Influence of perceptions: Listening to early childhood preservice teachers

Abstract

This qualitative study examined how the perceptions of preservice teachers influenced their developing teaching role, and how the perceptions of preservice teachers can be influenced by teacher preparation programs. The influences of perceptions are mostly unrecognized, but are significant to the teacher preparation process. Without identifying their perceptions about the teaching role, and explicitly enhancing or changing perceptions, preservice teachers may return unknowingly to their implicit perceptions when they begin teaching. Thus, their practices may or may not reflect what they have been taught about appropriate practices for young children. Suggestions are made to facilitate the learning of prospective teachers about the influence of their perceptions, and how they can begin the process of changing/enhancing their perceptions regarding the role of the practitioner. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

Developing preservice teachers’ sensitivity and confidence: a service-learning experience at a homeless shelter

ABSTRACT

This article describes how early childhood preservice teachers can develop sensitivity toward and confidence in working with children who are homeless through a service learning project. The 14 weeks intervention provided an opportunity for undergraduate early childhood teacher candidates to gain real-life experience working with among the most vulnerable of all children—those who are homeless. Results of this project suggest that through implementing art integrated literacy activities with children in a homeless shelter, teacher candidates alter their deficit views of homelessness and at the same time develop confidence in their ability to work with homeless children and their families.     

A Research Approach to Science Education at Göteborg

This paper discusses preservice science teachers’ conceptualizations of learning. The data for this study were obtained from eight Canadian science graduates enrolled in a teacher education programme. All students participated in a series of three interviews, consisting of a variety of questions about how learning occurs. The interviews were conducted every four months, beginning at the start of the academic year. The data were analysed using a phenomenographic perspective and the conceptualizations are illustrated using excerpts from the interviews. Implications for science teacher education programmes are discussed.     

Secondary Preservice Teachers’ Development of Teaching Scientific Writing

Educators have argued the need for greater attention on how teachers learn to teach writing in science (Kelly and Bazerman in Appl Linguist 24(1):28–55, 2003; Martin in Writing science: literacy and discursive power. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, pp 166–202, 1993). This article summarizes the findings of a qualitative study of five science preservice teachers as they experienced a unit of study, an inquiry-based instructional framework for the teaching of writing. Results found initially the science preservice teachers did not have knowledge of specific instructional approaches to teach writing. The science preservice teachers engaged in critical and analytical reading and writing, which enhanced their knowledge of writing and how to teach writing. The unit of study approach to writing may offer teacher educators a way to engage science preservice teachers in a method to teach scientific writing.     

“Oh Yeah,I’m Mexican. What Type are You?” Changing the Way Preservice Teachers Interpret and Respond to the Literate Identities of Children

This writing describes a literacy project between preservice teachers enrolled in a small university in Montana and an inner city school classroom in Kansas. It shows how the preservice teachers and children negotiate meaning at the beginning of the project as well as what the preservice teachers were learning from the children and from their teacher, Scott. Twenty-three third grade children exchanged letters, cards, drawings, autobiographies, and writing about shared literature with 24 preservice teachers for 10 weeks. Scott, the third grade teacher who assisted with the project, was a former student in Rita’s university language arts classroom and was strongly committed to demonstrating to preservice teachers the rewards of teaching in an inner city classroom ... particularly those coming from communities where people of color or linguistic diversity were few. Through shared written responses and the negotiation of meaning between two age groups, this project opened pathways for greater insight into the cultures and lives of children that the university students might otherwise not have known. It also provided myriad glimpses into the lives of real children, each with his or her own interests, life experiences, and expressive modalities thus shaping the perceptions of the preservice teachers about their role as teacher in supporting and responding to the individual strengths of each child.     

Moving between literacy theory and practice with preservice teachers: Listening to their voices

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate two research questions: What literacy learning did preservice teachers experience through a Penpal Project embedded in an early literacy course? What sense did preservice teachers make of the Penpal Project?—with an overarching focus on bridging literacy theory with practice.

Data were gathered in a university classroom setting, situated in a small Western town, over a period of one school semester. Data methods and sources included videotaped participant observation during weekly penpal letter‐sharing, preservice teachers’ reflection journals, focus group interviews, and preservice teachers’ Penpal Project Summaries.

Patterns emerged from the data and were conceptualized under three broad categories: discourse, discovery and dilemmas. In the discourse category, cultivating relationships and learning through collaboration emerged as themes. Discoveries included meaning‐ and skill‐centered interpretations and professional learning. With regard to dilemmas, preservice teachers reported feelings of inadequacy in decoding their penpals’ letters, in finding topics to pique their penpals’ interests, and in making logical speculations.

Conclusions highlighted the importance of including field experiences in teacher education courses in order for preservice teachers to integrate early literacy theory and practice. A focus on forming relationships, working in collaboration with others, and acknowledging and solving challenges revealed added benefits for the preservice teachers, including a deeper understanding of young students’ early literacy development.     

Effects of 3D Printing Project-based Learning on Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Science Attitudes,Science Content Knowledge,and Anxiety About Teaching Science

3D printing technology is a powerful educational tool that can promote integrative STEM education by connecting engineering, technology, and applications of science concepts. Yet, research on the integration of 3D printing technology in formal educational contexts is extremely limited. This study engaged preservice elementary teachers (N?=?42) in a 3D Printing Science Project that modeled a science experiment in the elementary classroom on why things float or sink using 3D printed boats. The goal was to explore how collaborative 3D printing inquiry-based learning experiences affected preservice teachers’ science teaching self-efficacy beliefs, anxiety toward teaching science, interest in science, perceived competence in K-3 technology and engineering science standards, and science content knowledge. The 3D printing project intervention significantly decreased participants’ science teaching anxiety and improved their science teaching efficacy, science interest, and perceived competence in K-3 technological and engineering design science standards. Moreover, an analysis of students’ project reflections and boat designs provided an insight into their collaborative 3D modeling design experiences. The study makes a contribution to the scarce body of knowledge on how teacher preparation programs can utilize 3D printing technology as a means of preparing prospective teachers to implement the recently adopted engineering and technology standards in K-12 science education.     

Crossing the Border from Science Student to Science Teacher: Preservice Teachers’ Views and Experiences Learning to Teach Inquiry

Preservice science teachers face numerous challenges in understanding and teaching science as inquiry. Over the course of their teacher education program, they are expected to move from veteran science students with little experience learning their discipline through inquiry instruction to beginning science teachers adept at implementing inquiry in their own classrooms. In this study, we used Aikenhead’s (Sci Educ 81: 217–238, 1997, Science Educ 85:180–188, 2001) notion of border crossing to describe this transition preservice teachers must make from science student to science teacher. We examined what one cohort of eight preservice secondary science teachers said, did, and wrote as they both conducted a two-part inquiry investigation and designed an inquiry lesson plan. We conducted two types of qualitative analyses. One, we drew from Costa (Sci Educ 79: 313–333, 1995) to group our preservice teacher participants into one of four types of potential science teachers. Two, we identified successes and struggles in preservice teachers’ attempts to negotiate the cultural border between veteran student and beginning teacher. In our implications, we argue that preservice teachers could benefit from explicit opportunities to navigate the border between learning and teaching science; such opportunities could deepen their conceptions of inquiry beyond those exclusively fashioned as either student or teacher.     

Outcomes of the primary and early childhood science and technology education project at the university of Canberra

The aim of the Primary and Early Childhood Science and Technology Education Project (PECSTEP) is to improve teaching and learning in science and technology of by increasing the number of early childhood and primary teachers who are effective educators. PECSTEP is based on an interactive model of teaching and systematically links work on gender with the learning and teaching of science and technology. The project involves: a year-long inservice program which includes the development of a science curriculum unit by teachers in their schools; linking of the preservice and inservice programs; and the development of support networks for teachers. Each phase of PECSTEP has been researched by means of surveys, interviews and the use of diaries. Research questions have focussed particularly on changes in: teachers’ and student teachers’ attitudes to teaching science and technology; their perceptions of science and technology; their perceptions of their students’ responses and their understandings of how gender relates to these areas. Specializations: primary science curriculum, science teacher education, sociology of science, technology and education. Specializations: gender and science/science teacher education, feminist theory, curriculum theory. Specializations: Science education research, curriculum development.     

The problematic relationship between child development theory and teacher preparation

Abstract

This article addresses questions raised in the past decade regarding the role of child development knowledge for teaching and teacher preparation. Missing from the dialogue on this issue have been the voices of the students enrolled in teacher preparation programs. Accordingly, 77 preservice teachers were surveyed at the conclusion of a child development theory course. The results were examined for themes regarding how preservice teachers come to understand the changing nature of child development, the strengths and limitations of generalized theories of development, and the applicability of child development theory to their future practice.     

Using web‐based activities to enhance writing in science: The dynamic earth project

Abstract

Content, literacy development, and technology use are being integrated as tools for learning. As part of this process, K‐12 educators and teacher preparation faculty have been trying to come to grips with what preservice teachers should know and be able to do regarding this integration. The university/school partnership in this case study sheds light on how content area standards, literacy, and technology standards can be addressed and taught in a project carried out in cyberspace. This case study investigated how literacy strategies embedded in a Web‐based project enhanced the writing performance of students in a middle school science classroom. After choosing a topic and researching, analyzing, and synthesizing the information, the students wrote essays on the earth's surface. Results of this case study suggest that Web‐based activities did have an effect on students’ performance as they became engaged in a cyber‐context to construct meaning.     

On the nature of teaching nature of science: Preservice early childhood teachers' instruction in preschool and elementary settings

This study explored whether early childhood preservice teachers' concerns about teaching nature of science (NOS) and their intellectual levels influenced whether and how they taught NOS at the preschool and primary (K‐3) levels. We used videotaped classroom observations and lesson plans to determine the science instructional practices at the preschool and primary levels, and to track whether and how preservice teachers emphasized NOS. We used the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SOCQ) pre‐ and postinternship to determine concerns about NOS instruction, and the Learning Context Questionnaire (LCQ) to determine intellectual levels. We found that neither concerns about teaching NOS nor intellectual level were related to whether and how the preservice teachers emphasized NOS; however, we found that all preservice early childhood teachers began their internships with NOS concern profiles of “worried.” Two preservice teachers' NOS concerns profiles changed as a result of their internships; one to “cooperator” and one to “cooperator/improver.” These two preservice teachers had cooperating teachers who were aware of NOS and implemented it in their own science instruction. The main factors that hindered or facilitated teaching NOS for these preservice teachers were the influence of the cooperating teacher and the use of the science curriculum. The preservice teacher with the cooperating teacher who understood and emphasized NOS herself and showed her how to modify the curriculum to include NOS, was able to explicitly teach NOS to her students. Those in classrooms whose cooperating teachers did not provide support for NOS instruction were unable to emphasize NOS. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:213–233, 2010     

Social justice teacher educators: what kind of knowing is needed?

ABSTRACT

What do teacher educators need to know and do in order to move from espousing to enacting social justice in their own teacher educating practice? This article addresses this question by examining scholarship that focuses on the preparation of preservice teachers for social justice. Using five knowledge domains for teaching (personal, contextual, pedagogical, sociological, social) as an analytic lens, the authors examined teacher education literature published between 2010 and 2016 in three international journals from Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. The study reveals that teacher educators in different contexts seem to highlight personal and contextual knowledge in their preparation of equity-minded preservice teachers and provides insight into how they conceptualise educational equity and social justice. The study illuminates what is likely in place in initial teacher education programmes, and what may be needed or missing if teacher educators are to prepare teachers for today’s diverse classrooms.

Abbreviation ITE: Initial Teacher Education ITE     

Preservice Teachers Reconfiguring Teaching Young Children in a High-Stakes Early Education Context Through the Use of iPads:A Case Study

Research Findings: Having practicing or preservice early educators employing iPads and their apps as part of their practices with young children in high-stakes teaching contexts is a challenging process. The case study examined in this article further unpacks this complexity by investigating how incorporating iPads into their high-stakes field placements might have affected a sample of preservice teachers’ figuring of how to instruct and document the learning of young children. Although these preservice teachers seemed to struggle with using iPads to instruct children in their field placements, these teachers did appear to generate improvised responses to documenting student learning. Practice or Policy: Such findings offer teacher educators the chance to consider how to assist teachers in moving beyond the dominant practices found in high-stakes teaching contexts. They also offer teacher educators the chance to aid their teachers in reconfiguring the politics and policy of high-stakes early education contexts.     

Developing a Data-Driven Assessment for Early Childhood Candidates

ABSTRACT

Decision-making is essential for the work of teaching. Preservice teachers must learn to leverage knowledge about young readers’ strengths, needs, and interests in order to plan and teach guided reading lessons skillfully. However, limited research examines preservice teachers’ decision-making based on what they know about individual children. In this qualitative case study, we report findings from 12 preservice teachers enrolled in a reading methods course who used teacher knowledge to inform their teaching decisions for guided reading lessons with Kindergarteners. Findings reveal how participants used knowledge of learners to make planning as well as in-the-moment teaching decisions. The data show that most of these decisions were lesson planning decisions about text selection and word solving strategies, indicating that participants were beginning to engage in responsive teaching strategies. This study makes a new contribution to early childhood teacher education literature by underscoring the significance of learner knowledge in the context of authentic teaching practice while learning to teach guided reading to young children.     

Agency, Identity, and Social Justice Education: Preservice Teachers’ Thoughts on Becoming Agents of Change in Urban Elementary Science Classrooms

Using multiple theoretical frameworks, reflective writings and interviews, this study explores preservice elementary teachers’ emerging identities as science teachers and how this identity is connected to notions of critical agency and a stance toward social justice. The study addresses two central questions pertaining to preservice teachers’ conceptions as “agents of change” and how their perceptions as change agents frame their science teacher identities and understanding of teaching science in urban elementary classrooms. Their identity in the moment as elementary preservice teachers—not yet teachers—influences how they view themselves as teachers and how much agency or power they feel they have as agents of change in science classrooms. Findings suggest that science teacher education must play a more immediate, fundamental and emancipatory role in preparing preservice teachers in developing science teacher identities and a stance toward social justice.     

Stimulating constructivist teaching styles through use of an observation rubric

One of the difficult transitions for new secondary science teachers is that from novice teacher to master teacher. Often this process involves the novice in adopting survival strategies for teaching rather than those advocated by the National science education standards or the Project 2061 benchmarks. This study reports on an instrument that has been shown to be useful in helping novice teachers reflect on and change their science teaching praxis. Based on the interpretation of this case study, it appears to have the potential to significantly affect the development of secondary science teachers by providing a readily accessible model of instruction that aligns with student‐centered models of instruction advocated by the Standards and Project 2061. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 955–971,1999     

Student teaching: perceived confidence at attaining teaching competencies during preservice courses

Summaries

English

Many trainee teachers have learned through bitter experience those teaching competencies experienced teachers hold most important. This paper describes the confidence at which fifty‐five science method students would approach sixty developmental tasks at strategic points during the preservice course of teacher education. The end‐of‐course outcomes are compared with the views of heads of school science department on the importance of these competencies for beginning science teachers.     

Increasing Secondary Teachers’ Capacity to Integrate the Arts

Abstract

Examples from a team of collaborating secondary teachers—one visual arts teacher and one science teacher—highlight key aspects of this professional development project in arts integration. The article traces a regional network designed to build teacher capacity with implications for the design, effectiveness, and sustainability of professional development for secondary teachers. It describes the framework for professional development through the first two years of the project. In year one, teachers increased their understanding of arts integration; collegial collaboration; the design and use of assessments that align with standards, benchmarks, and learning goals; and how to reflect on student work. In year two, professional development activity focused on co-teaching and helping teachers to increase the rigor of student learning goals as a way to improve student learning in arts and non-arts content areas. Project outcomes and challenges to sustaining such job-embedded and networked professional learning opportunities are discussed and directions for further research are offered.