A significant dilemma for the health and human service professions continues to be the question of how best to bridge the divide between academic research and practice. Communities of practice have traditionally been a vehicle for collaborative research and for information exchange (Moore, 2008). Through collaboration, communities of practice have…

In the present paper, the development and use of a specific set of pedagogical design principles in a large research and development project are analysed. The project (the Knowledge Practices Laboratory) developed technology and a pedagogical approach to support certain kinds of collaborative knowledge creation practices related to the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to share the content and early results from an interdisciplinary sustainability curriculum that integrates theory and practice (praxis). The curriculum links new topical courses concerning renewable energy, food, water, engineering and social change with specialized labs that enhance technological and…

Preparing all teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) populations is essential in teacher education (Banks, Cochran-Smith, Moll, Richert, Zeichner, LePage, Darling-Hammond, Duffy, & MacDonald, 2005). Simultaneously, current literacy policy serves to dictate how teachers teach literacy; requiring specific curricula and…

Many studies reveal a huge gap between theory and practice in teacher education, leading to serious doubts concerning the effectiveness of teacher education. In this paper, the causes of the gap between theory and practice are analysed. On this basis, and grounded in a three-level model of teacher learning, the so-called "realistic approach" to…

In this article we describe a professional development school that was created within a community school to prepare preservice teachers to work with an increasingly diverse student population, which is now common in many suburban school districts. The professional development school involved a 4-year college and a community school. We discuss the…

Dynamic Ecological Analysis (DEA) is a model of practice which increases a teams' efficacy by enabling the development of more effective interventions through collaboration and collective reflection. This process has proved to be useful in: a) clarifying thinking and problem-solving, b) transferring knowledge and thinking to significant parties,…

Background: Research regarding beginning teachers' typical responses to the difficulties encountered at work relates to the professional, personal and environmental aspects of teaching. At the professional level, research describes mainly the beginner's difficulties in dealing with discipline problems, in using teaching methods efficiently, in…

Bridget Somekh's contributions to the debate on the theory and practice of action research and associated methodologies have often been gained through leadership of innovative action and research with computers in education. A review of her work provides evidence of the journey that starts with an appreciation of the wonders of technology before…

This study utilizes students' journaling and video-recording of field experience teaching sessions as vehicles for inquiry into the development of the process of productive reflection within the piloting phase of an experimental course, designed by the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education (NCRECE). The NCRECE course is…

This study explores teacher candidates' understandings of children with special needs and learning disabilities; the effect of a special education course supporting a tutoring practicum; and how curricula can critically deconstruct and disrupt dominant, inequitable notions and practices. Data were collected through initial and end-of-course…

In today's teaching and learning approaches for first-semester students, practical courses more and more often complement traditional theoretical lectures. This practical element allows an early insight into the real world of engineering, augments student motivation, and enables students to acquire soft skills early. This paper describes a new…

Arguing that teacher education has become rule bound, even in the use of teaching narratives and cases, and for the need to challenge beginning teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning, the author suggests parables as promising means for enlivening teacher education and for stretching understanding. After defining parable, the author…

Australia is typical of many western countries where the provision of quality early childhood services has become a government priority. The government initiatives in Australia include repeated demands for "well-qualified" early childhood educators. As a result of these demands the pre-service preparation of early childhood educators is…

The widely cited, though highly contested, idea that "the world is flat" (Friedman, 2004) carries with it a call for education to provide a leveling effect across continents and cultures Students in Skokie or in Skopje, as the theory goes, are expected to experience a school curriculum that shares certain common elements, goals, and…