The number of mathematics and other major subjects to be taught at the Primary School and Kindergarten Teacher Training Colleges in Romania has decreased significantly since the implementation of the Bologna process in the higher education system. There are now only 14 weeks in which students could acquire all the knowledge that is necessary for…

This paper reports on a study that explored the use of cognitively challenging tasks with low-attaining mathematics students and in particular, their teachers' attempts at scaffolding. A major finding was that responding appropriately to scaffolding opportunities was challenging for the teachers. In this paper two main factors are discussed which…

One of the applications applied most nowadays is web based instruction (WBI). Although there are many studies on WBI, no study which researched the relations between beliefs for WBI, WBI tools acceptance levels and web pedagogical content knowledge (WPCK) of science and technology pre-service teachers was found among these studies. The aim of this…

Focusing on the case of mathematics, this paper reviews debates on China's new Basic Education Curriculum Reform program, including the status of knowledge within the reformed curriculum, the arrangement of the curriculum system, and the push toward real-life applicability and hands-on participation. It discusses the related challenges that…

The impetus for the study reported in this paper was Queensland's poor performance on 2008's NAPLAN testing, the Queensland Education Performance Review (Department of Education and Training, [DET]2009b) that followed and the subsequent adoption of pre-registration tests for aspiring Primary and Early Childhood teachers (Queensland College of…

Since the language used by people has the potential to signal a membership in a discourse community, it is significant that prospective teachers speak the appropriate social language to be able to claim a strong membership in the community of teachers. This qualitative study explores a group of pre-service teachers' professional language use and…

Providing authentic encounters with secondary students may be a way to provide a realistic image of students' academic challenges, and enhance preservice teachers' skills, knowledge, and dispositions to better address the needs of their future academically, linguistically, socially, and culturally unique students. The purpose of our study was to…

Using a case study method, the experiences of a group of high school science teachers participating in a unique professional development method involving an argue-to-learn intervention were examined. The participants (N = 42) represented 25 different high schools from a large urban school district in the southwestern United States. Data sources…

Researchers have called for renewed efforts in exploring both what knowledge should be taught in preservice teacher education programs with regard to technology, and how to best prepare teachers to effectively use that knowledge to support teaching and learning. This study compared the importance of technology topics from teacher educators and…

Environmental education researchers argue that pre-service teachers have a limited understanding of education for sustainability. The research described in this article applies a phenomenographic approach to investigating variations in how a representative cohort of 30 pre-service teachers, at various stages of completing an education degree at a…

This theoretical study uses the context of the writer's personal encounters in Malawi, Africa, to propose a conceptual model for creating diverse field experiences based on best practices in critical pedagogy, service learning, and the underpinnings of transformational learning theory, for the purpose of increasing the probability of meaningful…

Preservice educators face daunting challenges throughout their professional development, but no challenge is greater than that of contextualizing their instruction within multicultural environments. Addressing the increasing diversity and ever-changing cultures within student populations is often skimmed over within teacher education curriculums;…

This research study, carried out in South Africa and the United States of America, investigated issues that may hamper prospective primary school teachers from writing acceptable problem posing scenarios involving the addition of fractions. Pre-service teachers (n=44) were asked to compose real life problems involving the addition of two fractions…

US teens are having sex early; however, the vast majority of schools do not implement evidence-based sexual health education (SHE) programs that could delay sexual behavior and/or reduce risky behavior. This study examines middle school staff's knowledge, attitudes, barriers, self-efficacy, and perceived support (psychosocial factors known to…

Thirty-five teachers teaching advanced topics in high school mathematics were engaged in a year-long intensive professional development project intended to increase their Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching in the area of discrete mathematics. Project activities embodied a models and modeling perspective on pedagogy and learning. Results showed…