International experiences offer new settings for revisiting, revising, and reconstructing currently held images of the child. Specifically, international practicum experiences can provide preservice teachers with opportunities to reflect on their views about children by positioning themselves as "the other." The purpose of this…

This longitudinal study examines the effects of changes in an elementary teacher preparation program on mathematics beliefs and content knowledge for teaching of two groups of prospective teachers (N = 276): (1) those who completed a program with three mathematics content courses and two mathematics methods courses and (2) those who completed a…

Federal legislation (Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act, No Child Left Behind) mandates access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities. As a response, K-12 schools are moving to coteaching models with increased frequency (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008). However, preservice teachers…

Male teachers are in demand in U.S. elementary schools and elementary teacher education programs. The 2002 National Education Association's Representative Assembly approved a measure to "identify, recognize, recruit, and retain" more male teachers, with an emphasis on elementary and minority teachers. The present article reports on a qualitative…

This article entails an in-depth case study of one journey to implement and institutionalize an undergraduate law course for elementary and secondary teacher education majors. To provide a context for this case study, the initial section reviews research pertaining to the need for such instruction, as well as commentary on models that have been…

This research describes a mixed-methods study of preservice teachers' planned instructional strategies. Of special interest were the preservice teachers' most salient strategies and how often these preservice teachers planned to use each one. Contrary to many earlier findings on preservice teachers' beliefs, results from this study of planned…

Lack of communication between cooperating teachers and preservice teachers is one of the most commonly reported problems during field experiences. To provide more opportunity for feedback during preservice teachers' clinical experiences, a large elementary education program in a midwestern university implemented the use of peer feedback practices…

This article describes a career ladder program for paraeducators in which collaborative efforts of a university, community college, and consortium of school districts addresses the need for preparing teachers of English-language learners. Thirty paraeducators of minority background were supported through the California Paraprofessional Teacher…

Explored how preservice elementary teachers incorporated technology into a microteaching activity that was a component of their science education, mathematics education, and educational technology courses. Participants displayed varied levels of technology use. Four uses emerged: knowledge source, data organizer, information presenter, and…

Describes the development of a seamless curriculum of four methods courses--literacy, math, social studies, and science--within a transdisciplinary framework, defining transdisciplinary teaching and learning as a context and conveyor for knowledge influenced by the synergy between learners and teachers, which embraces collaboration,…

Assessed the attitudes of preservice undergraduate elementary teachers toward children with disabilities, investigating whether experiences in an inclusive classroom would lead to more positive attitudes. Pre- and post-field experience surveys indicated that regardless of whether they were in field- based or campus classrooms, student teachers…

Explored the perceptions of general education teachers regarding their needs to successfully teach students with disabilities. Surveys of K-8 teachers asked what information they felt they needed to more effectively teach students with special needs. Results indicated that teachers felt their primary needs focused around information about children…

Examined elementary preservice professional development school (PDS) preparation and subsequent entry/retention in teaching. Data on PDS and non-PDS students prior to and during traditional and PDS student teaching indicated no significant differences between the groups prior to student teaching, but significant differences in favor of the…

Assessed whether integrating classroom management and a Wednesday field experience would increase preservice teachers' knowledge and ability to connect theory with practice. Preservice elementary teachers wrote weekly reflections on topics they observed while in their assigned classrooms. The experience empowered most of them by helping them…

Presents findings from an action research study that addressed the problem of promoting change in teaching practices through graduate teacher education. A naturalistic case study describes factors for understanding successful change in teaching practices for one first grade teacher who initiated a writing workshop in her classroom following a…