Articulates methodology for studying mathematics-teacher development in the context of reform. Provides an approach to understanding teachers' current practices and viewing their current practices in the context of development towards envisioned reforms. Applies conceptual frameworks developed within the mathematics-education research community to…

Reports on a study that investigated prospective elementary teachers' knowledge and convictions regarding content, pedagogy, and pupil needs as well as their rationales for mathematics teaching. Discusses results by way of confronting the school as a locus for serious learning, and perceiving the school as a playhouse. Contains 44 references.…

Explores the role of research in the educational reform process by examining two research-informed professional development programs focusing on changing teachers' beliefs and practices. The Cognitively Guided Instruction program and the Integrating Mathematics Assessment projects provide contexts for examining the influence of teachers' knowledge…

Examines the role that students' science concepts play in promoting teachers' professional growth. Journals and portfolios showed that students' science knowledge served as discrepant events that evoked teachers' dissatisfaction with their own content knowledge and motivated them to reconsider their pedagogical practices. (Author/CCM)

Reflects on the cultural politics of knowledge production since World War II, in which the techno-scientific knowledge base was used to dominate cultural time and space. Examines the status of liberal education and adult education research as a source of productive knowledge, as well as the selection of which knowledge is valued. (SK)

This article describes the Gifted Education Knowledge Scale, a rating scale for assessing educators' knowledge about gifted education. Information about item selection, content validity, reliability, and internal consistence is provided. (DB)

Discusses the scholarship of teaching as a process comprised of reflection on experience-based knowledge and research-based knowledge on teaching. Concepts of content, process, and premise reflection are used to derive three domains of knowledge about teaching--instructional, pedagogical, and curricular. Concludes that scholarship in teaching is…

Discusses the need for specialization of teachers in the elementary grades. Provides two examples of elementary specialization from Sweden and South Korea. Calls for elementary mathematics specialization in the United States. (Contains 11 references.) (ASK)

Describes a series of five one semester courses attended jointly by prospective and practicing teachers of grades K-8 and in which practicing teachers act as mentors for prospective teachers. (Author/MM)

Review of research on school and teacher effectiveness in literacy identified a core of best practices. However, potential conflicts between the findings and present educational policies, particularly in the areas of context specificity and classroom level, raise some concerns. (SK)

Discusses an attempt to promote the development of prospective elementary teachers' own subject-matter knowledge of the division of fractions as well as their awareness of nature and likely sources of related common misconceptions held by children. Indicates that before the described mathematics methods course, most participants knew how to divide…

Surveys 28 programs that offer doctoral degrees in mass communication or journalism. Finds that 4 programs place significant emphasis on teaching as a form of scholarship in their focus of domains of knowledge related directly to teaching and learning, with 2 of the 4 further including disciplinarity as an important foundation of understanding for…

Regards Poole's book for inservice and preservice teachers addressing questions about how, why, and when to use educational technology as well-organized and comprehensive. Notes a contradiction about the teacher's relationship to technology and pedagogy; highlights Poole's suggestions for addressing, on site, teachers' lack of knowledge about…

Discusses: (1) "Growing Pains: The Making of America's Middle School Teachers" (McEwin and Scales); (2) "The Professional Preparation of Middle School Teachers: Profiles of Successful Programs" (McEwin and Dickinson); (3) "A Vision of Excellence: Organizing Principles for Middle Grades Teacher Education" (McEwin, Dickinson, Erb, and Scales); and…

Suggests that the physics that students find interesting and absorbing is not necessarily that which curriculum planners think it ought to be. Finds that what is crucial is thorough preparation, equipment that works, and the support of a skilled laboratory technician. (Author/CCM)