The long-range goal of the Twin Lakes/Purdue project is to establish a collaborative site where college students can observe and practice teaching behaviors that enhance thinking skills and facilitate cognitive growth. A more immediate objective is to help teachers at the site develop teaching strategies which enhance thinking in the content area…

Reports survey results of science teacher preparation to be used to develop National Science Teachers Association standards for preparation/certification. Results focus on elementary, middle/junior high school teacher preparation programs (including methods courses), existing certification requirements, and elementary teachers' descriptions of…

Discusses a model program at the University of Northern Colorado for preparing secondary geography teachers. Asserts that the program's key feature is the presence of an outstanding secondary teacher in residence throughout the year who team-teaches the geography teaching methods course. (CFR)

As a profession language educators are paying more attention to teacher-driven research to help clarify and explain those phenomena occurring in our classrooms. The purpose of this paper is to explore the following question: What happens when teachers apply a teacher action research (TAR) strategy for improving their classroom practice? I will…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 16 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effects of simulated role playing on student knowledge, attitudes, and performance in an undergraduate reading methods course; (2) Indiana English…

A survey conducted as part of the continuous review of Eastern Montana College's teacher preparation program produced written responses from 62 classroom teachers, 8 principals, and 9 superintendents from rural schools in 4 Montana counties, who strongly supported the need for specialized preparation for rural teachers. Respondents recommended…

This paper is a mid-project report of a study being conducted of a block of education methods courses (i.e., courses on classroom management, content area reading, secondary methods, and the professional educator) for students seeking emergency certification. This block is being taught 80% asynchronously through the Internet and 20% synchronously…

A content area literacy course is examined to assess how teacher educators might respond to prospective teachers' beliefs in light of the particular goals of a particular course or teacher education experience. Content Area Literacy is a methods course that emphasizes teaching strategies and the rationales underlying them. It is examined to reveal…

This study examined whether inclusion of cognitively guided instruction (CGI) in a mathematics methods course for 34 undergraduate preservice teachers at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro would improve their teaching performance, compared to controls. The Beliefs Survey, with four subscales (Role of the Learner, Relationship between…

Describes GEO-Teach, a project designed to develop a model preservice curriculum for secondary geography teachers. Maintains that it incorporates the National Geography Standards and merges content and pedagogy through cooperation between academic geographers and education faculty. (CFR)

A survey was conducted concerning teacher attitudes and knowledge regarding social studies goals, content, and curriculum development. The research involved 301 undergraduate social studies methods professors in 13 western and midwestern states. Indexes based upon responses to a questionnaire were created to reflect teacher orientation toward…

Elementary school teacher candidates typically enter their professional training with deficiencies in their conceptual understanding of the topics of elementary school mathematics and with a reliance upon procedural (algorithmic) approaches to the solutions of mathematical problems. If elementary school teacher candidates are expected to teach…

Articles in this issue include the following: "Chat in EFL: Communicative Humanistic Acculturation Techniques" (Daniel Evans); "Task Interpretation and Task Effectiveness: A Vygotskian Analysis of a French L2 Classroom Task" (Lindsy Myers); "Envisioning a Standards-Based Methods Course: Preparing Second Language Educators…

This qualitative study examined the use of WebQuests as a teaching tool in problem-based elementary methods courses. We explored the potential of WebQuests to address three dilemmas faced in teacher education: (a) modeling instruction that is based on current learning theory and research-based practices, (b) providing preservice teachers with…

The Language Teacher Research Series aims to connect research and practice by highlighting the insights that teachers themselves describe after examining their own practices. This first volume of the five-volume series presents research conducted by language teachers at all levels, from high school English teachers to English language teacher…