This study investigated what teachers understood from reading, writing, and discussing a case versus just reading and writing. Analyses of writing and oral discourse from student, beginning, and experienced teachers indicated that the addition of discussion affected their thinking about the case, benefiting teachers at different experience levels…

This article describes the effort to prepare college students for lifelong learning through "connected learning," in which learning occurs through active engagement. It also offers guidance for classroom practice including class discussion, reading lists, journals, cooperative learning, questioning and listening skills, and listening and teaching.…

Teaching conformity through coercion limits students' willingness to take risks and make decisions regarding their learning. In contrast, a Foxfire classroom environment that meets psychological needs empowers students to make choices about their learning, eliminates fear of failure, allows students to establish their own standards of achievement,…

Describes how indigenous students in a remote Mexican village learned ways to document their culture and history; how teachers in this same village learned to teach reading and writing in Ayuuk, their native language; and what a Foxfire teacher learned as an instructor in the teacher workshop. Includes the Foxfire "core practices" in…

Discusses the importance of attracting and maintaining student interest when teaching history. Argues that students learn best when they participate. Recommends using open-ended questions to motivate students to the process of studying history, making choices, and looking for answers. Emphasizes the value of mentoring, continuing education, and…

This study examined whether concept-based or experience-based training designs and their subsequent execution would create different training effects in teachers (depending on whether trainers took into account diagnostic information on existing teacher beliefs and preconceptions). Pretraining and posttraining data indicated that teachers' beliefs…

Presents seven Soviet educators' experiences with cooperation in the classroom. Emphasizes building student confidence and esteem to develop students' intrinsic motivation to learn. Examines teacher-student relationships, student evaluation, and creative teaching methods that envision teachers and students as equal partners in the educational…

Concept mapping was used to tap the conceptual disciplinary (science subject) knowledge and pedagogical knowledge of seven biology and six geography teachers with short or long teaching experience. Results indicate that knowledge in both areas is unsatisfactory, experience does not improve the knowledge, and teachers mastered disciplinary…

Discusses the difficulty of reflection in teaching given the norms of the profession and the context of the work. The article describes research on ways teachers adapt and tailor lessons to changing circumstances and class populations, and reports on teachers' reflective practices. (GLR)

Reports a study that used belief statements and lesson plans to examine preservice and inservice secondary teachers' orientations toward content area reading and instruction. Data analysis indicated preservice teachers favored an interactive model of reading but reader-based instruction. Inservice teachers held reader-based beliefs in both areas.…

Anecdotes relate how a physical education teacher at a Canadian adolescent-treatment-center school with a high percentage of Native students developed a meaningful program by listening to, learning from, and working with her students. Contains 21 references. (TD)

Explores how one state's draft standards addressed five areas: skill development/maintenance through inservice, existence of different teaching and learning styles, effects of varied teaching experiences, development of commonly- and rarely-used skills, and standards' potential for fostering inclusion. Nine participating teachers reported greatest…

Conveys the importance of student teaching for developing and further exploring preconceived beliefs about classroom management. Recognizes role identity and the cooperating teacher as having the most impact on student teachers. Stresses that when placing the student teacher with a cooperating teacher, the university should attempt to match their…

Utilizes Aristotle's three-way distinctions between theory, practice, and production to describe a balanced model of teacher reasoning. Reviews differing models of teacher reasoning that emphasize the role of contemplation and subject-matter representations. Uses the Aristotelian model to point toward a normative vision of teacher reasoning. (MJP)

Surveys, interviews, and observations were carried out at six remote Alaska village schools to explore perceptions and experiences of teachers and aides related to inclusionary practices for students with disabilities. Findings focus on personal stories affecting participants' perceptions, barriers and supports for inclusionary practices, and the…