Education & Pedagogy

Addressed the need to train teachers to work with culturally/linguistically diverse students, using a classroom case and online feedback from the case teacher and building a database of adapted lessons. Although cases were useful in promoting application of knowledge and skills, feedback and opportunity for reflection were essential. Computers facilitated teacher training and expanded their use of new skills. (SM)

Professional literature indicates that peer programs in the 1990s were widely used to address a variety of health education content. The literature shows a paucity of peer program evaluations. The increased focus of peer education programs illustrates the importance of conducting evaluations to establish whether these programs are cost effective, age appropriate, and persuasive health education strategies as purported. (SM)

Discusses how some colleges of education (COEs) attempt to develop academic climate and facilitate graduate student research activity, addressing the role of student-organized internal research conferences in the transformation of student to social scientist and explicating the benefits of these internal conferences to students, faculty, and COEs. The experiences of two educational research exchange participants are presented. (SM)

Discusses the nature of the current emphasis on numeracy in Australian teacher training. Describes the rationale, development and delivery of the first year of the "Numeracy Across the Curriculum" unit, provides a brief evaluation from the perspective of staff and students, and discusses what impact such teacher education programs might have on secondary schools' approaches to numeracy. (Author/MM)

Explores the effectiveness of environmental education programs in terms of both student learning outcomes and the intergenerational influence that results when students discuss their learning experiences with their parents and other community members. Interviews n=284 students in Queensland schools from Grades 5-12 and their parents regarding their perceptions about the program and its influences. Includes 21 references. (Author/YDS)

Points out that constructivist approach to science education is recognized as a valuable approach for building deep student understanding of scientific content and inquiry. Introduces a constructivist approach in two teacher training courses in the Spring 2000 semester and assessed their resulting content knowledge with examination-based assessment. Includes 17 references. (Author/YDS)

Argues that science education is a fundamental tool for global education and that it must be introduced in early years as a first step to a scientific culture for all. Describes testing validity of a didactic strategy for developing the learning of concepts, which was based upon an experimental work approach using everyday life contexts. (Author)

A literature review examined federal legislation for students with disabilities and the efficacy of secondary vocational education. Research indicates a high rate of vocational participation in this population and significant contributions to positive post-school outcomes. Some mixed findings suggest a need to identify specifically which students with disabilities are best served by which vocational programs. (Contains 38 references.) (SK)

Tells the stories of two South African teachers who spent years in Robben Island prison because of their anti-apartheid work, offering a contextual history of apartheid in South Africa, describing education on Robben Island and the teachers' efforts at improvement through education, and reflecting on the meaning and value of such stories in setting a course in present circumstances. (SM)

Uses historical material from the United States and South Africa in different periods to raise several key issues about the desired outcomes of university education and what is conducive to their achievement, focusing on four clusters of concerns: values, utility and community orientation, research skills, and "arousing interests" (general knowledge and cultural competence). (SM)

Suggests that in planning transformative change in South African higher education, it is important to analyze the status quo and understand the legacy of apartheid, including less obvious features. Notes the need to revisit the role of the academy in social democratization and modernization in order to establish a firm framework and make progress on matters of equity and practicality. (SM)

Examined the translation of multicultural learning activities in a college classroom into critical pedagogy in public school classrooms. Practicing teachers enrolled in the course completed interviews and surveys. Most respondents were critically impacted during the course's learning activities, resulting in a broader perspective and critical self-reflection on their teaching practice. There was also a pattern of resistance to change. (SM)

Discusses the existing dichotomy between the definition of weight and its implications in science education. Reviews the history and epistemology of the weight concept and its present status in instruction, and students' knowledge about weight. Suggests that a conceptual distinction between weight and gravitational force, and the replacement of the gravitational definition of weight by the operational one may improve the quality of science education. (Author/MM)

Presents findings from a commission that looked into gender technology and teacher education. Girls use technology as much as boys, but they have less interest in the machine for the machine's sake and more interest in using computers as tools for current interests. Both teachers and girls have similar concerns about computer technology in the classroom. The computer culture may shut girls out of future employment opportunities. (PVD)

Since the 1960s, the epistemological-cum-methodological orientations of American and British comparative education changed from being historical to being social scientific. This metamorphosis has impoverished the field, and a return to a re-invented historical mode of comparative analysis would help to humanize comparative education in a cosmos of economic globalization and instrumental rationality. (Contains 57 references.) (TD)