One of the requirements of the twenty-first century is raising a child who is an explorer and who can solve problems rather than being able to memorize facts. One of the indispensible foundations of exploring and problem-solving is having scientific process skills and being able to use them effectively. In order to raise little scientists with a…

Throughout the 1980's, the notion of standards came to the forefront throughout the education world. Groups questioned how to define quality teaching. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was developed to meet this need providing a voluntary national certification to identify accomplished teachers. Since its inception,…

The purpose of the study was to examine cultural dissonance between teachers and students with its implications for student achievement in a rural Title 1 elementary school. Most U.S. teachers share a White, monolingual, middle-class, female teaching culture that is a mismatch with their increasingly multicultural student population. That problem…

The purpose of this study is to examine exemplary science teachers' level of computer use, their knowledge/skills in using specific computer applications for science instruction, their use of computer-related applications/tools during their instruction, how often they required their students to use those applications in or for their science class…

In this "At Last" essay, Susan Lytle addresses issues of teacher research, work that is shaped by and that shapes the complexity of teachers' knowledge and learning, and is based on the accumulation of robust and meaningful experiences leading to classroom expertise. Assuring her readers that teacher research is alive and well, even in the current…

In this response to Donald A. Myers's "The Teacher as a Service Professional" (2008 [this issue]), the author suggests that teacher educators should not buy into Myers's concept because such would sell them short and be counterproductive to the advancement of the teaching profession. Teacher educators must not give up their struggle to advance the…

Teachers are faced not only with standards-based instructional design daily, but with the shortage of certified school library media specialists within their districts. "Information Literacy for Teaching and Learning", a graduate level course, was created, in part, to empower teachers with the knowledge, skills and abilities to embed information…

Skillful substitute teachers are critical to student achievement, especially in today's high-stakes accountability environment. Because teachers are absent from duty, some for short periods of time and others for lengthy time frames, schools may find it difficult to meet high academic and accountability standards without prepared substitute…

Today's classrooms are more diverse than ever. In fact, research shows that there will be a steady increase in Hispanic, Asian Americans, and African American students in the coming years. Therefore, differentiated instruction may be the panacea that educators are searching for. This paper commences with an introduction and then segways into a…

This study examined patterns of change in the science teaching practice, beliefs, and content knowledge of 15 upper-elementary teachers from three Title I schools during their participation in a yearlong, reform-based science professional development program and during the year following the program. Further, this study sought to understand the…

This study investigates the mechanism of beginning teachers' learning in the context of a university-based teacher preparation program. The purpose is to understand "how" and "why" secondary science teacher candidates from the same university-based teacher preparation program develop different kinds of practices of science teaching as their…

This article describes a collaborative research study of university researchers and Grades one and two teachers from an Ontario, Canada French-language School Board. The School Board offered phonological awareness and reading-teaching training to grades one and two teachers with a long-term goal of improving the reading outcomes of the students in…

Traditionally, professional development for technology integration has been insufficient or ineffective for supporting changes in classroom practice. This study examined the professional development experiences of secondary school teachers in South Dakota related to educational technology in order to determine core content area teachers' perceived…

In public education we are faced with three realities: (1) our student population is diverse and growing in children of color; (2) children of color are the students most at risk of being caught on the negative end of the achievement gap; and (3) the adopted curriculum and instructional practices are predominately Eurocentric. There is a need to…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether third-grade teachers' instructional actions during reading comprehension lessons contributed to their students' reading comprehension achievement. Our framework focused on teachers' emphasis on three dimensions of instruction (pedagogical structure, teacher-directed instruction, and support for…