A stimulated recall procedure was used to examine the instructional decision making of 19 expert special educators. Qualitative analysis indicated that a detailed and extensive knowledge base about students enabled these teachers to assess their students' academic and emotional states of mind and to address effectively the students' needs within…

Examines in-service secondary school mathematics teachers' conceptions of proof. Suggests that teachers recognize the variety of roles that proof plays in mathematics. Noticeably absent, however, was a view of proof as a tool for learning mathematics. Many of the teachers held limited views of the nature of proof in mathematics and demonstrated…

Details the skills and approaches that student teachers need to possess and develop as they begin their work in the classroom. Includes a web map for student teaching. (DDR)

Investigates 68 primary grade teachers' self reports of familiarity, utility, and perceived applicability of content reading strategies. Finds that teachers did not appear to be familiar with recommended content reading strategies. Finds also that years of teaching at the same grade level and workshop attendance appeared to have a positive impact…

Studies the inquiry-based practices of secondary science student teachers (n=12) including their views of inquiry in science; their views of inquiry in science teaching; and their conceptions of facts, laws, and theories in science, or nature of science (NOS). Recommends explicit teaching of science as a discipline, including scientific…

Investigates the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) within a group of preservice chemistry teachers. Focuses on PCK with respect to the relationship between observable phenomena on the one hand, and their interpretation in terms of corpuscular characteristics on the other. Results indicated a growing awareness among the preservice…

Describes a study that explored the construct of teacher knowledge of educational technology based on Shulman's model of teachers' knowledge that included content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge; and investigated the ways in which teacher knowledge is acquired, shared, and used by student teachers and their…

Discusses how issues related to mathematics teacher education are currently being addressed, what historical precepts have contributed to the present state of affairs, and what orientations can move teacher education forward as a legitimate field of disciplined inquiry. (108 references) (MKR)

Examines the effects of an increase in the number of required science courses in the elementary teacher education program that was the result of a previous study on knowledge and efficacy beliefs among preservice elementary teachers regarding science education. Reports that science content knowledge did not increase but there were positive changes…

Examines the debate over what early care and education personnel need to know and how to go about getting that information. Lists and categorizes professional development activities as formal/informal information gathering; information sharing; self-assessment; experimentation; and organization. Emphasizes professional development as a dynamic,…

Education's main purpose should be to achieve understanding, but such understanding is hard to achieve because educators have little knowledge of how to teach for it and students harbor intellectual habits that inhibit performances of understanding. The article emphasizes that students' access to disciplinary tools is crucial in quality education.…

Examines the teaching journal of a first-year chemistry teacher to understand how teachers create professional identities. Focuses on three dilemmas related to feeling like a student versus the expectation to act like an adult, wanting to care for students rather than be tough, and feeling incompetent in the subject matter. Contains 47 references.…

Discusses the importance of a knowledge of adolescent development for practice. Reports findings of a survey of 258 middle and high school teachers that was administered to assess their perceptions of the importance of general developmental principles, their knowledge of such principles, and the influence that increasing knowledge would have on…

Explores the relationship between subject matter and secondary science teacher identity, or sense of self. Develops a multidimensional model of identity and discusses the role of subject matter in the teachers' descriptions of who they are. Contains 30 references. (DDR)

Assesses the subject-matter competence in physics of inservice junior secondary science teachers in Hong Kong. Concludes that teachers lack subject-area knowledge. Discusses general implications for educational improvement. Contains 41 references. (DDR)