This paper describes the evolution of a graduate program in education called "Cognitive Development and Teaching Strategy." The thesis of the course is that developmental theory offers insights which can help teachers create a "thinking environment" in their classrooms. Each successive version of the course exemplified a different view of the…

In the article, authors identify some of the problems in the present notions of reflective teaching. The authors argue that none of these conceptions deal with reflection itself in a reflexive way. They tend to use theories of reflection as a canopy for their own "middle level" theorizing about reflective teaching. First, the authors…

In this article, I examine the potential roles of reflective writing in ESOL teachers' learning and professional renewal. I demonstrate its importance with insights from aspects of a study on the accounts ESOL teachers construct when they do write about teaching.

Instructional designers regularly engage in a process of professional and personal transformation that has the potential to transform the culture of institutions through faculty-client relationships. Instructional designers promote new ideas and understandings in social contexts that include other designers and clients, among others. This research…

When we learn, we learn through our own experiences. So when we teach, how do we incorporate our own invaluable life lessons into a state mandated curriculum? Dale Brubaker's "Revitalizing Curriculum Leadership" provides an innovative and liberating solution to this problem. In this updated resource, the author tells why educators need to move…

Partners in Quality is a research and development project sponsored by the Canadian Child Care Federation and its affiliates to explore how child care providers, parents, and other partners can work together to support and improve quality in child care. This booklet, in both English and French, supplements a series to support child care providers…

This book considers education policy throughout the 1990s. It outlines curriculum innovation, teacher professionalism and school improvement. Whitty evaluates Labour education policy in terms of its fostering of social justice and inclusion. Though challenging, this is an interesting book for those working in education who are seeking a political…

High stakes testing presents a significant problem for the design of effective professional development. The absurdity of asking teachers and administrators to raise test scores constantly encourages teachers to teach to the test without regard for the intellectual development of students. This case study from Texas describes the reflective…

The paper is based upon a case-study of mentoring in teacher education in Norway. It describes the practice of the cooperating teacher and how mentoring in the practice-field contributes to student teachers learning. The main focus is how student teachers develop pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics through reflections with the mentor…

I clarify in this chapter what Iran can learn from Japan's experience of jugyou kenkyuu(lesson study) model, and what we can apply to the Iranian educational context. The chapter also discusses the process, progress and challenges of incorporating jugyou kenkyuu into Iranian teacher training. I examine how Iranian teachers and school…

The goal of this study was to understand how preservice biology teachers progress in an open-inquiry research program on the ecological physiology of a tree frog. The project involved students (N=10) in a spring semester and summer workshop. Multiple data sources were established including classroom discussion, group meetings, weekly reflection…

This study explores the nature and meaning of various epistemological and affective issues that shape elementary teachers' work, such as ways of knowing, beliefs about the nature of science, values, emotions, and teachers' images of themselves as knowers. Through analyses of two teachers' narratives, classroom observations, and instructional…

This paper is a narrative account of a critical classroom episode in the life of a beginning secondary science teacher. Emphasis is placed on a beginning science teacher's prior knowledge of effective science instruction and is used to guide on-going classroom practices to facilitate student learning. The story is created from classroom…

To help educators better understand how to prepare reflective teachers, this study examined four preservice elementary teachers' theories regarding how elementary children learn and what instruction should look like. Participants designed and implemented learning activities for elementary students. Each activity was videotaped, observed, and…

This study, part of a graduate level social studies methods course at a large midwestern university, investigated beginning teachers' ideas about teaching and learning social studies before and after their participation in a set of open-ended interviews with children in the elementary grades. The interviews were designed to give new teachers…