This study is an evaluation on whether middle-level mathematics teachers' participation in a week-long in-service course on middle-level mathematics concepts increases their understanding of this content. A secondary purpose of this study is an exploration of teacher perceptions before and after the institute via self-report surveys. Participants…

Although functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs) have been utilized since the 1960s, their use has steadily increased since the passing of IDEA 1997 which mandated their use in specified circumstances. References to FBAs and BIPs in No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the 2004 re-authorization of IDEA, and in…

Although "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) appears to disregard the teaching of social studies, it should not be assumed that teaching and learning in these content areas is of little importance. Prior to NCLB, discussions over social studies and history standards dominated the political and cultural landscapes. The eventual conclusion from…

Why is it so challenging to provide pre-service teachers with adequate competence to cope with the complexity of the classroom context? Three key difficulties are frequently reported as reducing the effectiveness of teacher education programs: the construction of an integrated body of knowledge about teaching, the application of theories to…

In order to begin to understand the current levels of awareness and understanding of teachers regarding visual literacy resources and tools, a descriptive study was recently undertaken by the authors. Data were gathered through a researchers-generated and pilot-tested web-based survey from 43 in-service teachers from the northern Illinois region.…

Teachers' knowledge base and cultural stances affect classroom practice and the school climate. In respect to immigrant populations, teachers' perceptions delimit what students come to believe they can accomplish. Teachers who espouse the goals of cultural pluralism validate the backgrounds of learners as well as legitimize bilingual bicultural…

The question of reaching beyond the borders of the United States and considering an increasing global society must start in concentric circles, with people as center, perhaps beginning from their hearts and certainly with those around them. Therefore, in an effort to model these concentric circles and in the spirit of dialogue, the author asked 4…

This article addresses issues that are related to the empowerment of elementary teachers through teaching and learning science in socially and culturally meaningful contexts. It is based on the analysis of the attitudes and relationship to science of 10 elementary school teachers from inner city schools in Caracas, Venezuela. In the context of a…

A participatory culture driven by user-generated content has emerged in the world outside schools. Each day, more than 100,000 videos are uploaded to YouTube alone. According to the Digital Ethnography group at Kansas State University, 80% of the two-minute video clips are created by the users who post them--teenage authors working outside school.…

This paper explores the development of student-teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) during pre-service education. Four student-teachers in mathematics and science participated in a project teaching physics to students aged 9-11 years once a week over a 12-month period. One-third of the lessons were videotaped and the student-teachers were…

While the use of situated cognition theory in teacher education programmes has the potential to teach prospective teachers, research on teacher knowledge and learning from a situated perspective has been slow to emerge in reference to prospective teacher education. In this paper, we present a situated case-based knowledge framework to explain the…

Teacher education has struggled to better prepare beginning teachers for an increasingly diverse student population. This research examines the role that cooperating teachers play in developing multicultural/equity pedagogy knowledge and skills among student teachers. Five cooperating teachers working in California, USA, each of whom had extensive…

At many colleges, professors trained in the discipline of rhetoric and composition are finding that the specialized knowledge they bring to teaching writing is held in thrall to older notions of how students learn to write--what Linda Brodkey, an author and director of the Warren College Writing Program at the University of California at San…

By virtue of the non-profit nature of school education, a professional virtual community composed of teachers provides precious data to understand the processes of knowledge sharing and creation. Guided by grounded theory, the authors conducted a three-phased study on a teachers' virtual community in order to understand the knowledge flows among…

The current literature indicates a need for quality studies on how best to close the achievement gap between elementary English language learners (ELLs) and their English speaking peers. The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methods research study was to determine the relationship between standards-based differentiated instructional…