The Challenges and Opportunities for Meeting the Content Area Needs of English Language Learners in the Teacher Educator Classroom

Teacher preparation in the 21st century within the United States and those states such as Georgia that are experiencing unprecedented increases in immigrant populations must be responsive to the changing demographics and the concomitant content, linguistic and cultural needs and resources of our PK-12 populations. This paper comes out of our collective interest in ensuring that we are delivering a quality and timely education to teacher learners. With the exception of our ESOL and Science programs[1], we report on the extent to which our curricula are serving the needs of the State’s ELL population in subject-area syllabi for pre-service teachers in the English, Social Studies, Mathematics, Library Media, and Instructional Technology units in our department. From our review, we discuss the challenges and the opportunities that are presented to us in striving to be responsive to the needs of our State’s immigrant population through our pre-service teacher education programs. [1] This paper is based on a presentation given at the 2010 GATE Conference in Atlanta GA. All the present authors including Miyoun Lim, representing Science participated. Dr. Lim was unable to participate in the preparation of this paper. The department’s ESOL program, represented by the first author is not reported on in this paper as the purpose was to encourage the content area professors to study their practices

Surveying technologies for integrating indigenous knowledge systems in mathematics teaching in South Africa: Potentials and challenges

The article is based on a study that surveyed pre-existing initiatives that integrate indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in mathematics education in Durban, South Africa. In the exploratory case study, the researchers examined the existing modern and traditional technologies that are used in teaching mathematics by pre-service and in-service teachers enrolled in teacher certification programs at a high-tech university in the South African KwaZulu-Natal province. The overall goal of the study was to explore the feasibility of potential prospects to infuse traditional technologies and IKS in middle and high school mathematics education. A sample of 39 teachers responded to a 23-item online survey that examined the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of teachers completing their teaching degree and their predispositions regarding the integration of IKS. Juxtaposed between traditional/indigenous technologies and modern/digital tools and resources, findings of the study revealed a number of constraints that preclude preservice and in-service teachers from incorporating IKS in teaching mathematics.Keywords: Indigenous knowledge systems, mathematics teaching and learning, indigenous technologies, curriculum reform

Identifying Complex Cultural Interactions in the Instructional Design Process: A Case Study of a Cross-border, Cross-sector Training for Innovation Program

The purpose of this research is to identify complex cultural dynamics in the instructional design process of a cross-sector, cross-border training environment by applying Young\u27s () Culture-Based Model (CBM) as a theoretical framework and taxonomy for description of the instructional design process under the conditions of one case. This research uses the qualitative approach of case study and applies a cultural design framework to examine cultural interactions with the process of instructional design in a NASA/university consortium program to train employees of an education software company headquartered in India. The findings indicate that at least twenty-three distinguishable elements of culture interact with every component of the design process in the: 1) goals and funding decisions of the client; 2) goals and design decisions of the design team; 3) perceptions of the training program of all stakeholders; and 4) the observable outcomes of the training program. By empirically illuminating the pervasive presence of cultural interactions across the instructional design process, this study advocates for culture to be recognized as a construct of importance in our field and demonstrates the powerful capabilities of using a comprehensive descriptive model as a lens for exploring cultural dynamics in the instructional design process