ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Overwhelming Scientific Confidence in Evolution and Its Centrality in Science Education--And the Public Disconnect
Author: Wiles, Jason R.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Evolution,Foreign Countries,North Americans,Science Education,Biology,Natural Sciences

The teaching and learning of biological evolution has been beset by a host of challenges ranging from pedagogical obstacles to social controversy. These include two distinctive sets of problems: one arising from the fact that many evolutionary concepts may seem counterintuitive to students, and the other stemming from objections rooted in religion. A misconception common to both of these categories is the notion that significant doubt exists within the scientific community as to whether evolution actually occurred, or that it is &quot;a theory in crisis.&quot; This article reviews the positions of the scientific and science education communities and how these compare with those of the general public. Despite the overwhelming acceptance of evolution among scientists, and despite evolution's centrality to modern biology education, virtually all national polls indicate that a strikingly large proportion of North Americans reject evolution, indicating a great disconnect between the scientific community and the largely dissenting and apparently under-informed, or misinformed, public. Large-scale research efforts regarding current practices related to the instruction of evolution, and into more effective methods of teaching evolution, are needed; certainly in the United States, but urgently, even if surprisingly, in Canada. (Contains 1 note.)
A Martian Invasion of Teachable Moments for Environmental Science and Related Issues
Author: Cherif, Abour H.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Space Exploration,Astronomy,Educational Opportunities,Teaching Conditions,Scientific Attitudes,Earth Science,Comparative Analysis,Learning Experience,Teaching Methods,Environmental Education

The recent missions to Mars have produced a mass of data and information in all forms and have forced the minds of many people world-wide to rethink their own perspectives on life itself. This drama unfolding about 35 million miles from Earth, and digitally on our TV screens, is offering a growing reservoir for teachable moments. The curiosity and wonder of every image received prompts innumerable opportunities for inquiry. In this paper we share some of our ideas on how to bring into the classroom these exciting resources emanating from the Red Planet. Opportunities to reflect on myth and hypothesize about possibilities are obvious places to start when teaching about the potential of life on Mars. The explosion of resources and information (previously unavailable) from recent explorations of Mars stimulates students to examine further the environment around them. We share some of the activities we have been using in our classrooms to motivate readers to develop their own ideas on how to take advantage of the Mars missions for their classrooms. We offer strategies to create authentic learning experiences to engage students. In addition, we intend the activity to inspire teachers to use other contemporary teachable moments that may capture the imagination of their students as they discover science. Whether you are teaching topics related to desertification or deforestation, design and technology, or space travel or colonization, to name a few, the planet Mars and the recent missions to its environment will become part of your continually expanding resources in teaching science. (Contains 7 tables.)
Shaping New Models for Teacher Education
Author: Rust, Frances O'Connell
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Teacher Education Programs,Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Change,Teacher Educators,Models,Teaching Models,Public Schools

American teacher education is stuck in an unproductive and dysfunctional pattern. American teacher education programs graduate thousands of newly certified teachers each year, but the evidence that even half of the new graduates are dynamic and capable teachers is weak. The reputations of the teacher education programs through which they pass are poor, both within the academic community and in the field of K-12 education. In this article, the author stresses that the time has come for dramatic, fundamental change in the way teacher educators prepare the teachers of America's fifty-five million school children. The dramatic change needed will require a redefinition of teacher education, taking it beyond preservice preparation to include the ongoing support of teachers throughout their professional lives. Reforming teacher education needs a comprehensive re-conceptualization of what effective teacher education can be; an empirically based and radically local framework that addresses the two major issues confronting teacher educators: (1) &quot;the problem of practice&quot;; and (2) the &quot;challenge of succession&quot;. The author discusses how to develop new models of teacher education. (Contains 1 figure.)
The Culture of Learning to Teach: The Self-Perpetuating Cycle of Conservative Schooling
Author: Smagorinsky, Peter
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Education,Teacher Education Programs,Recognition (Achievement),Active Learning,Classrooms,English Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Educators,Elementary Secondary Education,Teaching Methods,Educational Research

Based on his reading, research, and experiences as both a classroom teacher and teacher educator, the author accepts Dewey's ultimate recognition that the problem is not simply that teachers are unaware of alternatives to schooling as usual, and that better teacher education is the solution to making schools the sites of more active learning. The author argues instead that the issue is a function of the culture of schooling, a culture embedded in 4,000 years of stone and seemingly impervious to real, systemic change. He now turns to how his thinking about teacher education from a cultural-historical perspective has been influenced by his experiences as a U.S. high school English teacher from 1976-1990, as a teacher educator since 1990, and as a researcher studying teachers as they move from their teacher education programs to their first jobs. A research program was carried out under the sponsorship of the National Research Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA) and designed with his colleagues Pam Grossman and Sheila Valencia. In this article, the author consults his own CELA studies, other research he has conducted in secondary school classrooms, and research carried out by others to describe the self-perpetuating cycle of conservative schooling. (Contains 1 figure and 1 note.)
Separating the Chaff of Bureaucracy from the Grain of Pedagogy: Creating Quality New Teachers in the Age of Accountability
Author: Lesley, Mellinee
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Teacher Education Programs,Role of Education,Politics of Education,Teaching Skills,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Recruitment,Barriers,Educational Research,Interviews,Faculty,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Evaluation,School Administration,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Characteristics,Teaching Conditions

The attack against teacher education has seemed increasingly focused and pervasive in recent years with the national government joining the discussion. The 2002 U.S. Secretary of Education's Annual Report on Teacher Quality (U.S. Department of Education) called for the dismantlement of teacher education programs and their "burdensome requirements" since they were irretrievably "broken". Some reports have called for the total revamping of college teacher preparation programs in order to better prepare teachers to increase student learning. As faculty members at a regional state university for several years and highly involved with revamping their teacher education program, the authors were anxious to study the effectiveness of their program in preparing quality teachers. The university where the study originated is considered a Masters 1 level institution under the Carnegie definition and is also one of those universities providing the most teachers for the nation's schools. In this study, the authors also wanted to clarify just what constituted quality and how those who were involved with their program viewed quality teaching. They obtained the information they sought by interviewing a representative sample of recent graduates and the administrators who hired them to determine whether they were providing "the critical teaching skills all teachers must learn" in order to help them become quality teachers capable of providing a successful education to their students. The authors discovered four trends within the selective codes pertaining to: (1) descriptors of quality teaching; (2) hindrances to engaging in quality teaching; (3) support structures for engaging in quality teaching; and (4) evaluations of the teacher education program. Through the findings in this study, the authors hope to understand the disparate perceptions regarding the factors that both contribute to and hinder the development of a quality teacher. (Contains 1 table.)
The Imperative of Contextual Cognizance: Preservice Teachers and Community Engagement in the Schools and Communities Project
Author: Zygmunt-Fillwalk, Eva
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teachers,Community Programs,Economic Factors,Teacher Attitudes,Undergraduate Students,Student Development,Teaching Experience,Surveys,Teacher Education

Learning within community settings provides preservice teachers important opportunities beyond those of traditional teacher preparation. Immersive learning opportunities within communities strengthen preservice teachers' repertoires and provoke new ways of thinking about how different settings create possibilities and constraints for student growth. This study sought to examine the experience of 22 preservice teachers engaged in The Schools and Community Project, a unique undergraduate experience that encourages the exploration of the community context in which children develop. For a 16 week semester, preservice teachers enrolled in a three credit Educational Foundations course, studying the neighborhood surrounding a particular school, and examining historical and contemporary trends including socio-economic factors, businesses, housing, recreation, and values toward education. The purpose of the study was to analyze the transformative nature of the experience on preservice teachers' attitudes toward community conditions and their potential impact on teaching and learning. Results of the analysis yielded highly consistent themes among the 22 preservice teachers. The juxtaposition of these pre- and post-experience written reflections is evidence of the transformative nature of their community-based learning. While opportunities for personal and professional growth abound through preservice teachers' experience in the Schools and Communities Project, their initial assessments of embarking on such a journey revealed noticeable apprehension. As a result of participation in this project, preservice teachers have begun to better realize the connections between schools and the communities where they are situated. The shift in their preconceptions beginning the experience, compared to their final reflections is indicative of both cognitive and affective transformation.
Journeys toward Becoming a Teacher: Charting the Course of Professional Development
Author: Jarvis-Selinger, Sandra
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Education,Teacher Education Programs,Teacher Attitudes,Teaching Methods,Preservice Teachers,Student Attitudes,Faculty Development,Teaching (Occupation),Identification,Longitudinal Studies,Interviews

Teacher education programs challenge students' beliefs about teaching and learning in hope of creating a pedagogical awareness that will inform teaching practices and guide the professional transformation from student to teacher. The process of becoming a teacher is referred to variously as teacher development, professional growth and development, identity development/construction, and/or learning to teach. Reviews of teacher development literature have illustrated the complexity involved in this developmental journey. The authors studied 23 students involved in a one-year teacher education program and examined their identity changes and commitment to teaching. They were interested in how students' beliefs and orientations influenced their evolving identity and commitment to teaching. In order to better understand participants' journey, discussions of teacher identity and commitment became the underlying constructs to help tell their stories. This research enables the development of a model of teacher identity and commitment over the course of a teacher education program. Findings related to how the participants' journeys unfolded are presented. The findings can be used by teacher education programs to support, challenge, build, and enhance teachers' developing professional identity and commitment to teaching. (Contains 7 figures and 1 table.)
Supervisor Transformation within a Professional Learning Community
Author: Jacobs, Jennifer
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Professional Development,Learning Activities,Interprofessional Relationship,Communities of Practice,Reflection,Supervisors,Field Experience Programs,Equal Education,Transformative Learning

High-quality professional development is defined as having the characteristics of longevity, context specificity, teacher voice, collaboration, and followup. Effective professional development is "grounded in inquiry, reflection, and experimentation that are participant driven." One vehicle for professional development that adheres to the principles inherent in high-quality professional development is professional learning communities (PLCs). Also referred to as communities of practice, these communities are "groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or passion about a topic, who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis" (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002, p. 4). Professional learning communities are named as contexts that are ripe for members to engage in transformation (Servage, 2008). This study includes data from a PLC of prospective teacher field supervisors who focused on bringing an equity focus to their supervision practice. This article explores the transformation in a PLC and the key elements that supported transformation for three field supervisors. Additionally, in order to more adequately portray the integrated nature and complexity of these elements, implications for understanding and fostering transformation within PLCs are presented. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 1 note.)
Multicultural Teacher Education: Examining the Perceptions, Practices, and Coherence in One Teacher Preparation Program
Author: Assaf, Lori Czop
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Grounded Theory,Preservice Teacher Education,Multicultural Education,Teacher Education Programs,Comparative Analysis,Teacher Educators,Teaching Methods,Educational Practices,Beliefs,Interviews,Ethnic Diversity,Elementary School Curriculum,Secondary School Curriculum

With the nation's shifting ethnic and cultural texture, multicultural education has become imperative in the 21st century. Even though most teacher education programs report that they have thoroughly incorporated diversity perspectives and multicultural content into the curriculum, external examinations often prove the contrary. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher educators' perspectives about multicultural education in an elementary and middle school teacher preparation program. Specifically, the authors explored the perspectives, beliefs, and practices of teacher educators working in one field-base teacher preparation program with the aim of understanding how beliefs and attitudes held by teacher educators shape the preparation of future teachers who will potentially work in multicultural school settings. Qualitative methodologies were used to examine the perspectives and instructional practices of fourteen teacher educators who were responsible for instructing teacher candidates in the elementary and middle school field-based classes. Data analysis was conducted by using constant comparative analysis. Data analysis revealed four themes: (1) Balancing Optimistic Perspectives of Diversity While Facing Challenges; (2) Authentic Experiences with Diverse Students; (3) Universal Methods or Ideological Understandings; and (4) Ethnic and Linguistic Differences: Outsider or Insider Stances. The authors describe these four themes and expand on how the participants' perspectives, beliefs, and practices contribute to the coherence of one teacher preparation program. (Contains 1 figure.)
What Works in Race-Conscious Teacher Education? Reflections from Educators in the Field
Author: Ullucci, Kerri
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Feedback (Response),Student Teaching,Student Teachers,Urban Schools,Teacher Education Programs,Teacher Educators,Racial Factors,Consciousness Raising,Whites,Student Diversity,Minority Groups,Interviews,Teacher Attitudes,Program Effectiveness,Cultural Pluralism,Social Theories,Elementary School Teachers,Masters Degrees,Majors (Students),Teacher Qualifications,Teaching Experience,Racial Bias,Personal Narratives

This paper presents a study about how schools of education impact their students' ability to be successful in urban schools. What experiences--if any--in teacher education programs shape the development of race-conscious White teachers? To address her goal, the author conducted a qualitative study of six teachers currently employed in urban schools. All were considered excellent White teachers of children of color. Through a series of interviews, the author explored the ways race, culture, and diversity were addressed in their teacher education programs and whether the experiences were meaningful. Participants interacted with schools and communities in several different ways during their preparation. Most only participated in fieldwork as student teachers or during their prepracticum requirements. What was common among all of the participants was that their student teaching and/or prepracticum observations took place in an urban district. Each had experiences in diverse schools. All reported having a positive experience with the students they taught. As teacher educators continue to hone their practice and pedagogy, the feedback from these urban educators provides insights as to what is critical in preparing new teachers for urban schools. They provide an oft-forgotten set of voices that can be instrumental in helping teacher educators think through their work. (Contains 1 table and 8 notes.)
Engineering a Dynamic Science Learning Environment for K-12 Teachers
Author: Hardre, Patricia L.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mentors,Elementary Secondary Education,Adult Learning,Engineering,Evaluation Methods,Learning Experience,Professional Development,Science Education,Teaching Methods,Faculty Development,Teacher Attitudes,Higher Education,Universities

The present study follows a cohort of 17 K-12 teachers through a six-week resident learning experience in science and engineering, and on into the planning and implementation of applications for their classrooms. This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program was examined using the strategic approach of design-based research, with its fluid, adaptive management of the complexity of authentic learning &quot;in situ&quot; and its attentive documentation of expected and unexpected events, in process and products, to capture the richness of teachers' and mentors' experiences. Research on effective teacher professional development, adult learning, situated cognition, and learning transfer were utilized to inform the evaluation design. Teachers overall enjoyed the RET experience; they appreciated the faculty expertise and insights, and admired their mentors. In this study the authors see three parts of teacher professional development. The first is knowledge and skills, the intangible tools, cognitive and psychomotor, to do the research tasks. The second is equipment, the physical resources and tangible tools with which to do the work. The third is empowerment--in self-perceptions, motivations, and drive necessary to carry out the plans, provided through initial and ongoing support and communication. Teacher-learners, expert in K-12 science education, learned from university mentors, expert in engineering. Engineer-mentors learned about K-12 science education and the demands of effective teacher development. The result was a change in the practice of both groups of teachers, in K-12 education, in undergraduate engineering (reported by the mentors), and in the adaptive revision of the professional development program itself. (Contains 3 tables.)
Representations of Education in HBO's "The Wire", Season 4
Author: Trier, James
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Television,Mass Media Effects,Teaching Methods,Teacher Education

"The Wire" is a crime drama that aired for five seasons on the Home Box Office (HBO) cable channel from 2002-2008. The entire series is set in Baltimore, Maryland, and as Kinder (2008) points out, "Each season "The Wire" shifts focus to a different segment of society: the drug wars, the docks, city politics, education, and the media" (p. 52). In this article, the author aims to introduce season four of "The Wire"--the "education" season--to readers who have either never seen any of the series, or who have seen some of it but not season four. Specifically, the author attempts to show that season four holds great pedagogical potential for academics in education. First, though, the author presents examples of the critical acclaim that "The Wire" received throughout its run, and he introduces the backgrounds of the creators and main writers of the series, David Simon and Ed Burns. (Contains 9 notes.)