Recently, the Department of Teacher Education and the Liberal Studies Program in the School of Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) collaborated in developing a Blended Liberal Studies/Teacher Education Program (BLTEP) for upper division transfer students interested in completing an elementary credential. The BLTEP…

This paper draws on data collected in a one-year research project focusing on elucidating theory/practice relations in learning to teach. As a teacher educator I grapple with the nature and role of teaching methodology. The notion of method, with its implied order and certainty, is confronted alongside prospective teachers throughout their…

Student achievement and attitudes toward mathematics are influenced by the teacher, emphasizing the importance of quality teacher preparation. This study explored different preparations and the impact on pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. The sample included 96 pre-service teachers enrolled in a math course at one Midwestern…

This article presents a study that aims at constructing a teaching framework for software development methods in higher education. The research field is a capstone project-based course, offered by the Technion's Department of Computer Science, in which Extreme Programming is introduced. The research paradigm is an Action Research that involves…

To provide graduate students in pharmacology/toxicology exposure to, and cross-training in, a variety of relevant laboratory skills, the Duquesne University School of Pharmacy developed a "methods" course as part of the core curriculum. Because some of the participating departmental faculty are neuroscientists, this course often applied…

The Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium's (INTASC's) (1992) standards for beginning teachers and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' core propositions highlight the importance of collaborative problem solving for teachers. They suggest teachers work together with other school professionals, parents, and…

For students in social studies methods courses, demonstration activities serve a twofold purpose: They help university students to become social studies teachers and they encourage elementary school children to learn social studies. In this article, the authors report on three social studies demonstration activities: (1) International Cultural…

The study reported in this article delineates preservice teachers' perceptions of readiness to effectively teach elementary language arts before and after a site-based methods course. Their perceptions are also compared to those of inservice teachers in public elementary schools. Results indicate that perceptions of comfort and confidence for…

As elementary social science methods instructors, the authors observed a need in their student population for instructional methods that would engage students in the content, process, and values of geography instruction. Their initial purpose was to create an instructional model that pre-service teachers could adapt and use in their future…

Self-efficacy has been shown to be an issue of concern for primary teacher education students--many of them have low self-efficacy and this can negatively affect their future teaching of science. Previous research has identified four factors that may contribute towards self-efficacy: enactive mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal…

Radio telemetry data available via the internet are used to facilitate long-term inquiry projects. Through these projects, students gain a deeper understanding of scientific inquiry and the nature of science, while developing their own questions and procedures and carrying out those procedures before sharing their findings with peers. (Contains 1…

This study examines the beliefs of K-8 preservice teachers during a content methods course. The goals of this course included exposing the preservice teachers to student-centered instructional methods for math and science and encouraging the development of lessons that would integrate mathematics and science. Prior research suggested that one must…

With an increased emphasis on incorporating technology-based instruction into K-12 classrooms and an expectation that teachers will use technology to support their teaching, teacher educators are continuously challenged to prepare K-12 teachers to use new and emerging technologies effectively for learning and teaching (Ross & Wiseman, 2001).…

In this essay, the idea of "method" in teacher education is explored. Using the author's own teaching as the site for this inquiry, and drawing on comments from her students, the paper proposes three ways to think of method: the methods of subject matter and the different approaches required; the methods of manner, including personal…

A study hypothesized that pedagogical beliefs, as well as method course experience, would be important and related influences on how preservice teachers used portfolios. During a year-long study, 20 elementary education majors were followed as they moved through methods courses into student teaching and their first year as classroom teachers.…