Preparing Elementary Preservice Teachers for Urban Elementary Science Classrooms: Challenging Cultural Biases Toward Diverse Students

This study reports the learning of elementary preservice teachers regarding diversity and teaching science in diverse urban elementary classrooms. From participating in a semester-long book club, the preservice teachers reveal their cultural biases, connect and apply their knowledge of diversity, and understand that getting to know their students are important elements for teaching science in diverse classrooms. These 3 things connect in ways that allow the preservice teachers to understand how their cultural biases impede student learning and gain new knowledge of diversity as they change their cultural biases. Implications of this study reveal that preservice teachers need opportunities to reveal, confront, challenge, and change their cultural models and to develop new models for teaching science in urban elementary classrooms.

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Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Mathematics Education in Urban Schools

This article reports findings from a study of preservice mathematics teacher education students and their beliefs about and experiences with students in an urban high school. The preservice teacher education students participated as mentors to a group of peer tutors in a mathematics tutoring program. Data collected from questionnaires and interviews reveal that the mentors had varied perceptions of tutoring program participants’ motivation, interest, and knowledge of mathematics. Mentors held varied perceptions of urban schools and what teaching mathematics in urban settings entails. Further, mentors reported that their work in the tutoring program had an impact on their strategies and plans for future mathematics teaching. Erica N. Walker is Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology and Research Fellow at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.     

职前数学教师如何应对学生的概率错误

概率是中国中小学课程的重要组成部分.学生对概率的学习往往存在诸多困难,这也使得教师面临许多挑战.教师要学会诊断和利用学生在不同情境中出现的错误,帮助学生更好地认识和理解概率.通过设计一个有关概率的情境问题,对48名职前数学教师的数学教学知识进行了测试,结果表明:(1)尽管职前教师都能求出情境中的概率,但是仅有少数能真正解释学生的错误;(2)职前教师对学生错误的解释,会直接影响他们教学设计的水平.     

Alternate Conceptions of Preservice Elementary Teachers: The Itakura Method

In this study, we determined the effectiveness of the inquiry-based Itakura method for mediating alternate conceptions of preservice elementary teachers (N = 38) in an integrated mathematics, science, and technology methods course. We investigated alternate conceptions in the expansion of solids due to heating. There was a significant increase in participants’ immediate learning gains after participating in the Itakura method. Retention data was gathered after 1, 2, and 3 months. After 3 months, retention levels dropped slightly, but not significantly. Responses revealed that the majority of the participants did not revert back to alternate conceptions after 3 months.     

Fostering Cross Cultural Competence in Preservice Teachers Through Multicultural Education Experiences

Diversity is increasing in our classrooms implying the need for teachers to be prepared to work effectively with students from different backgrounds, such as cultural, linguistic or national origin. Additionally, the focus on diversity education is important because of the need for students to develop, from an early age, the ability to communicate with and relate to others from diverse backgrounds. This article focuses on cross cultural experiences gained from cross cultural partnerships between preservice teachers and English Language Learners over the course of a semester at a medium size public university. Evidence from this project suggests the need for teacher educators to model and support appropriate cultural competencies that are critical in classrooms that are fast becoming more culturally as well as linguistically diverse.     

教师如何应对多样性学习者的教学挑战

课堂上学习者正在呈现更多样性的表征,以往研究关注学习者个体因素的多样性差异,而今更加关注教师因素和世界教育发展因素对学习者带来的动态差异。教师应从尊重个体差异到寻求普遍性发展中掌握为多样性而教的方法,即差异化教学、探究式教学、项目化学习、文化关联教学。在教学实践中,教师要重塑师生关系并提升多样性的教学能力;相关机构也应重视研究与实践同步推进,为多样性学习者培养未来教师。     

职前教师微格学习空间的社会性设计

微格学习空间的社会性设计为解决职前教师微格教学中存在的问题提供了一种新的可能性。微格学习空间的设计可以吸纳社会制约、社会建构和社会服务三种社会因素,从可识别性、可达性和活力三个方面入手,力求营造出一种场所精神,形成一种场所感,从而增强职前教师的良性体验,提高微格教学的参与度和真实感。     

Hopes and Fears for Science Teaching: The Possible Selves of Preservice Teachers in a Science Education Program

Given the high attrition rate of beginning science teachers, it is imperative to better prepare science preservice teachers, so that they can be successful during the early years of their teaching. The purpose of this study was to explore science preservice teachers’ views of themselves as a future teacher, in particular their hopes and fears for science teaching and the experiences that help to shape their possible selves. Employed were qualitative methods, which included open-ended surveys and face-to-face interviews. Eleven preservice teachers who enrolled in a secondary science teacher preparation program participated. Findings showed six categories of future selves with the most frequent category being for effective/ineffective science teaching. When their hoped-for and feared selves were not balanced, participants articulated more fears. Regarding the primary influence in shaping their hopes and fears, diverse past experiences related to teaching and learning appeared to be more salient factors than science teacher education program. Given the enriched understanding of the science preservice teachers’ perceptions, we provided suggestions for science teacher educators.     

终身教育视野下的教师教育观

终身教育思想对全球教师教育带来深刻影响,人们从此深刻认识到教师教育的连续性和终身性。通过对终身教育理念倡导下教师教育观的解读,使我们更加深刻认识了教师教育的本质和目的。从终身教育思想的视野下来审视我国教师教育的现状,不难看出我国的教师教育存在诸多问题,笔者想通过这些问题,让人们来共同关注我国的教师教育及其发展。     

The Context of Educational Measurement Instruction for Preservice Teachers: Professor Perspectives

Professors from 28 mid-western colleges responded to a questionnaire on the nature of educational measurement instruction provided to students in preservice teacher education programs. The results reported here offer insight Into (a) course and student characteristics (b) professors' educational preparation and experience, and (c) learning/ instructional activities and content emphases. These characteristics, together with findings of previous research, serve as a basis for suggestions regarding the limitations of this instruction in light of teacher needs and perceived changes needed In educational measurement instruction.     

How Secondary Mathematics Preservice Teachers Grapple with Enacting Culturally Responsive Practices at Placement Sites

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education - Many scholars call for teacher educators to provide experiences that can lead prospective teachers to adopt and implement culturally...     

Integrating Technology into Preservice Education:

No abstract available for this article.     

Preservice Teachers and Technology Integration: Rethinking Traditional Roles

Although the use of learning technology has become increasingly prominent in schools, significant changes in teaching strategies have not kept pace. Lack of quality professional development and inadequate teacher preparation are often cited for this situation. This case study explores the use of the student teaching experience as an avenue for both preservice and inservice teachers’ professional development associated with educational technology. Two main questions are explored: First, to what extent can preservice teachers enact a technology-rich curriculum unit during their field experience; second, to what extent and under what conditions can the preservice teachers facilitate their cooperating mentor teachers’ acquisition of these same skills. Results indicate preservice teachers can stimulate the integration of technology-rich innovations in their mentor teachers.     

The Status of Civic Education: A Preservice Program Response

Civic education is an issue of growing and serious concern. There is diminished time for civics, fewer course offerings, and gaps in students’ civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. The role of teacher education in addressing this problem is one area deserving additional focus. This article describes the project begun by the secondary education faculty at one university to provide teacher education candidates in all content areas with the ability to address civics in meaningful ways.     

Looking Through Different Lenses: How Preservice Science Teachers Use Practice-Oriented Reflections to Negotiate More Reform-Minded Identities

This study used identity as a framework to understand how preservice science teachers develop the reform-minded ideas inherent in science-specific reforms. Six participants systematically reflected about their reform-based and field lessons taught during a methods course and field lessons taught during student teaching. Patterns in their reflections revealed five different lenses they used to propose changing their practices and negotiate the dissonances those proposals created with their core conceptions about teaching. The extent to which participants expressed reform-minded thinking and enacted science-specific reforms in the field was associated with how they used the lenses to resolve dissonances. The findings suggest why preservice teachers need explicit opportunities to engage in work to cultivate the reform-minded identities required to enact science-specific reforms.     

远程教育中教师如何做研究

近程教育中,大量的教育、教学实践问题有待研究．而工作在远程教学一线的教师,对实践问题的研究很有优势,越来越多的人意识到。教师参与教学研究是提高远程教学质量的关键之一。但是．很多教师认为自己的本职工作十分繁忙。无取顾及教学研究的事。或者想做研究,却不知从何处入手．从而严重制约着教师参与教学科研。行动研究是由实践工作者在实际工作情境中．根据自己实践活动上所遇到实际问题,提出解决问题的途径,策略和方法,并在教学实践中付诸实施,进而加以评定,反省,反馈,修正,以求解决实际问题,特别适合远程教师采用。近年来,越来越多的一线教师在课题研究中采用行动研究法,这种趋势也必然会在远程教育研究中得到体现,本文介绍行动研究的热点,类型和研究过程等。     

素质教育——师专如何应对

我国在取得二十年改革开放的伟大成就之后 ,正把改革开放推向深入。教育为经济发展服务 ;时下 ,素质教育呼声甚高 ,本文就什么样的经济发展模式就需要有什么样的教育模式与之相适应 ;教育为提高人的素质服务以及素质教育中师专如何应对等三个方面进行阐述。