This project grew out of concerns expressed by several novice teachers about their lack of preparation to deal with common problems in the classroom. Several trends were evident with the teachers involved in this study. They all came to recognize the importance of effective, organized instruction during the term of the study, along with the…

Investigation involving children's understandings of scientific concepts have been a dominant area of research in science education over the last 2 1/2 decades. One fruitful outcome of these studies is to alert teachers to difficulties in learning science. Although this information is commendable in highlighting their existence, not much is…

Lead teachers were a major part of a staff-development program first offered in 1983 for science teachers in Iowa. Later, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) reform project called Scope, Sequence, and Coordination (SS&C) involved 20 school districts and worked annually with new teachers involved during the 7-year funding period,…

Given a sociocultural framework of teaching and learning, argumentation and discourse become central elements of education, particularly in science education because of argumentation's key role in scientific communities. This study documents preservice teachers' perceptions of and aptitudes related to argumentation as they participated in a…

This paper presents an innovative and useful methodology to analyze instructional talk. In teacher education, there is a lack of practical methods that the tutor teacher can use to discuss and reflect on student teachers' lessons. The student teacher cannot remember what actually happened during the lesson, and the feedback and discussions are…

Documentary websites known as "snapshots of practice" provide vivid examples of teachers' inquiries into issues they have formulated in the context of their own teaching practices and students' learning. Designed with assistance from Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, snapshots of practice can be accessed in the K-12 section of…

The shortage of certified teachers in mathematics and science in Texas classrooms is a major concern and mirrors national tends. Dramatic increases in shortages of teachers have stimulated the design of new certification programs that recruit and place teachers in classrooms as quickly as possible (Texas Center for Educational Research, 1999).…

We report on how two middle-grade teachers supported their students' mathematical reasoning within the context of a novel modeling task in data analysis. We examine how the task features supported the development of teachers' knowledge as their students engaged with the task. Analyses of the teachers' practices suggest that the task features…

It is over 25 years since Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976, "Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry," 17, 89-100) introduced the idea of "scaffolding" to represent the way children's learning can be supported. Despite problems, this metaphor has enduring attraction in the way it emphasises the intent to support a sound foundation with increasing…

The principal objective of this study was to gain insight into preservice elementary teachers understanding of the mean. Specifically, the research focused on identifying preservice teacher conceptions of the role and function of the mean as a statistical measure. Multiple data sources and data collection methods were utilized in an effort to…

This article discusses theoretical assumptions either explicitly stated or implied in research on teachers' beliefs. Such research often assumes teachers can easily articulate their beliefs and that there is a one-to-one correspondence between what teachers state and what researchers think those statements mean. Research conducted under this…

This paper addresses issues linking research in student teacher learning with reflection on practice in mathematics teacher education. From a situated perspective on learning and practice, we explore our own practice as teacher educators while researching student teacher learning in our classrooms. We describe a study on student teacher learning,…

All changes of the character of education and improvement of its quality depend, in our view, particularly on the teacher. To be able to do their work efficiently, teachers have to be equipped with professional skills and dispositions, with "teachers' competence". For their professional growth, we consider indispensable competence in reflection,…

One could focus on many different aspects of improving the quality of mathematics teaching. For a better understanding of children's mathematical learning processes or teaching and learning in general, reflection on and analysis of concrete classroom situations are of major importance. On the basis of experiences gained in a collaborative research…

In this paper I address the challenge of developing theory in relation to the practices of mathematics teaching and its development. I do this by exploring a notion of "teaching as learning in practice" through overt use of "inquiry" in mathematics learning, mathematics teaching and the development of practices of teaching in communities…