The boundaries between vocational and academic post compulsory education have been blurred by students combining vocational and academic studies and by students transferring increasingly between the two types of education. Institutions are also blurring the boundaries between the sectors by increasingly offering programs from two and sometimes…

It is incumbent on universities to reflect current research on effective teacher preparation and respond to the changing needs of the 21st century. These needs include the knowledge and skills to instruct diverse students; an increasing emphasis on standards and an integrated curriculum model; and the call for all educators to work together to…

Based on a major international teacher education research project--the Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century Study (MT21)--this book investigates the pre-service preparation of middle school mathematics teachers in the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Bulgaria, and Mexico. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and…

Concerns have been raised in the Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) doctoral education literature regarding: (a) the narrowness of research preparation, (b) the emphasis on disciplinary silos, (c) the lack of competitiveness and innovation within and beyond academia, and (d) the role of graduate assistants. These concerns mirror those in…

Three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds (VW) have great potential for contemporary art education. This article introduces the key characteristics of 3D VWs and reviews the research literature and application of VWs in education and art education. After explaining how 3D VWs provide unique possibilities as a contemporary art medium, learning tool,…

Teacher-educators need ways of assessing the adequacy of university curriculum and the extent to which student-teachers meet learning objectives. One potentially useful tool is Anderson and Krathwohl's (Addison Wesley Longman, New York, 2001) theoretical framework, which can be applied to assess student-teachers' knowledge types and their…

In teacher education, the key concern must be inequitable civic education, which includes economic education and opportunities available for underserved students. Inequitable civic education opportunities reinforce already-widening disparities between groups of citizens. This bodes ill for democracy and the ability to wrestle with the complex…

This study investigated contextual changes in perceptions of science teaching self-efficacy through pre-, post- and retrospective administrations of the Science Teaching Expectancy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B) among preservice elementary teachers when exposed to a science teaching methods course. Findings revealed that the number of postsecondary…

This study examined the effect of using blogs as reflective journals during a methods course and practicum period on preservice science teacher reflections. The researchers investigated blogging and commenting as potential catalysts for critical reflection using an action research approach. The participants were 10 graduate preservice secondary…

In this mixed-methods study, we investigated how doctoral students used asynchronous online discussions that were added to a face-to-face research methods course. We focused specifically on what sociocognitive tools the students used and what they thought about the value of the online discussions for their learning. Our data included three online…

The role of family-school partnerships in facilitating children's educational engagement and achievement is now widely recognised. However, the theoretical foundations of family-school partnerships remain under-developed and research in many aspects of this field is incomplete. The need for the development of a rigorously informed and theorised…

Teacher preparation programs have been under attack by policy makers in the last decade, and teacher educators are constantly striving to improve their programs. Yet, there are several research-based practices that have been shown to be effective for developing teachers. In this article, the author summarizes a study in one science methods course…

This mixed-method, dual-phase, embedded-case study employed the Social Cognitive Theory and the construct of self-efficacy to examine the contributors to science teaching self-efficacy and science teaching practices across different levels of efficacy in six pre-service elementary teachers during their science methods course and student teaching…

As suggested by the Kerala Higher Education Council, the Department of Education of the University of Kerala organized a half-day workshop for reconceptualization of the teacher education curriculum of the University of Kerala as a preliminary step in the original plan of the Council for introducing an unified BEd curriculum in the state of…

In the realm of teacher education, the conversation among teacher educators across the nation invariably leans toward better understandings of the experiences that seem to foster the development of effective teachers. Experience has certainly had a significant influence on the author, a teacher educator committed to teaching for social justice.…