An action research project was conducted to promote critically reflective teaching in a semester-long secondary social studies methods course. To encourage critical reflection, the instructor drew explicit attention to issues of rationale building in social studies, critical thinking, democratic education, and social transformation. Evidence of…

The intent of this paper is to open for consideration the relationship between metacognition and the promotion of conceptual change within the classroom. This goal is achieved through a brief description of present research by the authors, drawing from the existing literature a summary of what is meant by conceptual change learning, defining the…

The 18th and 19th centuries saw a real tension between inductive and deductive methods of reason. Spokesperson for her era through her association with the popular "Godey's Ladies' Book," Sarah Josepha Hale addressed this tension in 1858, citing an article by Thomas Henry Buckle ascribing the method of deduction to women and that of induction to…

Based on a longer report with the same title, this digest summarizes what college faculty can do to improve their teaching. It maintains that faculty need to stop viewing college teaching as "covering the content" and start viewing it as "helping students learn." To help faculty achieve such an instructional transformation,…

This action research project was undertaken to evaluate the difference between the instructional theory as espoused and as practiced by a graduate teaching assistant. The study took place in an elective pharmacy course, involving 3 class sessions and 25 students. The qualitative research methodology consisted of identifying the espoused or ideal…

Problematic issues in developing preservice teachers' capacities for reflection include: distinguishing reflective thinking from reflective action; immediate versus extended time frames for reflection; the complexity of critical reflection and the need to foster it over a considerable period; and the role of problem solving in reflection. An…

Designed for adult educators in various settings who are seeking to improve as teachers, this book describes a process adult educators can use to examine their beliefs about teaching and current teaching behavior in depth. It is intended to guide them through an exploration of who they really are as teachers, and then, through experiential…

A practicum was developed to empower pre-service teachers to become more confident in their attempts to motivate and encourage young children to write. Emphasis was placed on the use of holistic philosophies relating to writing, in contrast to more conventional methodologies. Student participants included junior teacher candidates enrolled in…

A classroom research project investigated whether having students tell their own stories about learning might provide a mode and a context for self-assessment of their formal work in relation to their experience and growth as learners. Two courses involving sustained reading of major segments of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament taught at…

This volume represents a variety of current efforts to incorporate thought-provoking methods into teaching. There are three sections. "Curriculum Developments" defines key curricular terms and offers a framework and general examples of teaching tactics. In this section, Barbara Presseisen distinguishes thinking from other cognitive…

By exploring the question of whether teaching begins and ends in contemplative thought, this essay suggests that conceptions of teacher thinking must be expanded beyond planning and decision making. People's ordinary conception of thinking includes imagining, remembering, interpreting, and caring. In order to understand the full scope and meaning…

These papers provide summaries of the most important discussions, conclusions, and issues from papers presented at a conference on reflective inquiry in teacher education. The following areas are covered: (1) new images for reflecting about teacher education; (2) reflecting on reflection in teacher education; (3) research on reflection in teacher…

The recent interest in reflective teaching has resulted in a number of studies in which reflective teaching is proposed as an important aim to be achieved through teacher education programs. Programs for the development of reflective teaching have been proposed, however, attempts at clarifying the meaning of reflective teaching have been scarce.…

A discussion is presented of the philosophy undergirding the 5-year teacher education program at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. In this program, students can earn a baccalaureate degree from the university and a Master of Teaching degree from the Curry School. The program seeks to produce teachers who are effective…

A description is given of the development and evaluation of a staff development model that was used by District of Columbia teachers. The model was based on the belief that teachers learn best through an analysis of their own behavior and thoughtful application of ideas to their own contexts. The first phase of the study defined over 50…