Describes a study that investigated preservice elementary teachers' decisions about teaching strategies and their attitudes toward mathematics and computer-related technologies in a constructivist-centered methods course which included the use of problem-solving multimedia. The effectiveness of these strategies in developing more positive…

Investigates the computer knowledge and attitudes of undergraduate early childhood majors enrolled in a teaching-methods course which has not historically emphasized the potential of computerized simulation in instruction. Results are discussed in terms of the need to broaden preservice teachers' exposure to computers if they are expected to use…

Describes one college's program requiring preservice elementary educators to take their methods courses in an integrated block during one semester before student teaching, noting pitfalls of and advantages to this network of classes and reporting data collected from cooperating classroom teachers who subsequently had these student teachers in…

Offers three strategies from "Strategies for Teaching: Guide for Music Methods Classes," that was developed under the leadership of MENC's Society for Music Teacher Education. Gives guidelines for methods teachers to prepare their students for incorporating the National Standards for Music Education into music instruction at all grade…

A review of the literature in science education shows that most students have difficulties in hypothetico-deductive reasoning. The author's objective in this study was to investigate the abilities of high school teachers and university teachers to understand the difference between the terms "hypothesis" and "prediction" in the…

This study is part of an ongoing investigation of the knowledge base, learning and performance of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) students in the Canadian province of Quebec. The goal of the broad research initiative is to identify valid and reliable criteria for candidate selection and to provide those who are admitted to a programme…

This article describes the outcome of an exercise carried out with one hundred undergraduate student teachers (preservice teachers) enrolled in a Biology Teaching Methods course, a third year course in a four-year Teacher Education Programme. The students, working in groups of three to four, were assigned to construct a concept map showing their…

Objective: The research objective was to identify how healthy eating was understood in a disadvantaged community and how barriers to healthy eating might be overcome. Design: Participatory action research. Setting: Communities in Gurnos, Merthyr Tydfil, one of the most deprived areas in the UK. Method: Trainees on a participative methods course…

Schools and colleges of education have been criticized for not adequately preparing preservice teachers to integrate technology in their future classrooms. It has been proposed that a central component in the preparation of preservice teachers is for the instructors of content methods courses to model strategies for integrating technology that…

This essay aims to provide beginning and experienced history teachers as well as history teaching methods professors with a helpful strategy designed to improve students' knowledge of historical content and competence in historical thinking. It introduces a systematic approach to the use of primary sources which emphasizes the "doing" of history,…

Reflecting recent policy and standards initiatives, emerging research agendas, and key innovations, this volume provides a contemporary overview of important developments and issues that have that have in recent years shaped elementary science education pre-service courses and professional development, and practices that are shaping future…

This study investigated the struggles of two preservice elementary teachers in a mathematics methods course. Kay and Aaron elected mathematics as their content minor and indicated they had always been "good" in mathematics. In the methods course, they were challenged to rethink the nature of mathematics learning in a constructivist…

This paper reports on the influence of a graduate course, "Methods for Masters," designed to broaden the pedagogical repertoires of cooperating teachers by providing experience in six instructional models (cooperative learning, concept attainment, group investigation, learning contracts, simulations, and synectics). The course used…

This dramatic reading was created from the questions generated by a class of drama education majors at the University of Alberta (Canada) and is used to describe a case study assignment approach to teacher education in drama. Education in a democratic society is underpinned with the willingness to listen. The mythology which claims that the gulf…

This paper reviews changes in an elementary teacher education program based on several studies regarding the content of the program. The nature of each study and its implementation in the program are described. Three changes have been made in the program as a result of the studies: student teachers are required to complete a junior year practicum…