This paper describes the way two university instructors encouraged students to perceive and understand the influence of their personal environment. The classes, an undergraduate course and a graduate course in education, focused on the integration of art and science disciplines as students reflected on their experience of their environment. A…

This study investigated ways in which regular group discussion might promote reflective teaching. Subjects were three experienced teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Korea who came together in weekly meetings to reflect on their work. Two were college teachers, and one taught in a private company. The study examined what the…

This paper examines an intervention to change prospective elementary teachers' knowledge and beliefs about mathematics education. The intervention consisted of a sequence of mathematics courses, a methods course, and a curriculum seminar in which establishing a community of learners was a central feature. The concept of community embodies the…

This paper describes a 1-year post-baccalaureate program for preservice teachers at Brock University (Ontario, Canada). The program emphasizes the relationship between course content and what students see and practice during student teaching. There is strong collaboration among faculty, faculty associates, and students. All participants have an…

The Education Division of Maryville University (Missouri) believes in preparing teachers for student diversity. It encourages teachers to be reflective practitioners and suggests that the quality of a teacher's reflections and actions depends on a developmental ability to integrate concrete teaching experiences, models and strategies of others,…

Traditionally, the knowledge base has been defined more as product than process and has encompassed definitions, principles, values, and facts. Recent reforms in teaching and teacher education have brought about efforts to redefine the knowledge base. The reconceptualized knowledge base builds upon the earlier model but gives higher priority to…

Four traditions of reform in 20th century U.S. teacher education are described: academic, social efficiency, developmentalist, and social reconstructionist. Each tradition is illustrated with examples from both early and contemporary teacher education programs. Following the presentation of the reform traditions, the heuristic value of the…

A reflective coaching program was implemented to improve the professional work culture of a school district with morale problems because of labor disputes and strikes. An underlying principle of the program emphasized the role of teachers as the key instructional decision-makers for the classroom. The guiding principle for the teacher-coach…

The Windham (Vermont) Partnership, a professional development school, cooperates with a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program that educates foreign language and English as a Second Language teachers. Within the Partnership, there are two seminars for mentors: the Reflective Teaching Seminar and the Teacher Research Seminar. Teachers are…

This global literature review examines 47 refereed journal articles dealing with the initial and ongoing professional development of teachers during 1987-1997. Professional development is defined as a self-actualized, self-motivated, proactive approach to teacher education that centers on the growth of teachers in affective, collaborative, and…

This study investigated professional growth as an individually reflective and authentically collaborative phenomenon. The study examined the extent to which self-directed professional learning, personal and shared reflection, and authentic collaboration within a supportive study group could create changes in secondary teachers' perceptions of…

As part of an international comparative study of active learning in seven countries, a case study examined active learning practices of students and teachers in a small rural school in Finland. Small schools have traditionally existed in the sparsely populated Finnish countryside, and 60 percent of Finnish elementary schools have 1-3 teachers.…

Notes that collaborative action research helped Australian adult education teachers refine their classroom skills and reflect critically on their current practice. Discusses research designed to develop teachers' skills in meeting the English language learning needs of disparate groups of learners and to assist these teachers in redirecting their…

Looks at "pedagogical knowing" as one facet of a larger conceptual framework that grounds a teacher's self-knowledge as a person and as a teacher. With the help of two middle school English teachers, the paper argues for a view of subject matter knowledge that is dynamic, relational, practice-oriented, and useful. (SM)

Interviewed postgraduate early years student teachers in England. Found that, despite initial doubts about the value of spending time in nurseries, the student teachers focused on similar teaching issues in nurseries and primary classrooms. In nurseries, students learned the importance of flexibility and responsiveness to children, of noncoercive…