This is a unique collection of leading examples of education grounded in alternative philosophies and cultures--from initiatives to create more democratic schools, through Quaker, Buddhist, Islamic, Montessori and Steiner/Waldorf schools, to Maori and First Nations education in Canada and Palestinian Jewish schools in Israel. Aimed at educational…

The concept of reflective practice and teaching people to be reflective practitioners is examined. The document begins with a look at professional knowledge according to three prominent professionals in the educational administration field: Schon, Schein, and Achilles. "Reflective" strategies that could be incorporated into courses and…

Explains the benefits of using "robust reasoning" to discover what works in English-as-a-Foreign-Language classrooms. (Author/VWL)

Defines a pedagogical strategy that provides opportunities for prospective teachers to critically take up and reflect on the role of the teacher, a strategy called "situated performance." Describes situated performances in detail to illustrate their potential for educative experience. Shows how situated performances can complement current…

Suggests that rather than establish normative criteria, it may be more fruitful to find ways to engage teachers in critical reflection on their own practice and teaching. Constructs a series of questions to create conditions for such reflection. (Author/CCM)

Presents a continuing conversation about the meaning of the term "environment" as it appeared in a newly-released environmental-education-policy statement. Studies how writing plays an important role in getting at the core assumptions and values of reflective teachers and researchers, and representing such thinking to the reader. (Author/CCM)

Calls for the crucial need to incorporate alternative approaches into everything teachers do and the mistakes teachers make in the classroom. Discusses three specific instructional trouble areas of every teacher's reality and common mistakes. (ASK)

Focuses on the selection and creation of mathematical tasks, drawing on QUASAR's research on mathematical tasks and experiences with teachers and teacher educators. Presents examples of task analysis and issues that teachers should reflect on. (ASK)

A case of Jill, an elementary school teacher who takes a reflection practitioner stance on her teaching is described. Three different social practices used by Jill to help her struggling third-grade students learn to write and some of the lasting impressions based on the whole experience are highlighted.

A theory of professional action is developed based on the 3 modes of inference: abduction, induction, and deduction. The theory explains how professionals reflect in action by combining a single case to their professional repertoire. With teachers in religious education (RE), the problem is focused on how they link students' new and individual…

This research documented an innovative technique called Classroom Reflections (CR) that could successfully develop teacher candidates (TCs) abilities as reflective practitioners. Elementary and secondary TCs used their drawing of a critical incident first to analyze their own practice and then with others to construct deeper meaning. TCs were in a…

This paper attempts to establish a conceptual basis on which beginning teachers may be introduced to investigative science teaching in a way that accommodates the teacher voice. It draws mainly on preliminary theory from the shared reflections of 20 science teachers, augmented by a more general interview-based study of the experience of early…

This article re-examines the initial training of physical education teachers with the purpose of pinning down its professional significance. The author maintains that we have lost, in part, its meaning, and, in an attempt to recover it, offers two initial strategies: to revisit two basic concepts--education in general and physical education in…

The article includes part of a research study on experimental work in teaching science (Santos, 2002): a teacher with ten years in the profession received teacher training. It goes on to describe the training programme, which lasted six months and is included in the practice-oriented training paradigm (Kennedy, 1987), along with a reflective…

Writing is a powerful social tool that offers students opportunities to chisel their identities as they position themselves and others on issues and beliefs (Dyson, 1992). This article presents the story of how Mark, a fifth-grade student who resisted writing in certain classroom contexts, used positional writing practices to shape his identities.…