program for teaching in an urban setting.…

Describes one use of the World Wide Web in support of learning in a chemistry methods course for preservice teachers at the University of Montreal. Discusses an assignment involving a treasure hunt on the Web. (Author/CCM)

Radio telemetry data available via the internet are used to facilitate long-term inquiry projects. Through these projects, students gain a deeper understanding of scientific inquiry and the nature of science, while developing their own questions and procedures and carrying out those procedures before sharing their findings with peers. (Contains 1…

This third annual publication contains ten articles written by college instructors who teach elementary science methods courses. Subjects considered include contract teaching, classroom techniques for isolating and culturing molds, science interests in the intermediate grades, a proposed program of science education for the elementary teacher,…

Describes a program employed for teaching a science methods course. The goal of individualized instruction may be achieved by adopting a learning contract system. The appendix includes examples of contracts used in this program. (PS)

Preservice teachers' success in a science lesson presentation was not significantly influenced by the number of science courses taken previously, the science topic chosen, or grade level selected for the presentation. (CP)

Teachers required to use an Elementary Science Study (ESS) unit during student teaching tended to use more of the techniques advocated by ESS in their own classes one year later than did teachers allowed to plan their own approach during student teaching. (AL)

Presents an approach that attempts to use environmental education as a thread in the science methods course in teacher education. Describes the framework, strategies, and activities used. Discusses some of the difficulties that student teachers encounter in translating this approach to the practical level. Appendixes include some activities and…

Discusses efforts to infuse telecommunications into the science component of a teacher education program; highlights the initial goals, challenges, successes, and obstacles; and ponders questions of access and reform. (Author/MKR)

Provides a rationale for including biography projects that represent diverse contributors to science and mathematics. Describes a biography-project assignment used in a methods course for secondary teacher preparation, discusses preservice teachers' comments about the assignment, and makes connections to current research on equitable instruction.…

Describes and evaluates an elementary science methods course in which the nature of science and scientific inquiry are embedded and explicitly taught. As a result of the course, incoming conceptions of science as primarily a body of knowledge changed to a more appropriate, blended view of science as a body of knowledge generated through the active…

Based on interviews with 18 professors of education, this study provides a report on the ways in which environmental education (EE) theory and practice are currently incorporated into preservice elementary education science and social studies methods courses. It further reports perceptions of faculty about the barriers to incorporating EE in…