Preservice teachers' expectations about the first year of teaching

“Unrealistic optimism,” a construct used in health psychology, provided a framework for examining preservice teachers' expectations about teaching. Subjects showed a consistent tendency to believe that they would experience less difficulty than the “average first-year teacher” on 33 different teaching tasks. This optimistic bias was significantly greater for tasks perceived to be under the teacher's control and for tasks dealing with organization and management. Implications for teacher education and for the prevention of “reality shock” are discussed.     

Preservice teachers' thinking about classroom events

Recent inquiry about the role that experience plays in learning to teach is prevalent in a number of expert-novice studies. This study explored variations in preservice teachers' thinking about classroom events. Comparisons of interview data from 36 preservice teachers revealed differences in the way they recalled, interpreted, and made judgements about classroom events. Results suggest differences and similarities in the way teachers at different stages of a preservice program view the class environment. Results challenge the unitary view of preservice teachers and the way many teachers are currently prepared for the profession.     

Preservice teachers' learning experiences of constructing e-portfolios online

This one-year case study reports on the effectiveness and value of electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) from the preservice teachers' perspectives. Using surveys and selected interviews, the study explored how 38 preservice teachers' understanding of the e-portfolios evolved as they completed their elementary teacher education program. Respondents reported that, after using the e-portfolios, they were stimulated to engage in reflective practices, to develop effective learning strategies, and to gain as well as review technology skills. Respondents also indicated frustrations and challenges involved when creating their first e-portfolios. Implications regarding the findings are discussed.     

Preservice teachers' perceptions about using mobile phones and laptops in education as mobile learning tools

The purpose of this research was to investigate preservice teachers' perceptions about using m‐phones and laptops in education as mobile learning tools. A total of 1087 preservice teachers participated in the study. The results indicated that preservice teachers perceived laptops potentially stronger than m‐phones as m‐learning tools. In terms of limitations the situation was balanced for laptops and m‐phones. Generally, the attitudes towards using laptops in education were not exceedingly positive but significantly more positive than m‐phones. It was also found that such variables as program/department, grade, gender and possessing a laptop are neutral in causing a practically significant difference in preservice teachers' views. The results imply an urgent need to grow awareness among participating student teachers towards the concept of m‐learning, especially m‐learning through m‐phones.     

Preservice elementary teachers' explicit beliefs about multiplication and division

This study, conducted in the United States, was designed to assess the extent to which the beliefs, multiplication always makes bigger and division always makes smaller, are explicitly held by preservice elementary teachers. Paper and pencil instruments were administered to 136 preservice elementary teachers in a large university in the southeastern United States. Responses on the instruments and in interviews provide insight into the sources of preservice teachers' beliefs and into the relationship among preservice teachers' beliefs, computational skills, and performance on word problems.     

Preservice teachers' initial conceptions about assessment of science learning: The coherence with their views of learning science

This study utilized responses from Taiwanese preservice elementary teachers to describe and analyze their conceptions about the assessment of science learning and the extent that these conceptions were coherent with their views of learning science. A methodological framework of phenomenography was used for the study. The results revealed that the preservice teachers' mode of assessment was coherent with a traditional view of learning but their performance mode of assessment was not well developed. Improving preservice teachers' conception of assessment requires clarifying and reconstructing their conceptions of and coherence between assessment, curriculum, pedagogy, and learning.     

Classroom stories of multicultural teaching and learning

This is the second of three papers based on a 20-month study of teaching and learning in a diverse classroom in a downtown community school in Toronto, Canada. The purpose of the research was to describe the details of teaching and learning in a multicultural classroom and to document successful strategies in working with immigrant and minority students. The three papers detail the process by which this focus on classroom life led to a critique of the literature and to a new way to think about multicultural teaching and learning, which I call 'narrative multiculturalism'. In this paper, I provide a sampling of stories that illustrate what contributed to my changing thinking about multiculturalism. Four short stories focus on a participant teacher in her school, in her classroom and in interaction with her students. The stories illuminate the complexity of multicultural teaching and qualities of narrative multiculturalism. In the analysis of the stories I explore multicultural understandings that developed from the experience of being in the classroom, being in relationship with a teacher participant, and our on-going dialogue.     

Preservice teachers' attitudes toward inclusion: Early childhood education and elementary education programs

Abstract

Teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion of children with disabilities play a central role in the successful inclusion of these children into general education classrooms. This study examined possible predictors of preservice teachers’ attitudes toward (1) persons with disabilities, and (2) inclusion of children with disabilities into general education classrooms. Participants were students majoring in early childhood education and elementary education. Preservice teachers’ attitudes toward persons with disabilities and inclusion were explained significantly by their personal relationships with persons who have disabilities and the number of courses related to special education/teaching strategies taken. However, preservice teachers’ experiences working with persons who have disabilities was not a significant predictor. Further, the relations between preservice teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion and personal experience variables were mediated by their attitudes toward persons with disabilities. This study provides evidence that more effective, practical experiences and course content related to children with disabilities, inclusion, and teaching strategies need to be provided in teacher education programs to support successful efforts with inclusion. This study also suggests that teacher education programs should strive to improve students’ attitudes toward inclusion, as well as toward persons with disabilities.     

Student teachers' attitudes toward science and science teaching

Attitudes toward science and science teaching are the subject of a mounting body of research on teachers. A widely used instrument developed by researchers in the United States appears to be relevant to the Australian context and was considered appropriate for measuring attitudes of preservice student teachers attending a College of Advanced Education in Brisbane. The findings suggest that much more effort needs to be concentrated on fostering desirable attitudes toward science and the teaching of science among future primary school teachers.     

Preservice teachers' capacity to teach self-regulated learning: Integrating learning from problems and learning from successes

Using a quasi-experimental design, we integrated systematic learning from problematic and successful experiences into teachers' preparatory programs and examined how such learning affected preservice physics teachers' capacity to teach students self-regulated learning (SRL). Results indicated that preservice teachers who contemplated both problematic and successful experiences improved more in their actual teaching of SRL strategies and in their actual arrangement of SRL environments, compared to preservice teachers who contemplated only problematic experiences. The current study suggests the need to integrate systematic learning from problematic and successful experiences into teachers' preparatory programs as means of developing preservice teachers' capacity to promote students' SRL.     

Chinese teachers' attitudes toward teaching physical activity and fitness

In this study we examined Chinese physical educators' attitudes toward teaching physical activity and fitness. We then compared the Chinese teacher attitudes to their American counterparts. Participants were 330 Chinese elementary, middle and high school physical educators. The Teachers' Attitudes Toward Curriculum in Physical Education (TATCPE) instrument was used to gather data. One‐way repeated measures ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc tests indicated that the Chinese teachers scored significantly higher on the self‐actualization and physical activity/fitness than the motor skill development and social development outcome goals. The MANOVA on motor skill development, physical activity/fitness, self‐actualization and social development outcome goals showed no significant differences for gender, teaching level, or years of teaching experience among the Chinese teachers. Teachers from both countries, however, considered all four domain areas to be important outcome goals. Despite cultural differences, Chinese and American teachers share key core attitudinal values about their respective programs.     

Science teachers' knowledge about and attitudes towards the use of models and modelling in learning science

A semi-structured interview was used to enquire into the knowledge of models and modelling held by a total sample of 39 Brazilian science teachers working in 'fundamental' (ages 6-14 years) and 'medium' (ages 15-17 years) schools, student teachers, and university teachers. This paper focuses on their perceptions of the role of models in science teaching. The teachers' ideas are organized in three groups: the status and value of models; the influences that inform the translation of these general ideas into classroom practice; and how they respond to the outcomes of students' modelling activities. The teachers interviewed generally showed an awareness of the value of models in the learning of science but not of their value in learning about science. They were also uncertain of the relationship that could exist in the classroom between various types of models. Modelling, as an activity by students, whilst praised in theory, would not seem to be widely practised. Where practised, the outcomes are by no means always treated with that integrity that learning about science would call for.     

Preservice physical education teachers' attributes related to teaching a student labeled ADHD

This study assessed the association between preservice teacher-related variables [i.e., age, adapted physical education (APE) and special education (SPED) coursework, experience teaching students with disabilities and perceive competence] on measures of the Physical Educators' Intention toward Teaching Individuals with Disabilities II – Preservice Survey (PEITID-II-PS). The PEITID-II-PS used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) ( Ajzen, 2002) on preserive physical education teachers (n = 213) purposely selected from universities in China, Korea, and the United States. Results indicated that both intention and perceived behavioral control were predicted by teaching experience and perceived teaching competency. Attitude toward the behavior variable was predicted by prior teaching experience, special education coursework, and age. Age and perceived teaching competency were associated with behavioral beliefs.     

Improving early childhood teacher education: Preservice teachers' beliefs about inclusion

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe early childhood preservice teachers’ beliefs about the inclusion of children with special needs in early childhood settings. Nineteen female undergraduate early childhood education preservice teachers participated in one of five focus groups. Students were divided into three groups based on the courses they were enrolled in or had completed: Beginner (sophomore and junior courses), Intermediate (senior courses), and Advanced (student teaching). Additionally, 6 of the 19 students participated in individual interviews. Data analysis resulted in themes related to students’ beliefs and philosophies of inclusion, as well as their thoughts concerning practice in inclusive programs. This paper describes students’ beliefs within each group and compares responses across the different groups. Implications are discussed in relation to teacher education programs and directions for future research.     

Becoming a science teacher: First year teachers' approaches to learning about teaching

This paper discusses some of the issues arising from the first year of a longitudinal study into the career development of science teachers. It deals with the influences on, and approaches to, teaching by first year science teachers. Eighteen science graduates who had completed a Diploma in Education in 1990, were interviewed about their first year's teaching experiences. The participants explored issues ranging from the influences on their approach to teaching, student learning, determinants of a good lesson, the role of pre-service teacher training, and teaching as a career. Specializations: Science education, reflective practice, teaching and learning.     

Profiling teachers' continuing professional development and the relation with their beliefs about learning and teaching

This exploratory study investigates the relationship between teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) and their beliefs about learning and teaching, in a Dutch secondary education context. Two hundred sixty teachers participated in a survey focused on teachers' updating, reflective, and collaborative activities, as well as their student- and subject matter-oriented beliefs. A cluster analysis produced three distinctive CPD profiles, reflecting relatively low, medium, and high participation in the three CPD activities. The greater teachers' participation in CPD, the more student oriented those teachers are. These findings have strong implications for fostering teachers' participation in CPD and encouraging their student orientation.     

Preservice teachers' in‐the‐moment teaching decisions in reading

This study examines the types of in‐the‐moment teaching decisions 97 preservice teachers made while teaching reading and how their growing bodies of teacher knowledge influenced their abilities to think, know, feel and act like a teacher (Feiman‐Nemser, 2008 ). Findings indicated that the teacher educator's use of “metacognitive decision‐making” to promote a culture of identifying, drawing attention to, reflecting on and evaluating teaching decisions influenced the preservice teachers' abilities to think, know, feel and act like a teacher. These findings have implications for teacher education and for those who support novice teachers.