Reviews five books for educators: (1) "Once upon a Folktale: Capturing the Folklore Process with Children" (Blatt); (2) "Integrated Studies in the Middle Grades: Dancing through Walls" (Stevenson, Carr); (3) "Conflict in Child and Adolescent Development" (Schantz, Hartup); (4) "Ways of Assessing Children and…

Presents an overview of case-based instruction and a description of how this method might apply to teaching instructional design. Benefits of case studies are reviewed, including promoting professional and personal growth; challenges for instructors and participants are considered; and guidelines for the development and use of case studies are…

Responds to Jean Rudduck's argument that teachers should research their own practice. Maintains the teaching profession needs an autonomous body to accredit teacher education and to regulate curriculum content and assessment procedures. Encourages development of an action research approach to professional development and upgrading quality of…

Discusses how a parent advisory process was used to write professional-education competencies and develop teaching strategies for a military medical school. Includes recommendations for involving parents of young children with special needs in successful advisory activities. (Author/CR)

Current philosophies of facilitation in experiential education can alienate women and minority groups. Identifies four "methods traps" that prevent a methods approach from achieving a more equitable education. Reexamines Kurt Hahn's philosophies of service and self-reliance in light of racial and cultural sensitivities. Includes…

A small instructional group operating on the theories of group dynamics and cooperative learning can be used to effectively teach subjects in adult training programs. Describes useful techniques for developing a supportive and productive climate for adult training, focusing on group organization, group leadership, group characteristics, and…

Explores the efficacy of promoting a beginning chemistry teacher's curriculum development and teaching practices through the use of computers. Observes and analyzes the teacher's instructional practices both before and after the web site treatment which includes pictorial analogies, historical cases of science, and discrepant events. Reports…

Summarizes the Quebec (Canada) province-wide survey conducted by the History Task Force in June 1998 that focused on the status of teaching in elementary social studies and secondary history within the anglophone educational community. Indicates that these teachers want a range of up-to-date classroom materials and are willing to attend…

Surveys part-time faculty teaching transfer courses and finds that the most popular teaching techniques are lecture, class discussion, written feedback, and methods that encourage critical thinking. Reports that faculty who had participated in professional development were more likely to use small group discussions, demonstrations, and activities…

Four-year curriculum-development project involving computing teachers from Scottish schools focused on methods of teaching and assessing computer-program skills at the secondary 3/4 level (14- to 16-year-olds) and the professional development of participants. Findings show that curriculum development can enhance teachers' professional development,…

Evaluated the impact of a professional development project conducted with K-2 teachers at a charter school established specifically for primary students identified as being at risk. Although the ultimate goal of the intervention was to improve students' performance in mathematics, teachers' perceptions were also noted throughout the intervention…

The Georgia Framework for Integrating Technology in the Student-Centered Classroom (InTech) was created as a staff development program to prepare teachers to integrate technology, student learning, and academic goals. Findings from a survey of 68 middle school teachers, 10 with InTech training, 58 without, revealed InTech teachers showed increases…

Teaching in a remote town has its drawbacks with regard to Professional Development (PD), which becomes extremely costly, so each staff member is probably limited to one decent PD once a year. This means choosing PD extremely carefully to ensure "value for money" and hopefully that it will provide the teacher concerned with…

Historically, very little, if any, research that meets the scientifically based standards as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act has been conducted on the effectiveness of educational technology. Clearly, the educational technology community most invest in research and evaluation studies to better guide the effective use of the investment, as…

Reform efforts are often unsuccessful because they failed to understand that teachers play a key role in making educational reforms successful. This paper describes a long-term teacher professional development (PD) program aimed at educating and training teachers to teach interdisciplinary topics using case-based method in science. The research…