Computer literacy of Turkish preservice teachers in different teacher training programs

This paper reports on an investigation into the sophomore and senior preservice teachers’ computer literacy in different teacher training programs and to determine relationship between grades and the teacher training programs in terms of their computer literacy. The study used case study research methodology, and the sample consisted of 276 preservice teachers. The ‘Computer Literacy Scale’ comprising 24 likert-type questions was employed. The inferential statistical tests were used to analyze obtained data for comparing groups on the scores collected in multiple subtests. The results suggest that there was no difference between sophomore and senior preservice teachers’ computer literacy. For computer literacy, the order of rank is basic skills, application software skills, computer awareness and programming skills, respectively. Undergraduate programs only have developed basic skills of preservice students and have not had the impact on other skills or sophisticated computer literacy. The MANOVA inferential statistics findings proved these results. It is suggested that content of the computer literacy skills and computer course(s) should be improved and re-designed by including computer literacy skills.     

Conceptualizing training methods in teacher education

This chapter discusses the nature and function of teacher training. Attention is given to the role of knowledge and performance in the training of skills, especially with regard to the problems of design and effects of training methods.Some general areas of concern regarding application and validity of training programmes in classroom settings are reviewed and the different levels of impact of training are related to the design of training.This chapter finally reviews the current knowledge available on effective components that may constitute a training programme.     

Cross-cultural experience in preservice teacher education

The study investigated the effect of international student teaching experience on the professional and personal development of preservice teachers. Within the framework of their internship program, 26 graduate students in a private university in Turkey had a two-month internship in a mid western state in the United States, the main component of which was a six-week student teaching experience in high schools. Student teachers worked with mentors in pairs or triads in six high schools in different subject areas. They got involved in teaching practices, technology seminars, and diverse cultural activities during their internship. The student teachers and mentor teachers were surveyed through e-mail and three student teachers were interviewed to evaluate the outcomes of the program. The findings of the current research suggest that the international student teaching experience and the overall internship program with its cultural components contributed in a positive way to student teachers’ professional and personal development and helped student teachers increase their cultural awareness. The findings also suggest that the presence of international students in US schools and society in general helped American students and people have a better idea of other countries and cultures.     

Cultivating epistemic empathy in preservice teacher education

This study investigates the emergence and cultivation of teachers' “epistemic empathy” in response to analyzing videos of student inquiry. We define epistemic empathy as the act of understanding and appreciating someone's cognitive and emotional experience within an epistemic activity—i.e., activity aimed at the construction, communication, and critique of knowledge. Our goals are (1) to conceptually develop the construct and contrast it to more general notions of caring and (2) to empirically examine epistemic empathy in the context of preservice teacher education. We discuss tensions in teachers' expressions of epistemic empathy, and we end with implications for research and practice.     

Exploring emotional climate in preservice science teacher education

Classroom emotional climates (ECs) are interrelated with students’ engagement with university courses. Despite growing interest in emotions and EC research, little is known about the ways in which social interactions and different subject matter mediate ECs in preservice science teacher education classes. In this study we investigated the EC and associated classroom interactions in a preservice science teacher education class. We were interested in the ways in which salient classroom interactions were related to the EC during lessons centered on debates about science-based issues (e.g., nuclear energy alternatives). Participants used audience response technology to indicate their perceptions of the EC. Analysis of conversation for salient video clips and analysis of non-verbal conduct (acoustic parameters, body movements, and facial expressions) supplemented EC data. One key contribution that this study makes to preservice science teacher education is to identify the micro-processes of successful and unsuccessful class interactions that were associated with positive and neutral EC. The structure of these interactions can inform the practice of other science educators who wish to produce positive ECs in their classes. The study also extends and explicates the construct of intensity of EC.     

Fostering multiliteracies pedagogy through preservice teacher education

Teacher education for literacy teaching is often fairly narrow in focus. New approaches are needed that are sociocultural in orientation and take due account of the diversity of language forms, both traditional and contemporary, formal and informal, literary and non‐literary. We believe this need can be met by largely adopting a ‘multiliteracies’ approach as articulated by the New London Group. This research examined the ideas and practices of 10 literacy faculty in a large school of education and 22 first year literacy teachers from the same institution. It found that despite some important advances in a multiliteracies direction, many shortcomings remained. Part of the difficulty was lack of clarity about the nature and purpose of multiliteracies pedagogy. This paper has two main purposes: first, to attempt to clarify the nature and importance of a multiliteracies approach; and second, to report on the successes achieved and challenges encountered in moving in this direction in one school of education.     

Reconsidering usage of blogging in preservice teacher education courses

The purpose of this study was to examine preservice teachers' perceived benefits of instructional blogs, classroom community, course satisfaction, and learning. The data were obtained via surveys administered throughout Fall 2009. Fifty preservice teachers from two undergraduate courses participated in this study. Results indicate that students did not utilize the full benefits of blogging. Students mainly used blogs for information sharing, rather than discussion or reflection. Additionally, preservice teachers' course satisfaction and perceived learning were found to be related to their feeling a sense of learning community.     

High efficacy and the preservice reading teacher: A comparative study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differential impact of two field experiences, tutoring and observing, on preservice teachers’ reading self-efficacy and content knowledge. Participants completed an adapted, reading version of The Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES). Results showed that both groups reported growth in reading self-efficacy and content knowledge; however, there was only a marginally significant difference between reading self-efficacy motivation scores. Mean score differences showed that the observers changed more in their reading efficacy than the tutors; however, a greater number of tutors found the field experience to be worth maintaining in future courses.     

Faculty development for preservice teacher educators: A research utilization perspective

Weak research utilization strategies limit the faculty development of university-based preservice teacher educators. Compared to school district-based inservice teacher educators, preservice teacher educators have weaker knowledge acquisition strategies, and are less likely to have sustained contact with researchers, especially where a training focus is prominent. Preservice teacher educators have less developed networks that facilitate research utilization, and have less institutional support for internal staff development. A research utilization theoretical framework is used to propose recommendations for helping preservice teacher educators.     

Course-level modeling of preservice teacher learning of technology integration

We introduce an analytic approach to examine preservice teachers' technology integration learning as a process mapped against their technology-related course experience in a technology integration course. The approach assumes that (1) the preservice teachers have common course learning experience; (2) their data are collected pre- and post-course and paired; (3) the sample size is large enough to generate a structural covariance model; (4) the measurement is contextualized to the course characteristics around the types of technology tasks/tools used in the course and whether or not they were explicitly taught. The approach was applied to 368 preservice teachers' paired data to illustrate how the approach addresses the methodological issue of construct validity in TPACK measures, highlights the importance of technology integration course experience, and provides useful insights into a particular technology integration learning to its stakeholders.     

Beginning science teacher cognition and its origins in the preservice secondary science teacher program

The objectives of this study were to (a) identify the major tenets of a preservice secondary science education program as expressed by science education faculty, (b) identify knowledge structures that beginning secondary science teachers have constructed about the teaching and learning of science, and (c) identify the correlatives that exist between the first two objectives. The study was grounded in the postulates of teacher cognition in that teachers construct their own schema from their experiences in order to comprehend, plan for, and respond to the dynamics of their classroom. This qualitative study consisted of interviews and observations of beginning science teachers, interviews with science education faculty, and an analysis of the course syllabi of that faculty. Methods of single and cross-case analytic induction were combined to analyze the data. Based on the data, it may be concluded that aspects of the program, such as student-centered learning, cooperative learning, general pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge, were adopted into the schema of the beginning teachers; the degree of adoption appeared to be linked to the individual's most significant learning experiences and the constraints of the school situation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 633–653, 1997.     

Deductive and inductive modes of preservice physics teacher education

The idea that chemical knowledge can be represented in three main ways: macro, submicro, and symbolic (chemistry triplet) has become paradigmatic in chemistry and science education. It has served both as the base of theoretical frameworks that guide research in chemical education and as a central idea in various curriculum projects. However, this triplet relationship has been the subject of different adaptations and reinterpretations that sometimes lead to confusion and misunderstanding, which complicates the analysis of the triplet’s nature and scope. Thus, the central goal of this paper is to describe some of the existing views of the triplet relationship in chemistry and science education and critically analyse their underlying assumptions. We also propose a general structure of our chemistry knowledge intended to better situate the chemistry triplet in relationship with the different types, scales, dimensions, and approaches that seem to characterise such knowledge. Our proposed model may be useful in the analysis, evaluation, and reflection of educational research results and teaching practices centred on the triplet relationship.     

Ten suggestions for including gifted education in preservice teacher education

Abstract

New teachers have usually had little or no preparation for teaching the gifted students they will all encounter. Undergraduate education programs are crowded, and courses in special education do not usually focus on students who are academically advanced. The authors present ten suggestions for weaving information on gifted students into a variety of experiences, including other education courses, separate workshops or short courses, and opportunities outside the classroom. These suggestions can help prepare teachers for a type of diversity that is often overlooked.