Educators are experiencing a knowledge crisis and, as a result, they are committing epistemological suicide. The crisis is born out of two different conceptions of teacher knowledge, each containing a limitation that generates fissures within the respective knowledge paradigm. Educators commit epistemic suicide when surveillance technologies,…

This article examines the relationship between faculty's professional and personal backgrounds and the extent to which they incorporate an approach to teaching for global awareness and intercultural sensitivity into their curriculum. Through an analysis of the pertinent literature, the study examines the relevant theoretical frameworks of personal…

Probability is an important idea with a remarkably wide range of applications. However, psychological and instructional studies conducted in the last two decades have consistently documented poor understanding of probability among different populations across different settings. The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical framework for…

Exemplary teachers do work with happy children and youth in productive classrooms because the best teachers work to develop communities of learners where people cooperate with each other and have strong expectations for good work and high achievement. Teachers in these classrooms are lifelong learners who appear to have boundless energy and…

As a facilitator of professional development for preschool teachers, the author is continually faced with questions related to the great divide between theory and practice. Although most child care professionals learn that developmentally appropriate practices support the holistic growth of young children during their initial training, many…

Over the past thirty years, numerous studies confirmed that new teachers do not have the requisite knowledge to understand the complex interrelationships among management, behavior, and academic tasks. An important missing piece in the literature is how the concerns of experienced teachers differ from those cited by beginning teachers. Based on…

In spite of repeated reform efforts, there is research and data that suggest that teachers lack the needed knowledge to successfully teach elementary mathematics. Some argue that teachers lack the needed content knowledge while other argue that a lack of confidence and practice are impacting teachers' ability to successful teach mathematics. As a…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine agricultural science teacher comfort with a new high school Advanced Life Science: Animal course and determine their perceptions of student impact. The advanced science course is eligible for college credit. The teachers revealed they felt confident of their science background in preparation…

Within the past 20 years, the arts have gained increasing prominence in educational discourses as well as public arenas. At the same time that traditional genres of art (e.g., music, visual art, and performance) are being taught as part of school curricula, the study of the arts in education has taken on new venues in supporting learning and…

The author conducted research in Jordan, where he interviewed secondary school social studies teachers about their perspectives on teaching critical-thinking skills in their classrooms. All interviews were audiotaped or videotaped in Arabic and later translated into English. The author qualitatively analyzed data, including the translations of the…

In 1989, the delegate assembly of the Council for Exceptional Children began the process of developing standards of knowledge and skills for all beginning teachers of special education, including teachers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Now in its third major revision, these standards provide guidance to states' departments of…

The Science Belief Test is an online instrument comprised of 47 statements that require true or false responses and request written explanations to accompany these responses. It targets topics in chemistry, physics, biology, earth science, and astronomy and was initially designed to assess preservice elementary teachers' beliefs about general…

Decisions by markers about quality in student work remain confusing to most students and markers. This may in part be due to the relatively subjective nature of what constitutes a quality response to an assessment task. This paper reports on an experiment that documented the process of decision-making by multiple markers at a university who…

It is well established that teacher quality is one of the most significant school influences on student achievement. Unfortunately, it is less clear how teacher preparation programs can prepare and recruit effective educators for every classroom. As the global economy demands that all students are college and career ready after high school,…

The middle grades are in crisis. By state and national measures, student achievement gains realized in the elementary grades all too often diminish by grade 8. In most states, the considerable policy focus on high schools in recent years has not trickled down to a focus on the middle grades --yet preparation for "college- and work-ready standards"…