This article draws on the transcripts of focus group interviews held with three groups of students, all in their final year of four-year Bachelor degrees. All had completed the professional experience requirements for their course. One group comprised education students, one group comprised nursing students, and the third was studying engineering.…

Few research examples or discussions about successful and practical application of environmental education within teacher education programs exist (UNESCO-UNEP, 1990). Meaningful environmental education experiences for preservice teachers need to incorporate the processes of inquiry, implementation, and reflection. In this article, we describe an…

Ten graduates and 3 ABD (all but dissertation) students in Lamar University's doctoral program in deaf studies/deaf education were surveyed about their perceptions of the benefits of earning a doctorate of education (Ed.D.) in their field. The program comprised course work on current content information on deaf education, an educational research…

This study investigates education students' perceptions of computers and the factors affecting their perceptions among education students in the United States and Taiwan. Sample subjects were 360 students from six colleges of education in the two places. The results reveal that there were significant differences. Education students in the United…

Faculty members from the University of South Dakota attended the Curriculum Reform Institute offered by the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, WI, during the summer of 2002 to design a course sequence for elementary education majors that better meets their needs for both content and pedagogy based on the science education standards. The special…

A sense of efficacy, the extent to which teachers believe that they have the capacity to affect pupil performance, is related to both teaching behaviors and pupil performance. This study was designed to test the developmental hypothesis that teachers' sense of efficacy would increase during their successful progression through preservice training…

An assessment course for teachers is described that uses validity as the primary focus. Five dimensions of validity for classroom-based assessments are highlighted in a course that relies on the use of a process portfolio. The five dimensions are: (1) looking at the content of the assessment in relation to the content of the domain of reference;…

This study analyzes the reaction essays of 24 elementary preservice teachers who read and discussed the same case. The preservice teachers were in two different sections of the same special topics course. Care was taken to balance the sections as closely as possible by age, ethnicity, and major areas. Graduate discussion leaders were chosen to…

This paper summarizes three presentations on the diverse teaching and assessment strategies used in a course designed to prepare preservice teachers for involving families and the community in the education of children. The course is required for early childhood and elementary teacher education majors at the University of Memphis (Tennessee). The…

Increased interest in teacher cognition has led to new ways of explorating teachers' thoughts and beliefs. The study described here combines elements of two previous studies to make comparisons among similes and simile categories and approaches to classroom teaching. The purpose of the study was to determine the relation between support for…

A program for preservice special education students at William Paterson College (New Jersey) offered participants field experience working with minority and disadvantaged students. Undergraduate students in their sophomore, junior, or senior classes spent one and two hours per week engaged in course assignments with pupils at the school under…

This study compared the affective attributes of a sample of beginning teacher education students in the 1990s with a sample of beginning teacher education students of the 1980's to investigate whether or not educational reform actions were accompanied by changes in the affective characteristics of individuals entering teacher preparation. The data…

This study was conducted to assess differences in preferred learning styles between four groups of preservice teachers (N=568), first year through senior year, and to determine if teaching level interest and gender are also factors associated with learning style preference. Participants completed a questionnaire rating five professors each of whom…

This study was conducted to determine if relationships exist between preservice teachers' preferences for instructional methods, course goals, and learning activities and university level, gender, and teaching level interest. A learning preference questionnaire was administered to 121 freshmen, 165 sophomores, 165 juniors, and 100 seniors all…

The role of self-regulated learning in successful academic performance at the college level was studied. Using a literature review, items were developed for a self-regulated learning questionnaire, which was written as a Likert scale and pilot tested with a small group. Subjects for the study were 39 male and 121 female education majors at a…