The new goals for teacher education proposed by the Holmes Group Consortium, the education deans of 23 research universities, concern the institutional environment, faculty, students, and professional curriculum. (MSE)

"Dimension" is the annual volume containing the selected, refereed, edited proceedings of each year's conference. On the eve of its 40th anniversary, the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) plans a special series of articles on assessment within the foreign language profession. The 2004 edition of "Dimension"…

This study examined the possibility that not only women but also men, face a chilly classroom climate when they are students in a major that is considered nontraditional for their gender. Male and female junior and senior students (total n=426) majoring in accounting, education, engineering, or nursing at one university responded to the College…

A demographic questionnaire was used to analyze personal, educational, and geographical characteristics of the 1977 recruits to teacher education programs in Ireland. In addition, their attitudes toward educational issues were investigated using the Survey of Opinions about Education and a newly-developed scale, Attitudes to Primary Education.…

Reports a study that investigated the effects of professional coursework and clinical experience on the development of preservice teachers' knowledge. Surveys supported the contribution of professional coursework to the development of pedagogical knowledge but showed limited support for the contribution of student teaching. (SM)

Presents a study to assess scientific literacy of a group of students at a moderately sized midwestern university (n=90). Describes the methodology used to create a multiple-choice test field tested on 75 elementary preservice teachers. Outcomes indicate that achievement was not influenced by age, sex, high school size, or a possible future career…

Studied whether differences exist among academic, affective, and personal characteristics of teacher education persisters and nonpersisters in a longitudinal sample of 550 education majors. Five years later, 65% had persisted through teacher training. Factors predicting persistence (i.e., higher college grade point average and positive attitude…

Reports a study (n=27) concerning the knowledge about image formation exhibited by students following instruction in geometrical optics in an activity-based college physics course for prospective elementary teachers. Student diagrams and verbal comments indicate their knowledge can be described as an intermediate state: a hybridization of…

This exploration of the preparation teachers should receive to be able to deal with the diversity of students emphasizes that reforms for diversity must involve colleagues and communities and that no single activity is an adequate preparation for teaching diverse populations. No reform effort to date has addressed the issues of diversity…

Describes a university curriculum integration project for education and noneducation majors that pairs a preservice course in educational foundations with a general education course in sociology. The courses include discipline-specific objectives but are taught using collaborative pedagogy. The centerpiece is an integrative, field-based research…

The preparation of music educators involves many facets. Students obtain pedagogical knowledge, understanding, and skill development during the college experience. In addition, preservice music teachers do numerous writing and reading projects as well as peer teaching. One area that tends to be lacking in the preparation before student teaching is…

The main objectives of this study were to combine professional development plans and portfolios for use in undergraduate teacher education courses and to assess the effectiveness of this practice in two independent but related efforts. Participants in this study included 70 preservice teachers who were enrolled in either a 300 level early…

Creating a safe, open environment for discussion is a critical first step in examining topics of diversity. Because public schools may be the only social arena in the United States where different social classes, ethnicities, and genders come together on a regular basis, it is important to involve preservice teachers in discussions involving…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of congruence between teachers' and undergraduate education majors' learning styles in selected colleges and if the style congruence was related to student perceptions of the classroom learning environment. A related purpose was to identify needed changes in classroom environments based on the…

The Plains Elementary School/Ohio University Partnership Project began in 1991 as a collaborative effort between a university and a public school to restructure the professional development of preservice teachers, elementary school staff, and College of Education faculty. Each year a cohort group of approximately 25 Ohio University junior-level…