Practice-based teacher education has increasingly been adopted as an alternative to more traditional, conceptually-focused pedagogies, yet the field lacks causal evidence regarding the relative efficacy of these approaches. To address this issue, we randomly assigned 185 college students to one of three experimental conditions reflective of common…

The book offers concrete and specific suggestions for improving teacher education programs, including improved strategies for selection into the program; key ingredients for pre-service course work; courses that emphasize skill development in critical areas of teaching practice and more effective evaluation of student teaching that emphasizes…

Cooperating Teachers are an integral part of physical education teacher education candidates' field experience. With an increasingly diverse student population, it is important that teachers have the knowledge and skills to teach high quality, and socially-just physical education. In addition to the increased focus on equity, diversity and…

"Deep Knowledge" is a book about how people's ideas change as they learn to teach. Using the experiences of six middle and high school student teachers as they learn to teach science in diverse classrooms, Larkin explores how their work changes the way they think about students, society, schools, and science itself. Through engaging case stories,…

Teacher educators are supposed to ensure that their preservice candidates and practitioners are equipped with the content knowledge, pedagogical skills, and dispositions that will help to create effective classroom teachers who serve as models of civic engagement for their students. Civic engagement is understood as being the act of making a…

As a final year Bachelor of Education student at the University of Tasmania, this author recently participated in an innovative program for improving mathematics learning outcomes for primary school students and the mathematics teaching development of pre-service teachers. As a participant in the program, she was required to plan, teach, and…

Recent reforms of initial teacher education (ITE) in the learning and skills sector (LSS) in England are standards based and emphasise subject specialism. The reforms are underpinned by objectivist epistemological assumptions which are incompatible with socio-cultural theories of professional knowledge, and ignore the diverse teaching roles and…

Teacher education programs use a variety of assessment strategies to help their prospective teachers acquire the teaching skills necessary to teach physical education. Some educators have criticized teacher education for perpetuating the view that learning to teach is merely a personal challenge to acquire skills such as giving clear directions…

As the global community continues the transition from an industrialized factory model to an information and now participatory networked-based society, educational technology will play a pivotal role in preparing students for their futures. Many teacher preparation programs are failing to provide preservice teachers with the knowledge, skills, and…

This article examines the effectiveness of a 1-year full-time credential program in recruiting, preparing, and retaining elementary, secondary, and special education teachers for urban schools. The program was designed to restructure teacher education as a shared school-university responsibility and to reflect best teacher preparation practices…

Most teacher education programs receive many more applications than they can accept. How should programs select among applicants and how should the programs evaluate the success of their selection processes? In this article we review the criteria utilized throughout North America to select prospective teachers into education programs. The…

In evaluating the success of teacher development programs, valid and scalable measures of teaching practice are needed. We have developed and validated the Science Lesson Plan Analysis Instrument (SLPAI) for quantitative evaluation of teacher-generated multiday lesson plans. This paper presents the SLPAI as a complement to surveys and classroom…

Discusses the life and career of Lowell Mason, the first professional music educator in the United States. Explores Mason's dual career as educator and businessman. Describes his involvement in choral directing, instrumental music, public school music teaching, and music teacher training. Attributes Mason's success to his teaching skills,…

Summarizes the research related to effective training approaches to teacher education. Describes an inservice program that incorporates the recommendations to improve teachers' questioning techniques. Recommends peer discussion and feedback among teachers to develop practical understanding of questioning techniques through analyzing their work.…

In order to raise the quality of teaching and teacher education in Uruguay, a program of innovation and change was considered at a 1986 educational conference. Conference goals included identifying ways to: (1) increase opportunities to promote innovation and change; (2) search for strategies to encourage creative problem solving; (3) increase…