Education & Pedagogy

To preserve the nation's standing in science, technology, education, and discovery, the highest priority should be to develop and support school programs, media programs, and informal educational experiences so that learning elements of science and technology is as common for the public as learning sports skills or reading. Discusses goals of the national science policy statement, Science in the National Interest. (PVD)

Discusses the evaluation of the usefulness of multimedia materials in medical education. Approaches the issue by looking at the nature of the knowledge that medical professionals are expected to acquire and relating that knowledge to what multimedia applications have to offer. Multimedia applications must also be analyzed for whether they can assist the novice in moving through stages of increasing competence. (PVD)

Provides an overview of the area of quantitative research in chemical education, which involves the same components that comprise chemical research: (1) a question or hypothesis; (2) research design; (3) data collection and analysis; and (4) interpretation of results. Includes questions of interest to chemical educators; areas of quantitative research; and discussions of research design, statistical analysis, and evaluation of quantitative studies. Contains 29 references. (PVD)

The Australia-Indonesia Institute developed a program to promote greater mutual understanding between Indonesians and rural Australians, in which Indonesian teacher education students spent a month in rural New South Wales, Australia. They taught Indonesian language and culture in 47 local schools and gave rural teachers of Indonesian the opportunity to practice the language. (TD)

Suggests that high school graduates are basically "globally illiterate," lacking an understanding of the interconnectedness and interdependency of the earth's systems. Advocates an "ideal dialogue" process that engages students in relevant learning activities related to real-life social and environmental issues and that encourages students to develop positive world views and values. (LP)

Effective strategies for assisting Canadian Native communities to develop school boards included encouraging an unhurried adaptive learning process, providing guidance to achieve consensus, and allowing for an incubation period. Impediments to development included community members' avoidance of leadership roles, cross-cultural misunderstandings, prejudice and discrimination among Native people, and the quest for power by a few Native people. (LP)

Argues for more research into teacher education to form a basis for development of policy and practice. Identifies research networks related to teacher education in Europe. Provides an example of how teacher education research might contribute to practice: a study of different types of learning experience among student teachers and different types of influence by mentors or supervisors. (SV)

Describes the content, methods, and challenges of a graduate level course, "Computers and Other Educational Technologies," for all master of education students at the University of Montana. One section occurred on campus, and the other was taught using distance-learning technologies. Recommendations for future classes are provided. (SM)

Reports on a follow-up study to an evaluation of art museum education practices from nearly a decade ago. That report criticized museum art education as lacking intellectual rigor and training, institutional support, technical training, and vision. The up-to-date data found some significant improvement but many of the same problems. (MJP)

Reports on a study of the expectations of preservice music teacher education students about the problems faced by beginning teachers. Students consistently expressed high levels of confidence and felt that they would experience less serious problems than the "average first-year teacher." Includes statistical data and tables. (MJP)

The American university community, the context of social work education, has a clear goal of education but is also the workplace for a diverse group of students and faculty. Defines this community, discusses affirmative action and multicultural education, and suggests that social work educators can make unique contributions to the development of a "just" university community. (Author/TD)

A memory of her first day at school in rural Arkansas defined the author's philosophy of education as lifelong search for identity, as an individual and a member of the community and world. Her teaching style reflects her parents' beliefs in their role as prime educators and in the role of education in developing a strong sense of self. (TD)

In interviews with 86 rural special education teachers, issues of mobility and opportunity were cited most often as reasons why teachers left their jobs. Although results indicated that both leavers and stayers were dissatisfied with employment conditions, teachers who chose to extend their teaching contracts were more closely tied to the community. (LP)

This thematic section includes "Community Education in the Cook Islands" (Brian Terrence Hagan); "Developing the Grassroots: A Community Education Program in Fiji" (Joseph Veramu); "Literacy in the Community: The Papua New Guinea Experience" (Vincent Manukayasi); "Young Aborigine People Learn about Life through Comic Books"; and "A New and Interesting Way of Teaching and Learning for Adults in the Solomon Islands" (Nicola Baird). (SK)

This study compared experienced physical educators' observation skills in teaching situations to those of first- and final-year student teachers. Participants viewed slides from gymnastic lessons and reported what they saw. There were significant differences between groups in several areas. Final- year and experienced teachers were similar in observational capacities. (SM)