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Aim/Purpose: The study aimed to examine teacher educators' perceptions regarding their ability to implement innovative pedagogies following a year during which they used a newly equipped Active Learning Classroom (ALC), designed for teacher training. Background: To this end, we asked how participants perceived the effective use of the ALC and how they were able to leverage the use of the ALC to implement innovative pedagogies. Methodology: Using the grounded theory method, we conducted qualitative analysis of data collected from semi-structured in-depth personal interviews. The sample included 22 randomly-selected teacher educators in a single teacher-education college, who had used the ALC over the last year. Average teaching tenure was 22 years. Contribution: As part of the transition to using innovative pedagogies in an ICT (Information Communication Technology) enhanced teaching environment, our proposed model can be used to map teachers' perceptions and proficiencies, so as to address the specific needs of each group. Findings: Analysis revealed four pedagogic teaching patterns. Based on the TPACK (Technology, Pedagogy, and Content, Knowledge) model as a theoretical framework, we were able to relate these patterns to participants' strengths and weaknesses in technological and pedagogic knowledge and the ways in which they used the ALC. These patterns testify that there are different levels of use and integration of technology and pedagogy by teacher educators. Recommendations for Practitioners: Enhancing teachers' knowledge, promoting innovative concepts and removing barriers for ICT usage require integrated technological-pedagogic guidance, which should be provided to the teachers by instructors with integrated TPK (Technology Pedagogy Knowledge). Recommendation for Researchers: The ability to map technological and pedagogic strengths in accord with teaching patterns and styles provides an advantageous and applicable foundation that can be used by any future studies that wish to pursue this line of investigation. Impact on Society: Formulating new strategies in teacher education would effectively make teacher educators the leading force driving the desired transformation, whereby teachers have the skills and knowledge to prepare students to become productive members of society in the 21st century. Future Research: Future studies are encouraged to use our proposed model (which maps technological and pedagogic strengths in accord with teaching patterns) to examine additional questions, for example, what is the relationship between teaching style and teaching effectiveness and can it provide the impetus to attempt to shift teachers' attitudes and styles?

The research explored the rates and characteristics of exposure to community violence (CV) and its relevance to several sociodemographic factors among a sample of 833 Arab youth aged 14-18 years residing in diverse residential areas in Israel. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. The frequency of exposure to CV during the past 12 months correlated significantly with the children's gender. The frequency of witnessing CV during that period was higher than the frequency of personally experiencing CV, and exposure to mild CV incidents during that period was higher than the frequency of exposure to severe CV incidents during the same period, with no significant relationship to sociodemographic factors. Participants reported higher rates of exposure to most CV incidents outside of the neighborhood; however, exposure to beating was higher inside the participants' neighborhood. Moreover, the highest overall rate of exposure to CV was at school. (Contains 5 tables.)

We examined help-seeking and internal obstacles to receiving psychosocial support in the wake of community violence exposure in a sample of 1,835 Arab and Jewish adolescents living in Israel. Paper and pencil surveys conducted in schools examined adolescents' personal victimization and witnessing of community violence in the past year, and then queried adolescents about their help-seeking after violence exposure. Our findings indicated widespread exposure to community violence, particularly for the Arab respondents. Only one in three Arab and one in four Jewish adolescents reported seeking help from anyone to cope with such experiences following their violence exposure, and only rarely did adolescents seek help from a mental health professional (one in twenty for Jewish and one in nine for Arab adolescents). Adolescents across both samples indicated a variety of internal obstacles that might explain their lack of seeking help to cope with violence exposure, including cognitive minimization of the event, deliberately maintaining the secrecy of the event, wishing to maintain their autonomy, and failing to believe in the efficacy of seeking help from others. Such findings shed light on the difficult challenges to providing professional support to adolescents when they are exposed to community violence, and suggest that such challenges, while varying to a degree across cultures, are also prevalent across cultures. (Contains 4 tables.)

Adolescent community violence exposure (CVE) has been linked to posttraumatic stress (PTS) and has been found to vary by race and ethnicity. Little is known about the relationship between adolescent CVE and PTS across ethnic groups in an international context. Arab and Jewish high school students (n = 1571) in Israel completed self-report questionnaires. Jewish adolescents (n = 821) witnessed more community violence, while Arab adolescents (n = 750) were more likely to victimized in the community and endorse higher levels of PTS. Ethnicity was found to be a significant predictor of PTS when controlling for CVE using hierarchical multiple regression (accounting for 2% of the variance in PTS). Ethnic affiliation did not moderate the relationship between CVE and PTS. These findings add to the small body of literature exploring cross-cultural differences in CVE and associated psychological distress. Further investigation of CVE and mental health cross-ethnically is warranted given the disparities in CVE and PTS rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current article presents a new intervention model for intragroup dialogue. Twenty-four Jewish-Israeli undergraduate students underwent a yearlong process to learn about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, encountered Palestinian narratives, and reflected on the impact of the Palestinian other on their own identity as Jewish-Israelis. In this research we propose that such a process ameliorates identity threats posed by an intergroup conflict on collective identities, encouraging participants to adopt a more complex view of themselves, which validates both narratives of self and "other." Research was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the intervention. Results showed that participants developed an increased capacity for acceptance of both Israeli and Palestinian collective narratives, and demonstrated a greater willingness toward reconciliation, manifested in more readiness to acknowledge responsibility and apologize for past transgressions. Discussion is dedicated to the added value of this model, specifically in relation to intergroup contact approaches to dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]