Education & Pedagogy

Examines key problems in the preservice education of middle school teachers in Iran, using data from review of the literature and interviews with Iranian educators. Problems include: teachers lack preparation in specialized and professional education; programs have inadequate content and educational style; instructors are inadequately qualified; and the current practicum procedure is inadequate. Recommendations for mitigating the problems are provided. (Contains references.) (SM)

Responses from 130 of 156 technology education students indicated that 93% found the Internet an important research tool but 70% used it primarily for e-mail; only 14 had formal Internet training; 78% were unaware of the need to document Internet information sources; 74.2% believed this is public information; most said instructors did not teach documentation. (Contains 20 references.) (SK)

Dutch teachers designed a curriculum for beginning teacher educators within higher education and schools. Based on the Dutch professional standard for teacher educators, literature review, case studies, and discussions with colleagues and experts, they formulated six groups of competencies and an educational approach with three learning tracks (visual learning track, learning track in the form of a course, and learning track in the teacher education institution). (SM)

Examined three alternative routes to secondary teacher education in the Netherlands: the reentry or refresher course route; side-entry route for unemployed people with college degrees; and side-entry route for employed artisans. Data from interviews with employment consultants, teacher educators, mentors, and school administrators indicated that the alternative programs realized characteristics of work-based learning to a certain extent but not fully. Important differences between the routes were evident. (SM)

This editorial spotlights what teacher preparation has to do with: (1) teaching quality and school children's educational experiences and (2) equity, access to educational opportunities, and preparing all citizens of a demographically diverse society to live in democracy. It examines a California lawsuit, Williams v. State of California, which was brought in 2000 by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of children in 18 public school districts. (SM)

Debates the strengths and limitations of standards-based science education reform in the United States. Examines California science content standards and critiques it and the ways that such standards narrowly frame science education for the state's teachers and students. Suggests awareness of the challenges in using standards to achieve education reform and including teachers in the translation of standards into practice. (Author/KHR)

During a 3-year project, a Colorado graduate teacher education program used Latino children's literature in field experience seminars to help 70 preservice teachers gain background knowledge of Hispanic cultures, language, and issues. The teacher candidates then used the same literature in their field experience classrooms, tapping into students' funds of knowledge and encouraging personal interactions. (Contains 42 references.) (Author/SV)

Identifies and explains the parameters relevant for self-assessment and accreditation of programs in distance mode institutions. Discusses general perspectives on quality; defining quality in higher education and in open learning and distance education modes; organization structure of open universities; measurement of quality; parameters for assessment; delivery of programs; and program review. (AEF)

Describes two pilot programs at the University of North Florida (Jacksonville, FL) that connect instructional technology into the teacher education program: one uses technology in a community-based learning environment to improve preservice elementary teachers' science education preparation; the second involves a learning community of students enrolled in instructional technology and a course in teaching diverse populations. (LRW)

Discusses challenges facing the legal profession: the increasing importance of a law school's identity as national, regional, or local to graduates' career trajectories; disjunction between the legal academy and the profession; the threat to local and regional law schools' economic viability from online education; and emergence of new types of competitors from the blurring of boundaries between the law and other disciplines. (EV)

An overview of special education in Costa Rica is provided. Costa Rica has promulgated four educational service models that extend special education expertise: consulting teachers, educational assistance teams, itinerant teams, and resource centers. Their educational classification system describes the level of modifications required by students. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Suggests that education leaders are currently faced with changing bases of social cohesion, changing instruments of economic control, and changing forms of organization. Democratic leaders are seen as those that enable the formulation of social, learning, and culturally responsive public educational institutions. (Contains 2 notes and 49 references.) (Author/MLF)

Tinto's student integration model and Bean and Metzner's student attrition model have been influential in explaining persistence and attrition in higher education programs. This article draws chiefly from these models and the results of research into the needs of online distance education students to synthesize a composite model to better explain persistence and attrition among the largely nontraditional students that enroll in online courses. (Contains 50 references.) (Author/AEF)

Discusses mathematics and science education reforms that encourage teachers to adapt instruction as students raise new ideas, defines what it means to notice, and describes a multimedia software tool designed to help teachers learn to do so. Reports results of a study in which teachers seeking secondary teaching certification used the software. (Author/LRW)

Examines arguments by Little in the preceding article that a successful legal suit for accommodations on a state bar exam is generalizable to learning disabilities and medical education. Explores the legitimacy accorded to academic accommodations in medical education. Asserts that medical schools have a social responsibility to shift their pedagogic gaze from identifying handicaps in individuals to understanding how the education of physicians can become, quite literally, "handicapping." (EV)