Despite the increased interest in research impact, there is very little empirical evidence that educational research can inform practice directly, and furthermore, a body of literature which suggests that this is, in principle, impossible. This paper reports on a study in which secondary school teachers were given research findings about teaching…

Literature suggests that the mathematical language of teachers impacts a student's understanding of math concepts. When teachers unintentionally use ambiguous language, students' understanding of a subject can be negatively affected. We share background on specific instances in which teachers can create confusion with the language they use, and we…

This study examined pre-service elementary teachers' change in their understanding of fraction operations while taking a mathematics methods course. Specifically, their explanations and justifications for common algorithms for multiplication and division of fractions were coded using an existing framework (SOLO; Biggs, 1999) for the assessment of…

The objective of this article is to contribute to the documented dearth of research on teachers' probabilistic knowledge. Prospective teachers of elementary school mathematics were asked to identify which result from five flips of a fair coin was least likely to occur. Participants, instead of being presented with sequences, were presented with…

We discuss the teachers' disciplinary knowledge of mathematics in this article, arguing two main points as we report on a 2-year study involving 22 practicing teachers. First we argue that teachers' knowledge of mathematics might be productively construed as a complex evolving form, a significant dimension of which is tacit knowledge. Second,…

Which competences do professional adult educators need? This research note discusses the topic from a comparative perspective, finding that adult educators' required competences are wide-ranging, heterogeneous and complex. They are subject to context in terms of national and cultural environment as well as the kind of adult education concerned…

This article develops criteria for the selection, professional development, and assessment of cooperating teachers through four "notions." These notions suggest that cooperating teachers might (1) possess knowledge of educational theory and practice; (2) understand the importance of context in education; (3) understand narrative's role…

Inclusive education becomes a social reality and needs to ensure its quality. Preschool age is a sensitive period of the process of personality's socialization and the formation of moral qualities, providing interaction and communication between people pattern, among which are: respect for "otherness", cooperation, support and mutual…

In this article, the notion of dissent refers to a more critical, ideological orientation to advocacy for and by TESOL professionals. The notion of domestication refers to identity-forming practices in the knowledge base of language teacher education (LTE) and in professional certification processes that potentially displace this critical…

Geometric experience, spatial representation, spatial visualization, understanding the world around us, and developing the ability of spatial reasoning are fundamental aims in the teaching of mathematics. (Freudenthal, 1972) Learning is a process which involves advancing from level to level. In primary school the focus is on the first two levels…

Using two rounds in 2003 and 2013 of large sample longitudinal surveys of science teachers in primary schools from 21 provinces and autonomous regions of China, results suggest that Chinese teachers' basic scientific literacy was still low with only a slight increase in the procedural knowledge of science. The evidence also suggests little…

The experience of teaching languages in rural schools differs markedly from teaching languages in urban contexts, in relation to the size and nature of communities and their interactions, numbers of teachers of languages, in and out of school contact, and in the cultural and language backgrounds of students and their likelihood of opportunities to…

One of the major challenges of addressing diversity in the classroom is to meet the needs of gifted students, which are often invisible in countries such as Chile, in which providing services for highly able students is still considered elitist. The purpose of this study was to analyze the perceptions of community members about the critical…

As many schools in the United States transition to the Common Core State Standards there is a greater need for teachers to have a depth of knowledge in Mathematics that allows them to address student thinking and provide important conceptual instruction in elementary school. Teachers often gain this knowledge through professional development, and…

The professional preparation of teachers is essential because of their critical role in developing students' learning. Preparing quality teachers is a complex process, as they matriculate through the programs that prepare them for the classroom. The problem addressed by this study is teachers' lack of effective strategies and skills in…