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Ensuring that cultural sensitivity in teacher education programs is addressed will enhance new teachers' confidence and effectiveness in the classroom. As the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher candidates have experienced a non-contact environment at every stage of their professional education. Specifically, the pandemic impacted the availability and quality of their field experiences, including student teaching, internship/practicum, clinical work in culturally responsive teaching, and study or teaching abroad. Moreover, the shift to online instruction in most school districts required teachers to reconsider their approach to engagement in classroom activities. This article describes how the authors, in response to the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, implemented a unique program with the goal of increasing aspiring teachers' educational cultural competence. The Online Global Outreach (OGO) program is a field experience that provides a cost-effective and time-efficient way to build pre-service teachers' educational cultural competence by giving them the opportunity to teach virtually in a foreign school when in-person interaction is not feasible. The goals of the program were to increase the teacher candidate's self-awareness and self-confidence and to allow them to gain cultural capital, in terms of culture-related knowledge, social skills, and behavioral norms, that they could apply to their future classrooms.

This study examines whether creating a mathematics-based digital story increases pre-service teachers' understanding of the problem solving process, the relationship among visual, auditory and verbal representation in critical thinking/problem solving in mathematics. Survey results indicated that pre-service teachers were unfamiliar with the uses of technology in the teaching process. However, as they worked through the writing/problem solving procedures and constructed digital stories, they became more aware of the advantages of using this multimodal product, called Math-eos, to teach mathematical concepts to elementary/middle school students. The pre-service teachers perceived that Math-eos offered a "cool" new tool for their own learning and teaching and for integrating digital technology in mathematics education to increase student engagement, motivation and acquisition of content knowledge.

Purpose: In this study, 37 English Language Teaching (ELT) teacher trainees from a Malaysian university conducted an action-research project to determine whether journals kept during their fieldwork in primary schools located in an area close to the university allowed them to reflect on their beliefs and behaviors in the classroom. Methodology: Themes were revealed using emergent coding in their journals. Van Manen's (1977) three-stage model (practical, technical and critical) was used to determine the issues raised and the level of critical reflection reached in the journal entries. Findings: The findings indicated that the teacher trainees demonstrated practical and technical level thinking, but rarely rose to the critical level of reflection. Nonetheless, they also demonstrated changes in their beliefs and behaviours, essential for professional development. Significance: Reflective thinking is critical to teaching and is important in the United States and in countries striving to replicate its pedagogical tools and techniques. However, many Western practices associated with the nurturing of critical thinking are not familiar to Malaysian teacher trainees. We conclude that prospective teachers here do use their journals to reflect on their educational practice, but not at the deepest levels of insight. Critical thinking must be taught to Malaysian teacher trainees and filtered through the local culture if it is to improve teaching and learning in the nation's classrooms.

This mixed methods study examines whether engaging in a problem-solving project to create Math-eos (digital videos) increases pre-service teachers' understanding of the relationship between visual, auditory, and verbal representation and critical thinking in mathematics. Additionally, the study looks at what aspects of a digital problem solving project support pre-service teachers' ability to integrate digital technology in mathematics education. Results indicated that, as pre-service teachers worked through the writing/problem solving process and constructed digital stories, or Math-eos, they became more aware of the advantages of using this multimodal approach to teach mathematical concepts to elementary and middle school students. The Math-eo Project provided pre-service teachers, who typically used digital media only for socializing and meeting web-based course requirements, with a new tool for their own learning and teaching. Designing Math-eos also enabled them to integrate digital technology in the mathematics curriculum with the aim of increasing student engagement, motivation and knowledge.

This article evaluates the impact of extending a traditional written research paper into a digital documentary on students' perception and level of comprehension of a global sustainability issue. An adaptation of Moon's (1999) five-stage map of learning was used to assess the written and digital projects students submitted to a statewide conference. The assessment was enriched by a survey gauging students' feelings about the process of creating their papers and documentaries. Results show the value of the written paper (expository) as a reflection artifact of a student's personal worldview. Transforming the message into a digital documentary encourages students also to appreciate global issues through the eyes of cultural "others," a process Hanvey (1982) called "perspective consciousness."

This mixed methods study examines whether engaging in a problem-solving project to create Math-eos (digital videos) increases pre-service teachers' understanding of the relationship between visual, auditory, and verbal representation and critical thinking in mathematics. Additionally, the study looks at what aspects of a digital problem solving project support pre-service teachers' ability to integrate digital technology in mathematics education. Results indicated that, as pre-service teachers worked through the writing/problem solving process and constructed digital stories, or Math-eos, they became more aware of the advantages of using this multimodal approach to teach mathematical concepts to elementary and middle school students. The Math-eo Project provided pre-service teachers, who typically used digital media only for socializing and meeting web-based course requirements, with a new tool for their own learning and teaching. Designing Math-eos also enabled them to integrate digital technology in the mathematics curriculum with the aim of increasing student engagement, motivation and knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the impact of extending a traditional written research paper into a digital documentary on students’ perception and level of comprehension of a global sustainability issue. An adaptation of Moon's (1999) five-stage map of learning was used to assess the written and digital projects students submitted to a statewide conference. The assessment was enriched by a survey gauging students’ feelings about the process of creating their papers and documentaries. Results show the value of the written paper (expository) as a reflection artifact of a student's personal worldview. Transforming the message into a digital documentary encourages students also to appreciate global issues through the eyes of cultural “others,” a process Hanvey (1982) called “perspective consciousness.” [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using individual face-to-face interviews, this study investigated five Chinese graduate students' perceptions of asking questions in the American classroom. It identified three concerns, shared by the participants, that had the most significant influence on their habits and feelings about asking questions: 1) respect for the teacher, 2) the value of the question, and 3) English proficiency. The study showed that although Asian students did not ask questions as frequently as did their American counterparts, the Asian students were not "passive listeners" or "inactive learners." Interviews revealed that the students were listening to the lecture attentively, thinking about the learning materials actively, and paying attention to their classmates' questions carefully. Their learning preference was not to ask questions in class, but to save them until later, or to solve the problem themselves before seeking help from the professor. The findings suggest instructors should recognize differences in the learning style of Asians and adjust their teaching methods to maximize the achievement of all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which examines the role of press in the syphilis epidemic in the U.S. in the early 20th century using health-related and general circulation newspapers. The study indicates that medical terms such as AIDS and syphilis as intrude to the public are likely to mark victims of disease. It states that among the newspapers and periodicals used to publish information on syphilis include "Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature," "New York Times," and "Los Angeles Times." The article also explores the history of syphilis, the belief persisted to the public regarding syphilis, and the possible carriers of the disease.