According to current NCATE standards, social studies teachers must be well versed in economics, history, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, science and technology, and the arts. In short, they must know everything. In this article, the author dismisses these standards as totally unrealistic and argues that prospective social…

Education is centre stage in current UK government initiatives to promote multi-agency team work. This paper draws on a research project which explored the way in which multi-disciplinary teams work and learn together in their practice with children, to consider the implications of "joined-up" practice for theorizing dilemmas of knowledge creation…

Models play an important role in science education. However, previous research has revealed that science teachers' content knowledge, curricular knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge about models and modelling are often incomplete or inadequate. A research project was conducted that aimed at promoting and gaining an understanding of the…

Propositions about the nature of expertise, in general, and expertise in pedagogy, in particular, are discussed. The time needed to develop expertise in teaching and the highly contextual nature of teachers' knowledge are also discussed. Four theories of teacher development are presented, with an elaboration on the heuristic value of the theory of…

Explores the understanding that students who are training to be secondary mathematics teachers have of elementary concepts in mathematical analysis. Research involved probing students' conceptual understanding of convergence and continuity and associated reasoning. Concludes that even mathematically well-qualified students have difficulties with…

This article describes the design and results of a descriptive and explorative case study into the development of professional knowledge by teachers through action research and the facilitation of this by teacher educators. The theoretical framework of the study links the Anglo-Saxon Action Research tradition and the German "Allgemeine Didaktik."…

Contemporary culture has become increasingly dependent on the visual, especially for its capacity to communicate instantly and universally. Advances in technology fueled this shift. Students must learn to cope with and intelligently contribute to a culture rife with easy access to the visually rich Web, photo dependant social networks, video…

This is the first in a series of issue briefs to be written for The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement during 2006. A longstanding tenet of American education--one built into the very fabric of teacher training and licensure--is that elementary teachers need only general teaching skills and that having a caring personality is…

This article focuses on characteristics necessary to be an effective teacher for all children, regardless of their academic ability, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, family structure, sexual orientation, and ability to speak English. The article gives attention to the issues of equity and social justice as it addresses the knowledge and skill base…

The prevailing performance discourse in education claims school improvements can be achieved through transparent accountability procedures. The article identifies how teachers generate performances of their work in order to satisfy accountability demands. By identifying sources of teachers' knowledge that produce choreographed performances, I…

This article examines the challenges of discussing deeply rooted notions of ability, intelligence, and tracking in teacher inquiry groups and offers suggestions to educators who want to begin dialogue about detracking at their schools. Specifically, this article underscores the importance of unpacking the terms tracking and detracking, exploring…

The transition from experience-based teachers to expertise-based ones has marked a significant phase in the history of human education. The conceptive transition from the general "occupational ethics" of teachers to "professional ethics" is actually an important aspect of the transition from experience-based to expertise-based…

Lesson study in Japan, the practice in which teachers work collaboratively and reflectively with colleagues on improving their classroom teaching, has recently attracted attention internationally as an effective means of teachers' professional development. Although lesson study is very useful for helping new teachers join the profession and for…

This article begins with a "snapshot" of a fifth grade writing workshop and its study of op-ed writing to show an inquiry in action. The framework for this inquiry involves immersing students in reading multiple examples of the kind of text the teacher would like them to write, studying closely how the texts are crafted, and writing their own…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a summer science camp teaching experience on preservice elementary teachers' science teaching efficacy, science content knowledge, and understanding of the nature of science. Master's degree students enrolled in the elementary Fairfax Partnership Schools (FPS, n = 21) cohort served as the…