Education & Pedagogy

Describes the introduction of an innovative approach to learning and assessing critical science understanding by preservice elementary science teachers. Student teachers submit a cumulative, multivoiced (patchwork) text which integrates smaller pieces written across the module that demand critical and personal engagement and have been given peer and formative feedback, producing a structurally unified reflective synthesis. (SM)

Based on a review of trends in North American and Australian publications and public meetings from 1950 to the present, this article argues that teacher educators have been perceived more positively on college campuses as research on teaching and teacher education has become more widely disseminated, more methodologically diversified, and more inclusive of teachers themselves. (SM)

Presents findings from case studies of two states (Vermont and Indiana) that have been engaged in standards-based reforms of teacher education. Reported results emphasize the problematic influence that adopted standards may have on teacher educators' conceptions of teaching as well as on their openness to inquiry and dialogue about alternative perspectives. (SM)

Explores the social-contextual nature of parents' perceptions of nursery education, using the ecological systems theory, in three nursery classes attached to primary schools. Reports that "working-class" parents were better able than "middle-class" parents to articulate their views on both nursery education and their children's nursery experiences. (CMK)

Discussion of technology integration in teaching and teacher education focuses on policy and curriculum reform as they relate to information technology use for teacher education, based on experiences in Cyprus public schools. Discusses the need for shifts in pedagogical approaches and reforms in preservice teacher education and inservice professional development. (Author/LRW)

Explores how modern and postmodern theory (including Mann's political sociology of power, Foucauldian theory of knowledge/power regimes, and feminist theory) might be used to examine problems in comparative higher education, including how globalization is related to shifting power/knowledge regimes in which comparative higher education is embedded. Suggests methods that might be used when drawing on these theories for research. (EV)

Reflects on some of the major achievements of and challenges to women's studies as a field in a relatively unsupportive university environment. Explores the relationship between gender studies and comparative higher education studies. Suggests two scenarios for the future trajectory of women's studies, providing examples of what that might mean for research in comparative higher education. (EV)

A review of 197 articles on special education technology research and practice found a core set of four journals contributed 55 percent of the relevant articles. Analysis of the articles revealed several themes: augmentative and alternative communication, accessibility, assistive technology, implementation issues, Internet applications, preservice teacher education, and technology integration. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Examines the dominant strand in comparative education research, hegemony or power-knowledge relations, and considers its limitations amid the growing salience of "globalization." Calls for the building of a democratic, pluralist, non-ethnocentric, and multilingual field of comparative education that enables new kinds of judgments about national and global phenomena. (SV)

The education programs of Quebec have a social constructivist focus characterized by project teaching, learner autonomy, cooperation, and metacognition. However, important technological and pedagogical hurdles must be overcome before these new practices can be implemented. (Author/SV)

Discusses the demand for distance education opportunities in engineering and science and considers delivery methods for theoretical content and for laboratory work. Explains the Real-Time Internet Mediated Laboratory Experiments (RTIMLE) that use the World Wide Web, and suggests that RTIMLE may be most appropriate for students who already have hands-on experience in laboratories. (LRW)

Describes a study that examined the effect of moderating variables on the attitude-behavior relationship within the context of traditional-aged undergraduate students' experience of distance education. Results showed attitude and subjective norms were the most important predictor variables of behavioral intent to enroll in a distance education course. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of distance education in higher education focuses on guidelines and standards developed by the American Federation of Teachers. Highlights include faculty role; course design; student role; personal interaction via electronic communication; class size; course content; subject offerings; information literacy, both electronic and print; student assessment; academic advisement; and evaluation of distance education. (LRW)

Explores how, for a student of Canadian federalism and postsecondary education, one theme that keeps recurring is the number of times these two dimensions of public policy have been connected; over and over again, changes in the governance and financing of education, and especially postsecondary or higher education, have presaged more general changes in the pattern of Canadian federalism. (EV)

A study involving 129 secondary general education math and special education teachers found a majority of special education teachers had not heard of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards. Teachers identified lack of adequate materials as a considerable barrier to implementation of activities based on the Standards. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)