Examines the collaborative efforts of a mathematics educator and statistician to help prospective elementary teachers develop statistical knowledge and experience through merging statistical investigation into existing elementary curricula. Offers insight into preservice teachers' statistical and pedagogical content knowledge based on their…

Determines elementary teachers' knowledge of: current children's literature; children's books in six literary genres; and activities to promote students' recreational reading. Replicates a 1981 study to determine the level of knowledge possessed by today's teachers concerning children's literature and methods of increasing students' reading for…

Reports on a one semester course, "Earth Systems Science for Educators" designed to use an active learning approach to improve student knowledge of basic Earth science concepts. Reports that, based on pre- and post-course assessments of 108 elementary and middle-level education majors who took the class from 1998 to 2000, there was an average…

Highlights the issues raised with regard to preservice teacher confidence, attitude and course provision by the decision to expose them to deficits in their content knowledge at the beginning of their training period. (Author/MM)

Discusses a study that revealed that science teachers, like their students, are capable of handling positive experimental results but fail to evaluate negative results appropriately. Describes a teaching strategy designed to help teachers develop an understanding of the concept of negative results and to apply the idea to different contexts.…

In a recent report, EdSource examines how Californians' concern for teacher quality has created new tensions. The desire for stronger accountability and better teacher evaluation standards can compete (when allocating time, attention, and money) with the need for higher quality professional development. Accountability and teacher skills are…

Asserts that the central problem of the analysis by M. Wang, G. Haertel, and H. Walberg is that they tend to view the teacher, at least implicitly, as the compliant beneficiary of the knowledge of the educational researcher. Any knowledge base that aims to affect classroom practice should take into account and respect the teacher's world.…

Asserts that because M. Wang, G. Haertel, and H. Walberg never clarify the contours of their "knowledge base for school learning," it is difficult to know what their broad-based comparison of research studies has really yielded. Explores dilemmas posed by the methodology of the study. (SLD)

Addresses issues related to the ways teachers learn mathematics and the teaching of mathematics, and the relevance of those ways to their professional development. Mathematical experiences need to be congruous with the kind of teaching expected of the reflexive, adaptive teacher. Presents both practical and theoretical considerations of how these…

Discusses what important ideas about forms of knowing mathematics should be included in mathematics methods courses for preservice teachers. Proposes ideas related to Shulman's framework of teacher knowledge. Provides a brief discussion of the implications each idea holds for teaching mathematics, and makes some suggestions about experiences that…

Describes a course in Cantorian Set Theory relating to prospective secondary mathematics teachers' tendencies to overgeneralize from finite to infinite sets. Indicates that when comparing the number of elements in infinite sets, teachers who took the course were more successful and more consistent in their use of single method than those who…

Reports on the third of a line of investigations that examine pre-service teachers' conceptions of nature of science (NOS) and the translation of those conceptions into classroom practice. Delineates the effectiveness of an intervention designed to facilitate pre-service teachers' inclusion of NOS in their classroom teaching. (Author/MM)

Student teachers (n=40) worked in pairs on a structural design problem-solving activity. Their preconceptions about such concepts as strength and force were challenged and reconstructed in the process. Stronger links between scientific thinking and teacher knowledge were urged. (Contains 45 references.) (SK)

Currently enthusiasm for mentoring of new teachers has re-emerged among teacher employing authorities in Australia and the United States. The literature on mentoring provides strong support for the importance of mentoring in retaining good teachers and in invigorating the teaching workforce; it also abounds in practical strategies and processes…

In each of three consecutive years, 16 teachers were admitted to a program in which they participated in a study group to reform their teaching practices in mathematics. The 48 (total) elementary school teachers in this program were selected to ensure diversity of setting--urban and suburban, as well as public and parochial. Teachers routinely met…