Quality teacher education programs provide candidates with many early field experiences in diverse settings. This Digest examines complexities and challenges of early field experiences, noting the nature and degree of early field experiences within teacher education programs. Through field experiences, teacher candidates observe and work with real…

Described here is the implementation of a field experience sequence into a course entitled "Preschool and Primary School Physical Education." (Author/JA)

Discusses three developments in higher education that offer possibilities for cooperative efforts that could lead to significant improvements in undergraduate programs: cluster colleges, field study programs, and new techniques for teaching and learning. (Author/PG)

Students in the nonintegrated research seminar display more positive attitudes toward and gained greater knowledge of the research process when compared to students in the integrated seminar. (Editor/KE)

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine on a preliminary basis whether or not change in teaching behavior would occur as a result of selected kinds of field experiences in the pre-service education of teachers for inner city schools. The hypothesis tested was that students who have specific exposures in agencies serving inner city residents…

Information from a study of experiences of 45 Australian university teachers supports a view of teaching that enables students to enter a field as practitioners. Alternative ways in which teachers see the content of their courses are described, with a focus on enriching students' experiences of the field. (SLD)

The Integrative Processing Model guides students in thinking about their field experiences so that they systematically draw upon various components of their education (such as knowledge, skills, self-awareness, and professional values) to inform their work. The model assists students in maintaining an integrative focus in the field experience.…

In this essay the authors describe how four seminary educators pedagogically engage students in practices of interpretation and explore how the variations in their teaching practices shape the critical thinking they seek to cultivate in their students. The piece is excerpted from an ethnographic study of Jewish and Christian seminary educator…

Undergraduate geography field courses are relatively rare at American universities, though they can exemplify well the fundamental tenets of learner-centered education. This article reports on an intensive three-week field analysis course taught at Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff, within the Department of Geography, Planning, and…

Field experiences are critical to teacher learning and enhance the effectiveness of methods courses; however, when methods courses are offered in the summer, traditional school-based field experiences are not possible. This article describes an alternative campus-based experience created as part of an elementary science methods course. The Summer…

Researchers have noted that technological innovation and advocacy has far outpaced research on how teachers learn to incorporate technologies into their classrooms, perhaps leading to slower integration of technologies into schools. Therefore, the purpose of the study was use cognitive developmental learning theory to examine shifts in preservice…

The 2008 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages focused on learning about the diverse backgrounds and needs of today's students. The 2009 Conference continued that focus and added diversity by instructors in using a variety of teaching methods, strategies, themes, technologies, and assessments. Presenters from all 17 states…

This qualitative study, grounded in Dewey's theory of experience, explores what six recent graduates claimed to learn from a university music teacher education program's methods course, early field experiences, and student teaching. These teachers identified common elements of learning from the course, although they shaped and applied those…

"Hard Science" is designed to teach 1st grade gifted students accurate and high level science concepts. It is based upon their experience of the world and attempts to build a foundation for continued love and enjoyment of science. "Hard Science" provides field experiences and opportunities for hands-on discovery working beside experts in the field…

Students who participate in simplified research projects, as compared with students who take tests, display more awareness of sociology's methods of inquiry and purposes of research. (Author/DE)