Background: Much of the research related to Teach For America (TFA) is related to the concerns surrounding whether such teachers should assume primary teaching responsibility and whether alternatively certified teachers are effective in the classroom. This research study takes a different approach and moves the conversation into a new domain of…

Constructivism posits that the teacher's role is to help their students to actively construct new understanding for themselves. Diagnosis of students' prior understanding followed by carefully planned teaching sequences enables learners to grasp hitherto unknown concepts. Assessing whether they can then apply their new knowledge in new contexts…

Preparing early childhood and early childhood special education preservice teachers for inclusive settings is the focus of this article. The need for all teachers to be prepared for inclusive settings has become evident with the growing diversity of children in every classroom. Integrating inclusive content throughout the teacher preparation…

This case study of a fifth-year elementary intern's pathway in learning to teach science focused on her science methods course, placement science teaching, and reflections as a first-year teacher. We studied the sociocultural contexts within which the intern learned, their affordances and constraints, and participants' perspectives on their roles…

This case study examined the integration of a media annotation tool ("MAT") into the learning and assessment activities of an undergraduate teaching (physical education) course. The media form or artefact for annotation was video recordings demonstrating individual learners' teaching practice. The learners categorised (marked sections)…

This study used metaphors as a tool to gain insight about preservice teachers' conceptualizations of the role of the teacher and the learner and held the view that the examination of these metaphors might provide an opportunity for teacher educators to reflectively and critically examine those beliefs. Thus, this research examined possible…

In this study, I recount my experiences teaching elementary literacy methods courses and interacting with my racial Others--my White preservice teachers/students, senior faculty, and administrators at a predominantly White university in the rural Mountain West. Using an ethnographic approach (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 1995), I analyzed students'…

The aim of this study is to report findings from the Drawing-Elementary-Science-Teacher-Ideal-Not, or the DESTIN procedure. The study utilizes a simple drawing procedure accompanied by a narrative and discussion for understanding preservice teachers' images of science, science teaching, and the science teacher. Ninety drawings from two sections of…

Students are often unable to collect the real-time data necessary for conducting inquiry in science classrooms. Web-based, real-time data could, therefore, offer a promising tool for conducting scientific inquiries within classroom environments. This study used a quasi-experimental research design to investigate the effects of inquiry-based…

Few question the benefits technology provides for learners, teachers and administrators. Yet, few touch on what undesirable effects it may have on individuals' educational and social wellbeing. Based on this premise, this study aims to provide a fair picture of a group of English Language Teaching (ELT) students reflecting on their experience…

Teacher educators are constantly revisiting and revising their teacher education programs. Historically, research, educational policy, and accreditation requirements have been the impetus for renewal in teacher education. For the past 20 years, technology innovation has played an increasingly significant role in rethinking teacher education. This…

Place-based science education engages with the laboratories of complex reality where natural processes combine with social practice, going beyond the physical world, to encompass the meanings and sense of attachment local residents feel for places. This brief report describes how a university science methods class in a primary teacher training…

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop an instrument that can measure teacher beliefs about mathematical discourse as a continuum by exploring and describing qualitatively distinct levels of teacher beliefs, namely, Univocal, Partial Univocal, Emerging Dialogical, and Dialogical. Prior research indicates the importance of understanding…

This paper articulates features of Internet literacy practices that preservice mathematics and science teachers found compelling and important for their pupils' learning. As part of secondary mathematics and science methods courses, 24 mathematics and science preservice teachers (PSTs) conducted a scaffolded investigation into the literacy…

As the concept of "inclusive education" has gained currency, students who would previously have been referred to specialist forms of provision, having been judged "less able", are now believed to belong in mainstream classrooms. However, it is often argued that teachers lack the necessary knowledge and skills to work with such students in…