The way teachers understand mathematics strongly influences their teaching and what pupils learn. Describes the influence of two variables on preservice teachers' performance: (1) the presence of a formal definition; and (2) previous classroom activities that addressed the concept of the altitude of a triangle. (Contains 30 references.)…

Finds that only half of practicing science teachers and a third of pre-service teachers surveyed in Singapore agreed with statements that biological evolution has a valid scientific basis. (Contains 12 references.) (WRM)

Describes a study of the professional qualifications of high school physics teachers conducted by the American Institute of Physics (AIP). Concludes that high school physics teachers are better trained than they are given credit for, and that instances of utterly unqualified instructors are rare. (WRM)

This article reports on a one-day workshop in New York to provide practical information and training for teaching assistants working in the mainstream classroom setting with students who have visual impairments. The workshop provided information on "myths" versus "facts" of visual impairment, eye conditions, orientation and mobility, technology,…

Illustrates major arguments for narrowing the source of teaching expertise to considerations built on teacher-based knowledge and experience, examining sociopolitical concerns that attend the arguments. Introduces a case for widening the pale of consideration, offering an alternative way to think about the sources of teaching expertise that…

Examines the ways in which teachers' language awareness affects their pedagogical practice. Considers the relationship between teacher language awareness and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Proposes a model in which the second language teacher's language awareness is seen as a sub-component of PCK, forming a bridge between content knowledge…

This study investigates in-service early childhood teachers' "practical knowledge" (Elbaz, 1981) in implementing changes in the classroom in the Republic of Singapore. In Singapore, many early childhood classrooms are teacher-directed where learning takes place in large groups. As part of the in-service teacher education program, a…

Whatever happens in 2020, schools and teachers will be very different. The teachers in training now, and those currently teaching, need to be prepared to be flexible, to manage change, and more than that, to be agents of change. Those 18-year-olds currently entering training began school in 1991; they are truly National Curriculum babies and, the…

This article analyses findings from two studies conducted collaboratively across two educational settings, New Zealand and England, in 2001-2002. These studies examined the impact of national educational policy reforms on the nature of primary teachers' work and sense of their own professionalism and compared these impacts across the two…

Recent national developments in the teaching of literacy in the early years in the UK mean that teachers need to have explicit fluent knowledge of the sound structure of the language and its relationship to orthography in order to teach reading effectively. In this study, a group of 38 graduate trainee primary teachers were given a pencil and…

Concern is rising in some quarters that the No Child Left Behind Act permits foreign companies to provide federally financed online tutoring to students at underperforming schools. Such arrangements appear to constitute only a minute fraction of the tutoring business that is mushrooming under the federal law. Nine members of Congress asked the…

Through their own pedagogically oriented inquiry-based learning, teachers become better prepared to support an increasingly diverse student population in their learning.

This article explores how the nature of history as a subject has shaped the subcultural identities of the eight teachers in the History Department of an Irish post-primary school. Using a biographical, cultural and micropolitical framework popular within symbolic interactionism, this case study is based on data gathered over three years from…

In Hong Kong, preschool education has been viewed either as preparation for primary education or as custodial care to suit working mothers. These ambiguous images of preschool teachers and teaching are definitely a roadblock to professionalization. This paper critically analyzes the professionalization of preschool education in the local context.…

This paper engages with poststructural ideas for a discussion on what it means to engage in pedagogical work in the context of elementary/primary school mathematics classrooms. Central to the analysis are the pre-service student and the part that the teaching practicum plays in the "making" of a teacher. Drawing on insights from the work of…