The present study builds on earlier work by Meyer and Land (2003) which introduced the generative notion of "threshold concepts" within (and across) disciplines, in the sense of transforming the internal view of subject matter or part thereof. In this earlier work such concepts were further linked to forms of knowledge that are "troublesome",…

This article examines the construction and experience of change agency within action research courses in preservice teacher education. Four preservice teachers' experiences of action research are analyzed, and tensions and challenges teacher educators and preservice teachers face as they attend to change processes in learning to teach are…

Dialogue journals, which involve teachers and students writing and exchanging their writing in mutual response, are often cited as a powerful tool for promoting reflection in teacher education. According to Bean and Zulich (1989), dialogue journal writing is a good way to model the process of reflective practice for preservice teachers. However,…

Many of us do not realize the prejudices we learn by living our lives. However, through reflection we can understand who we are, why we are that way, and how we can change. As a teacher I naively believed that I had transcended prejudicial thinking and acting. Yet, through much reflection during my doctoral program, I came to understand myself…

This article describes a specific approach to a teacher investigation of students' written work. The aim of the investigation was for in-service middle school teachers to externalize their thinking about their students' mathematical thinking and to then reflect upon these externalizations and make refinements accordingly. This aim mirrors the…

Historically, teachers implemented mathematics reform recommendations by infusing new activities into the curriculum. However, mathematics instruction continues to be teacher centred, challenging professional developers to find new ways to encourage teachers' growth. This study used activity-reflective cycles (Tzur & Simon, 1999) to examine…

The article presents a theoretical analysis of the concept of reflection. The author argues in favour of the necessity of conceiving the concept of reflection in a broad sense, and not using the concept in the meaning of introspection. To grasp reflection in its complexity and as a core process in organisational learning it is necessary to…

Background: The ability of physicians to critically reflect on their professional practice has been increasingly valued. Previous research brought to light the multidimensional structure of reflective practice in medicine. It comprises at least five sets of behaviours in response to complex medical problems encountered in professional practice.…

In this article, the author looks closely at the challenges of teaching a graduate multicultural education seminar from an instructor's personal perspective. First, she discusses her cultural identity and her rationale for teaching multicultural education. Second, she explains her philosophy of multicultural education. Third, she outlines the…

This paper describes a series of attempts by a novice teacher educator to foster reflective talk among interns in a weekly seminar. Drawing on Dewey's dilemma of bridging the child's inclinations with the demands of the curriculum, the paper explores the challenge of connecting interns' needs with teacher educators' goals. The paper advocates the…

This article discusses the benefits of professional portfolios for educational diagnosticians throughout their careers as a means of documenting proficiency and experience in communication, assessment, time management, organization, community resources, and educational planning. Various purposes of the portfolio are considered; for gaining…

In 1996, Paul Deering, now a National Middle School Association West Region Trustee and University of Hawaii professor, established the Masters Degree in Education with a Middle Level Emphasis Program (MLMED) at the University of Hawaii. The MLMED is a two-year program that focuses on five standards that encompass the research-based middle level…

Background: Although preservice teachers bring well-established views of teaching to their teacher education programs, Tabachnick and Zeichner (1984) claimed that it is possible to amend preservice teachers' views. They portrayed the learning of teachers as a negotiated and interactive process rather than as one that is predetermined by teachers'…

Critical reflection is an essential element in teachers' efforts to address the social justice issues that are often part of their lived experiences and those of their students. When educators begin to examine how power, privilege, and widely accepted assumptions about their practice may be working against their goals, such as eliminating forms of…

The authors examine the literature that sets the foundation for a lesson design cycle for differentiating instruction in inclusive classrooms. Use the cycle to differentiate at the four design points of understanding the learners, delineating content and materials, assessing what learners know, and differentially arranging teaching/learning…