"EFF HOT (Highlights on Teaching Topics) Topics" is a publication of the EFF (Equipped for the Future) Center for Training and Technical Assistance. Each issue concentrates on a specific topic, highlighting examples of actual practice and offering strategies and tools for using EFF in the classroom. This issue of "HOT Topics"…

Constructivist theory has brought significant momentum to all aspects of teacher education. Currently, personal growth of the individual in educational domains is so important that teacher candidates are asked to develop their reflective skills in many courses so that they grow by having internalized and problematized the issues under study by…

This study followed a small but diverse group of biology teachers through the first two years of the pilot for a new Advanced Level Biology course--Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology. SNAB aims to modernise A-level Biology using real world contexts and examples as the starting point, promoting conceptual understanding rather than factual recall,…

This study investigated preservice teachers' intentions to integrate democratic practice into their teaching and the influence of attitudes and beliefs on intentions. Participants were 76 undergraduates from 3 social studies methods classes. A theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) guided instrument development. Intention was…

This paper is to explore "I-would-have-had-more-success-if...," the reflections of a beginning online teacher and her students in an undergraduate Web-based course. The data used in the paper was gathered using the instructor's journals, student feedback, and an analysis of online discussions. The instructor maintained journals reflecting upon…

This article is based on a study conducted in a teacher education classroom in an attempt to 1) recognize and acknowledge teacher candidates' prior beliefs and experiences; 2) formalize the connection between theories of child development and learning and teacher's implicit beliefs; and 3) encourage teacher candidates to reflect on their own…

In the past decade the demand for highly qualified and especially trained teachers of students with special needs has exceeded the supply. To meet this deficit, alternative programs have sprouted up across the country. One such program, at CSU Fullerton, is successfully trying to fill that gap. Some 280 students have completed the requirements of…

Even elementary school children can build positive character traits like caring, citizenship, cooperation, courage, fairness, honesty, respect, and responsibility. The true stories, inspiring quotations, thought-provoking dilemmas, and activities in this book help kids grow into capable, moral teens and adults. This guide includes: (1)…

The study used a qualitative approach to examine the development of metacognitive awareness strategies among student writers. The purposes of the study were to determine the indices of metacognitive awareness strategies used by students, the role of preservice teachers, and the relevance of instructional strategies. Participants were preservice…

This paper explores democratic learning and global citizenship through a study of one university's implementation of one-unit seminars. Specifically, the authors examine qualitative outcomes from faculty and students participating in one-unit seminars focused on the events of September 11. The authors conclude that such seminars have the potential…

Twelve instructors' reflections lead to engagement and proactivity in pedagogical knowledge, thus building an analytical approach which is fundamental to the development of university professional practice. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential of asynchronous discussion forums (ADFs) as a medium to facilitate reflective thinking among preservice teachers. Of particular interest was the extent and manner in which this potential varies with respect to (a) the structure of the ADF, (b) the focus of the ADF, and (c) group dynamics.…

This article outlines the design of a new service-learning component central to a graduate course on teaching elementary and middle school writing. The service-learning involves course participants acting as mentors to middle school students as they write personal histories of local African American, Cape Verdean, and Puerto Rican senior citizens.…

This paper is the result of a research project that set out to document a group of adolescent musicians in a rural Australian secondary school as they wrote and performed their own music. The processes they developed are reflective of a cooperative approach to group composition where upwards of 21 students composed and "jammed" their way…

In Sweden, governmental decision-making is based on a social-democratic ideology and a system of representative democracy. In citizens' meetings, the democratic values and norms, that are both a requirement and goal, at are formed. This concept of democracy, and the value system behind it, permeates Swedish culture, and its institutions and…