Students have traditionally been viewed as passive recipients of knowledge and their contributions to understanding good teaching have been largely ignored. This study presents first-person account of university students of their professors' teaching. A total of 210 undergraduate students from China wrote about their best and worst professors.…

Through a discussion of three pedagogical instances--based on classroom discourse, student writing, and program development--the authors examine education as an academic field, arguing that its disciplinary practices and perspectives invite interdisciplinarity and extra-disciplinarity to bridge from the academy to issues, problems, and strengths…

The impact of high quality teaching on student achievement has been well documented; however, there remains a need to more fully understand the factors that predict effective teaching. This study utilized Fenstermacher and Richardson's (2005) model of teacher quality to investigate teacher effectiveness within a preschool special education…

In light of the current economic downturn, thousands of Iowans are unemployed and this is the ideal time to build the skills of the workforce to compete in the knowledge-based economy so businesses and entrepreneurs can compete in a global economy. A tool for assessing the skills and knowledge of dislocated workers and students as well as…

The Diagnostic Teacher Assessment in Mathematics and Science (DTAMS) was developed to measure the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of middle-school teachers. Its reliability and validity were initially established by reviewing national standards for content and use of expert question writing teams and reviewers. DTAMS was…

The "MustLearnIT" European-funded research project with partners in Greece, Poland, Cyprus, Finland and the UK aimed to investigate ways of teaching and learning modern foreign languages (MFL) to early learners in small/remote primary schools where there were no specialist MFL teachers. This was to be carried out through new technologies…

There is a growing movement in education to address concepts of sustainability across the curriculum. The English Language Arts curriculum is about reading the word and the world (Freire, 1993) and therefore is a natural place to begin reading, writing and discussing issues of global importance. A holistic view of English education through the…

Inclusive education is defined as educating students with disabilities in general education programmes with their non-disabled peers. In order to create a successful learning environment for all children, general and special educators must be responsive to all students' needs. Although inclusive education practices were developed over 15 years…

In contrast to subjects such as mathematics and the sciences, it has been argued that technology education lacks a clear definition and a clearly defined knowledge base. This discursive article seeks to inform the debate by highlighting the matter of subject definition and in addition to examine the key issue of the knowledge which underpins…

Effective professional development engages, rather than bypasses, teacher thinking. This article describes strategies to heighten teachers' awareness of the difference between procedural knowledge and conceptual understanding. (Contains 6 figures.)

Reflective decision making is an important component in a teacher's professional expertise, and aptness for integrating it into professional practice can be nurtured in most teachers. This article uses vignettes from student teachers' journals to describe four modes of thinking that can provide a useful framework for fostering growth in novice and…

Secondary student performance in the domain of reading has been a cause for concern for educators and scholars alike. To understand the demands placed on students we must first understand how reading changes within content areas and across grades. Furthermore, we must have an understanding of teachers' conceptions about the texts they teach. This…

The purpose of this study is to review how special education administration and leadership has been conceptualized over time and to examine the extent to which current calls for preparing educational leaders to address diversity, teamwork, and technology are manifested in the literature. To that end, the authors provide an analysis of 474 article…

In a world increasingly globalised, it is crucial that preservice teachers are equipped with a range of pedagogical knowledges, understandings and practices related to diversity and difference. This paper reports on the implementation and learning outcomes of a teacher preparation initiative in an Australian university called Refugee Action…

The influx of students of color in the nation's public schools has significant implications for teacher preparation institutions and professional development programs. Teachers and students alike immeasurably benefit from a process that requires them to get in touch with their cultural, racial, and ethnic heritage. However, little is known about…