This article describes how the incorporation of a writing assignment, creating a book about culture and science, into the syllabus of methods science course for preservice teachers, was used to foster science content learning. Preservice teachers were actively and purposely engaged in science learning through the generation of a book about a…

The direction of university courses is often guided by the results of traditional Likert scale student evaluations. Most of these focus on instructors' characteristics and frequently do not provide useful insights into students' learning preferences or feedback regarding specific activities and projects in the courses. This study, carried out in a…

This article presents results from an evaluation of an online statistics lab as part of a foundations research methods course for master's-level social work students. The article discusses factors that contribute to an environment in social work that fosters attitudes of reluctance toward learning and teaching statistics in research methods…

This research project focuses on teacher education in a field-based methods course. We were interested in understanding what "could be" when we worked with pre-service teachers in a high school physical education class to assist them in the process of learning to listen and respond to their students in ways that might better facilitate…

This paper describes the use of transactional distance theory (TDT) as a conceptual framework to underpin the design and delivery of a fully online first-year mathematics education methods course to pre-service teachers. It identifies key issues evident in the mathematical literature concerning mathematics education in general and pre-service…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of an integrated science and mathematics methods course on preservice early childhood teachers' efficacy beliefs for integrating these content areas. Thirty-four preservice teachers participated in this study, which utilized a quasi-experimental design with two treatment groups. Participants in…

Background: Teachers commonly adopt instructional styles that thwart student motivation. As such, researchers have examined interventions based within the self-determination theory to identify changes in teaching behaviors. Results of these studies have demonstrated a level of success in teachers adopting a more motivationally supportive teaching…

Problem Statement: Research studies indicate that teachers with negative attitudes toward science tend to use didactic approaches rather than approaches based on students' active participation. However, the reviews of the national academic literature in Turkey located a few research studies on the relationship between playful science experiences…

Popular movies were used in a doctoral-level qualitative research methods course as a way to help students learn about how to collect and analyze qualitative observational data in order to develop a grounded theory. The course was designed in such a way that collaboration was central to the generation of knowledge. Using media depictions had the…

In this qualitative study, researchers inquired about preservice teachers' (PST) experience in becoming culturally responsive in a graduate teacher-licensure social studies methods class (N = 20). Researchers examined PST lesson plans and reflections, and rated them based on Geneva Gay's (2002) framework for preparing culturally responsive…

The purpose of this study was to compare changes in beliefs of two groups of preservice teachers involved in two types of opportunities to immediately apply methods for teaching accompanying an elementary mathematics methods course. Students in one group applied the methods learned in class through weekly 30-minute peer-teaching sessions, while…

This qualitative study investigated preservice social studies teachers' thinking about personal agency. This study used a case study design and was conducted in a semester long undergraduate social studies methods course. The findings drew upon data from eight participants. The participants were selected based on their stated purpose for teaching…

The purpose of this study was to determine the experiences related to and perceptions of statistics of mathematics teacher educators. Particularly, this study focused on the participants' lived experience by training preservice K-8 teacher candidates in topics related to statistics in the mathematics methods course. Their perceptions and…

Background: Elementary schoolteachers are an important vehicle for teaching students health skills that will carry them through life and reduce their future risk of disease linked to health behaviors. Purpose: To determine whether university classroom instruction resulted in increased self-efficacy and intent to teach a skill-based health…

Recent advances in technology and ideology have unlocked entirely new directions for education research. Mounting pressure from increasing tuition costs and free, online course offerings are opening discussion and catalyzing change in the physical classroom. The flipped classroom is at the center of this discussion. The flipped classroom is a new…