In the author's previous teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) experience, he had found that Chinese university students were overdependent on teachers in EFL learning. Drawing on research on language learning strategies, he used metacognition training (MT) as a form of classroom intervention to promote learner autonomy. This article…

Teacher beliefs have become important constructs in educational research with the recognition that beliefs are the best indicators of teachers' planning, decision-making and subsequent classroom behaviour. In this movement many probes and strategies have been employed by researchers for effective data collection and analysis. This paper discusses…

Students from a predominantly White state at a predominantly White institution, working and living within predominantly White communities, have limited experience engaging with people of color. This lack of experience has at least two consequences. First, students tend to define "diversity" simply as non-White racial and ethnic identity, failing…

The Interactive Teaching and ICT project explores the process of interactive teaching and learning with and without information and communications technology. A key technique in the authors' methodology has been the use of video-stimulated reflective dialogue to assist teachers to reflect on key episodes in their teaching. In this paper the…

This article describes psychodrama action techniques that were effectively implemented in a university-level race relations course. Essential elements of these techniques included acting out and critical self-examination of the individual's personal beliefs. In a semi-structured class format in which uncensored spontaneity was stressed, students…

The "Educational Media and Technology Yearbook" is dedicated to theoretical, empirical and practical approaches to educational media development. All chapters are invited and selected based on a variety of strategies to determine current trends and issues in the field. The 2009 edition will highlight innovative Trends and Issues in…

This article reports data from a study about the challenges of teaching reform carried out by three in-service kindergarten teachers in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Intending to improve the quality of teaching and learning, these teachers adapted Western teaching approaches such as High Scope and Project approaches, which they had…

In this article two teacher educators describe an approach they have used with preservice early childhood and early childhood special education majors. They explain how the approach that they call "stories about teaching" resembles, yet differs from case study methods. The authors explain the process they used to develop, pilot, and use stories…

While problem-based learning (PBL) has a relatively long history of successful use in medical and pre-professional schools, it has yet to be widely adopted by K--12 teachers. This may be due, in part, to the numerous challenges teachers experience when implementing PBL. In this paper, we describe specific hurdles that teachers are likely to…

This qualitative study explores the techniques, materials and processes of a Black teacher and a White teacher who introduced issues of race and racism in their team-taught high school class. The teachers explicitly put the issues of race and racism on the table, asked questions that challenged students to think about the topics, and used…

Action learning is based on the premise that action and learning are inextricably entwined and it is this potential, to enable action, which has contributed to the growth of action learning within education and management development programmes. However has this growth in action learning lead to an evolution or a dilution of Revan's classical…

This paper reports on a comparison of two research approaches of the study of the reflective practice in two different modes of tele-guidance of the school practicum. The results of two studies were contrasted encouraging the dialogue between researchers coming from different research paradigms. Although the researchers in the two studies shared…

"EFF HOT (Highlights on Teaching Topics) Topics" is a publication of the EFF (Equipped for the Future) Center for Training and Technical Assistance. Each issue concentrates on a specific topic, highlighting examples of actual practice and offering strategies and tools for using EFF in the classroom. This issue of "HOT Topics"…

This study followed a small but diverse group of biology teachers through the first two years of the pilot for a new Advanced Level Biology course--Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology. SNAB aims to modernise A-level Biology using real world contexts and examples as the starting point, promoting conceptual understanding rather than factual recall,…

This study investigated preservice teachers' intentions to integrate democratic practice into their teaching and the influence of attitudes and beliefs on intentions. Participants were 76 undergraduates from 3 social studies methods classes. A theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) guided instrument development. Intention was…