A Case for Student Teacher Placement as Preparation for Future Urban Educators

Do schools of education effectively train young, white, and middle-class teacher candidates to work in urban classrooms? How can schools of education prepare teachers and future teachers for classrooms that are diverse in terms of race/ethnicity, nationality, social class, language and other differences (Nieto, 2004) Classrooms that used to be homogeneous are now diverse, yet the predominant face and gender of the teacher has remained the same. Dramatic inequalities exist in the access that students around the globe have to an excellent, high quality education; inequalities that are lamentably too frequently based on race, social class, language, and other differences (Orfield, 2001). Using data from a descriptive survey, this paper will draw from the experience of eleven teacher candidates in racially diverse urban elementary schools through their first year of teaching to provide recommendations for future program improvements to strengthen existing teacher education programs internationally. Using both qualitative surveys and descriptive statistics, this research strives to answer the question of how to educate the strongest teacher candidates for urban classrooms worldwide

Population Control in Japan: An Economic Theory and Its Application

Information technology (IT) have for several decades been used in university education. An increasing number of classrooms today are built around a concept which uses IT in collaboration with the room itself. However, little is known about the experience of university teachers when working in such classrooms. This study examines the views and opinions of teachers at a Swedish university regarding using and interacting with these classrooms. Furthermore, we identify possible underlying factors that influence these views. Using data from qualitative interviews we apply Technology acceptance model (TAM) and Activity theory (AT) used in both education and human computer interaction to identify how different factors interact to form these opinions. Our study finds that teachers experience a lack of proper training in the use of classrooms as a concept and tend to stay in established norms of how education is to be conducted. These results leads to questions whether education in the use of these classrooms is adequate for teachers or if education needs to focus more on outcomes of the concept and changing established norms rather than to focus on the use of technology. Our study also shows that teachers do not view the classrooms as a whole where artefacts enable and form each other. Rather they view the physical room, the technology and themselves as separate entities that operate separately from each other

Quality of Georgia's Pre-Kindergarten Program, 1997-98 School Year

During the 1996-97 and 1997-98 school years, the Council for School Performance and the Applied Research Center of Georgia State University conducted an evaluation of the lottery-funded Georgia Prekindergarten Program. Using data collected through classroom site visits and surveys of teachers in those classrooms, this evaluation compares the quality of classrooms from one year to the next, looks at the relationship between teachers' beliefs and classroom quality, and provides information about the Georgia Prekindergarten Program's teachers and their classrooms

Using Data in Undergraduate Science Classrooms

Provides pedagogical insight concerning the skill of using data The resource being annotated is: http://www.dlese.org/dds/catalog_DATA-CLASS-000-000-000-007.htm

An inquiry based instructional planning model that accommodates student diversity

The students in today’s public school classrooms represent great diversity and the struggle of teachers to teach all their students well. This paper describes an inquiry based instructional planning model that reflects lessons from the literature on effective teaching for diverse classrooms. An example of a high school lesson exemplifies the model. The model includes a framework for planning supports for students with extraordinary learning challenges

The impact of diversity in Queensland classrooms on literacy teaching in changing times

The intent of the paper is to identify possible inhibitors to best practice for literacy teaching and learning and to identify key considerations for a responsive, relevant and constructive curriculum and pedagogy for the teaching of literacy in diverse classrooms. A review of relevant research and pedagogical frameworks such as sociocultural constructivism, productive pedagogies and multiliteracies pedagogy, will provide the basis on which to argue some possible classroom practices for teachers to consider for the as ways forward in diverse classrooms. This paper will be contextualized within the current political agenda in regard to literacy education and recent research into literacy teaching and learning in Australia, reported in 'The National Inquiry into Literacy' and consider the issues together with the assessment demands placed on teachers in classrooms

Evaluation of lighting conditions in portable classrooms and analysis for alternative daylighting systems

Lighting conditions in multiple classrooms in central Texas were assessed, and the feasibility of improving portable classroom daylighting via alternative daylighting systems was also evaluated. Results indicate that surveyed portable classrooms generally provide sufficient levels of light with artificial lighting systems, but have less uniform lighting distribution than permanent classrooms. To evaluate the daylight availability in portable classrooms, a model was developed and verified using field data. Climate-based daylighting simulation was performed using DIVA for Rhino, which uses Radiance and DAYSIM as simulation engines. Results from the annual daylighting analysis suggest that limited amounts of daylight were available in portable classrooms over the course of a year. In order to assess the feasibility of improving portable classroom daylighting conditions, parametric studies were completed to investigate how different factors affect the levels of light in classrooms. Simulation results suggest that increasing window area and higher window placement allow more light into the classroom. Different external shading systems also affect the indoor daylight level. However, the impact of other factors, including building orientation, ceiling-to-floor height, and classroom length-to-width ratio is minimal. While changing the window systems for an existing portable building can require a large construction effort and financial commitment, retrofitting with tubular skylights is a more approachable option. Daylighting analysis shows eight 356-mm (14-inch) diameter tubular skylights can provide the portable classroom with a sufficient light level for more than 60% of occupied hours. When daylighting alone cannot provide sufficient light, lighting control will successfully combine a daylighting system and an artificial lighting system to provide an adequate lighting environment.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin