The teacher education program at New Mexico State University requires all undergraduate preservice teachers to enroll in a multicultural education course. This study was conducted to assess students' ideas, beliefs, and attitudes about multicultural issues, and to determine how the course may affect their view of the world. Two newspaper articles…

The Education Department of Salem-Teikyo University (West Virginia) was chosen to develop a pilot assessment plan as part of the overall Institutional Student Outcomes Assessment Plan. The plan delineated in this paper includes the following criteria: (1) students majoring in education may enroll in the teacher education program to earn elementary…

Professional teacher educators recognize that the body of knowledge about teaching and learning is today more substantive, consistent, and authoritative than ever before. It should also be acknowledged, however, that too little of that knowledge is incorporated into the preservice education of teachers. This volume, containing 12 papers presented…

Mills College (California) was one of three sites selected to participate in a project designed to apply and use research in elementary teacher education. The project trained student teachers and cooperating teachers to measure academic learning time and active teacher behaviors with instruments developed by recent research on teacher…

A study of culturally-appropriate instructional practices and resources in Native American education, jointly produced by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory and the Indian tribes of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, focuses on the Pacific Northwest. Program design and objectives (increasing student interest/skills in language…

Descriptive correlational research employing a mailed questionnaire was used to study perceptions of agricultural education professionals regarding Swaziland's preservice teacher education program in agriculture. Areas examined were student selection, student teaching, inservice education, teacher educators, coordination and linkage with other…

In order to improve teacher education and the quality of teaching in classrooms, it is necessary to know what characterizes a competent teacher, what the best curriculum is for developing competent beginning teachers, and how teacher competence can be measured. This report summarizes research on those topics and suggests the following: (1) Because…

Abstractor's analyses of 12 science education research studies are presented. Nine analyses in the first section, focusing on various aspects of science instruction, include: a comparison of different approaches to helping students understand metric units of volume; use of specific questions to cue elementary school students in obtaining…

The first of a series of 10 study units for a Migrant Educators' National Training OutReach (MENTOR) correspondence course introduces the characteristics of migrant education, and problems and educational needs of American migrant children. Designed to be used in preservice or inservice teacher education, the unit discusses teacher attitudes and…

The Search for Excellence in Science Education was inaugurated in 1982 to carry out the National Science Foundation's 1981 initiative, Project Synthesis. The Search establishes criteria for excellence and applies them to actual programs in one or several fields each year. In each area the Search identifies hallmarks of excellence in terms of…

A series of experimental modules for teachers has been developed under the direction of the International Environmental Education Programme (IEEP) of UNESCO. This particular module focuses on the pre-service training of elementary school teachers and supervisors in environmental education. Section 1, Content for Environmental Education, traces the…

Recognizing the need to promote hands-on learning opportunities and inquiry-based instructional programs in science at the elementary school level, a consortium made up of local school districts and Cook College of Rutgers University has proposed the development of a teacher retraining center. The program would be developed in three stages.…

A project was conducted to implement the third phase of a model--the Project SERVICE Model--to teach and train young persons from vocational-technical schools, comprehensive vocational high schools, private trade schools, labor unions, and minority organizations to develop the technical and pedagogical skills necessary to teach in existing, new,…

This project was conducted to enable vocational teacher trainees and vocational practitioners and support personnel (e.g., special education teachers, developmental education specialists, counselors) to meet the special vocational needs of disadvantaged and handicapped learners in Oregon schools and colleges. To accomplish this objective, the…

To determine perceptions of school board members, teachers, and principals in rural schools about the quality of their educational programs, the type of preparation they had received in preservice programs, and the inservice opportunities available to them, responses to questionnaires from 2,028 teachers, 119 principals, and 113 school board…