This study explores how adapted action research could act as a catalyst for change in curriculum development and be used as an instructional strategy in a music teacher education programme to enhance the reflective practice of student-teachers. Two cases of in-service, part-time student-teachers of a music teacher programme who conducted an…

This study examined the concerns and experiences of Malaysian student teachers during their practicum. The 14 student teachers who volunteered were asked to maintain a reflective journal throughout their practicum to document their teaching concerns and confidence to teach. Eighteen derived concerns were identified and placed into four main…

Accompanying the emergence of blog technology as a dominant online publishing paradigm is a growing interest in its educational benefits and applications. This study sets out to develop an empirically grounded framework for educational blogging in the context of teacher education. A working framework was first proposed that highlights four areas:…

This article provides an inside look at Barbara Knighton's classroom teaching. She uses big ideas to guide her planning and instruction and gives other teachers suggestions for adopting the big idea approach and ways for making the approach easier. This article also represents a "small slice" of a dozen years of collaborative research,…

This study assessed student attitude towards reformed laboratories featuring a factorial design of inquiry (IN) and explicit/reflective (ER) pedagogy to foster nature of science understanding. Students in thirty-one lab sections responded to pre and post semester assessments of their confidence, perception of usefulness, and effectance motivation…

This paper discusses facilitating student collegiality within diverse student groups. It argues that diverse student groups of international, domestic, mature age and Gen Y students often have similar difficulties and strengths although they may occur for quite different reasons and understanding this is useful when deciding on teaching and…

While mathematics education researchers have long characterized student performance marked by mathematical explanations, arguments, and justifications as evidence of mathematical reasoning and understanding (e.g. Schoenfeld, 1992), current education policy has begun to move in a similar direction, emphasizing sense making and mathematical…

This article draws from situated learning theory, teacher education research, and the authors' collaborative self-study to propose a teacher education pedagogy that may help to bridge the theory-into-practice gap for preservice teachers. First, we review the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium standards to confirm the call for…

This article examines the use and benefits of communities of practice (CoPs) in academic settings. In the 2010-2011 academic year Teaching Support Services at Wilfrid Laurier University introduced four theme-based CoPs for faculty and academic support staff after a successful pilot initiative. This article explores our motivation for focusing our…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce an approach to business simulation with less dependence on business simulation software to provide innovative work experience within a programme of study, to boost students' confidence and employability. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on analysis of existing business simulation…

This article examines the experiences of seven teacher educators who met monthly over one academic year to engage in a collaborative self-study focused on exploring the text, "Developing a Pedagogy of Teacher Education: Understanding Teaching and Learning about Teaching." Through reflective discussion focused on relating the text to our…

This mixed-methods study explored (a) the purposes for which teachers selected video clips of their own literacy teaching and assessment practices to share and discuss with peers, (b) how these purposes were related to the content of the discussions, and (c) what variables were related to teachers' generation of new ideas and future actions that…

We describe courses designed to help future teachers reflect on and discuss both physics content and student knowledge thereof. We use three kinds of activities: reading and discussing the literature, experiencing research-based curricular materials, and learning to use the basic research methods of physics education research. We present a general…

Instructional coaching is an innovative approach to professional development that, while challenging, has significant benefits for teachers and children. Using reflective practice strategies--including posing open-ended questions to teachers and videotaping classes--coaches help teachers analyze their teaching and its impact on children. Coaches…

Using the example of student-generated midterm exams produced during a university classroom exercise, this narrative account examines student-centered pedagogy from both the university faculty and student perspectives. The central question revolved around how to actively engage a community of diverse university students from different academic,…