Who should be accountable for what beginning teachers need to know? This article first explains and illustrates three sets of knowledge and skills beginning teachers should have acquired in their preparation programs: academic knowledge needed for teaching the field of their license, generic professional knowledge and skills needed for teaching…

A distinguishing characteristic of expert teachers appears to be an excellent memory (Berliner, 1986; Tan, 1997). Possessing an excellent memory aids experts in building a substantial knowledge base relative to teaching and learning. Despite its importance, the memory skills of expert teachers have yet to be investigated. Therefore, the purpose of…

The essays in this book are about values that are being used to drive science instruction in remarkable ways. The essays are divided into three sections. The first section contains two essays about science kits and determines the problem that the rest of the book addresses. The essays in the second section offer a glimpse of what five teachers see…

This article constitutes a critique from the inside of constructivist pedagogy. It begins with a short history of constructivist pedagogy and its relationship to constructivist learning theory. It then addresses four issues in the ways in which constructivist pedagogy are being approached in research and practice. The first issue recommends more…

This report presents the most current national information provided by the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the outlying areas on the quality of novice teachers entering the education field. Forty-nine states have standards for teachers applying for initial certification. All states and outlying areas but one now have some quality…

Professional knowledge of teachers has been the topic of many research papers in the field of teacher education published in recent years. Less attention, however, is given to professional knowledge of teacher educators, the focus of this paper. The paper examines the issue by discussing some of the literature on the subject and by asking novice…

This study focuses on the nature of professional development. The approach to professional development that emerged in this inquiry was premised on a belief held by the author, a university researcher, and two K-1 teachers that professional development opportunities for teachers need to be ongoing, allow time for teachers to engage in learning,…

One of the greatest challenges for mathematics teacher educators committed to reforming and improving mathematics education is to help preservice elementary and middle school teachers develop an appreciation for algebraic reasoning. Preservice teachers' views of algebra are typically derived from their experiences in middle school and high school…

This paper describes a process for developing quality teacher education programs. The process begins with the core beliefs of all faculty members involved in the program. A retreat is an appropriate place to start the process of promoting appropriate philosophy and developing core beliefs in faculty members. Once this process is completed, it is…

This study showed how narratives permeate teacher knowledge and are essential to understand teachers work and learning. It focuses on the characteristics of the teaching profession that are both revealed and constructed in the activity of conversation. The main interest of the study was to reveal new layers of meaning and to uncover interactional…

This document reviews studies of professional development for teachers to examine benefits to students in science and mathematics education. A major finding from this review was that programs that focused on teaching classroom management strategies or attaining knowledge of how students learn specific school subject matter provided later benefits…

Rural school districts face unique challenges in cultivating a teaching force that possesses subject-matter expertise, a willingness to undertake difficult professional work at the local level, and attentiveness to rural practices and cultures. At the same time, many rural schools harbor significant strengths that districts might draw upon to…

Discusses differences between the quality of the U.S. curriculum and the quality of the curriculum in countries rated as having an excellent curriculum, explaining that in order to make the U.S. math curriculum more rigorous, it will be necessary to address the subject matter knowledge gap that exists between U.S. mathematics teachers and those in…

Describes the problems involved in teaching astronomy so that teachers can be informed and forewarned. Focuses on the fact that teachers are not likely to be familiar with the content and unfamiliar with the problems associated with teaching the content. (DDR)

Science department chairpersons created lists of tasks and benefits which would accrue to preservice teachers while they worked in the scientists' laboratories. Teachers agreed to a higher percentage than preservice teachers with the scientists as to what those benefits were. Recommendations include ways scientists and science educators can create…