Encouraging Preservice Teachers' Critical Thinking Development Through Practitioner Inquiry

Author(s):  
Mary Higgins ◽  
Rachel Wolkenhauer

This chapter presents findings from a phenomenological study that investigated the experiences of elementary preservice teachers engaged in semester-long inquiries during a yearlong student teaching internship. The authors found that practitioner inquiry was a means to support the critical analysis of teaching practices and classroom experiences. The preservice teachers first identified an aspect of teaching from which they wanted to learn, systematically studied their practices in that area, and transferred that knowledge to other aspects of their teaching. This research supports that practitioner inquiry can be used in teacher education coursework to encourage preservice teachers to take more active roles in their learning to become critical thinkers and to generate knowledge for student learning and professional growth.

Author(s):  
Mary Higgins ◽  
Rachel Wolkenhauer

This chapter presents findings from a phenomenological study that investigated the experiences of elementary preservice teachers engaged in semester-long inquiries during a yearlong student teaching internship. The authors found that practitioner inquiry was a means to support the critical analysis of teaching practices and classroom experiences. The preservice teachers first identified an aspect of teaching from which they wanted to learn, systematically studied their practices in that area, and transferred that knowledge to other aspects of their teaching. This research supports that practitioner inquiry can be used in teacher education coursework to encourage preservice teachers to take more active roles in their learning to become critical thinkers and to generate knowledge for student learning and professional growth.


Author(s):  
Hsiu-Lien Lu ◽  
Lina Soares

The idea to prepare prospective teachers to teach in increasingly diverse US schools still raises a number of questions about how an international student teaching experience can be important and beneficial to student learning. What do preservice teachers perceive to be the benefits from an international student teaching experience? What do preservice teachers perceive as challenges during an international student teaching experience? This paper shares findings from a phenomenological study of four U.S. elementary preservice teachers’ experiences during a five-week international student teaching opportunity in Taiwan. The findings of this study support the scholarship of teaching and learning that is grounded in the quest to understand the connection between students’ experiences and learning (Hutchings, 1999). The findings could further provide insights into the implementation process and the support that student teachers need in order to gain a successful experience from an international student teaching opportunity provided by the teacher education program.    


Author(s):  
Debra R. Sprague ◽  
Maria Katradis

This mixed-method study explored a cohort of 18 preservice elementary teachers' perceptions of technology and their abilities to integrate technology in their teaching. Data sources included blog postings, a confidence survey, lessons plans and observations. Results showed a disconnect between the blog postings and confidence survey (their perceptions) and their lessons plans and observations (their abilities). Five case studies were examined, using the TPACK framework, to determine where the disconnect was occurring. Although Technical Knowledge seemed to be an issue for some, the majority of the preservice teachers struggled with Pedagogical Knowledge. Suggestions for how to address this issue are included. Implications for teacher education are discussed.


Author(s):  
Sandra Browning

Research has demonstrated an interest in the relationship between teachers’ questioning strategies and children’s ability to reason and learn (Baroody & Ginsburg, 1990; Buschman, 2001; Fennema, Franke, Carpenter & Carey, 1993). Helping preservice teachers develop effective questioning strategies is an important component of a teacher education program. This session describes an exploration designed to determine if EC-6 preservice teachers can (a) recognize effective questioning strategies when observing inservice teachers and (b) use Hess’s Cognitive Rigor Matrix to analyze the level and effectiveness of their own questioning strategies during field experiences.


2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 356-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn S. Young

This article investigates the use of co-constructed narrative strands to better understand the function of institutional narratives in teacher education. It uses data drawn from a large ethnographic study of talk in interaction in teacher education coursework. The analysis demonstrates how a series of similar small stories functions together to create a larger message about social categories in schooling. Narratives created by preservice teachers, through shared understanding of category systems like gender and disability, penetrate stories told in coursework and impact understandings of students in schools.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustapha Chmarkh

This review examined English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) preservice teacher cognition studies spanning a 17-year period (2005 to 2021). The main objective was to explore the nature and development of preservice ESL and EFL teacher cognitions as they relate to their teacher-education coursework and teaching practice. Findings indicate that preservice ESL/EFL teacher cognitions are complex, multifaceted, recursive, and frequently related to their experiences as language learners. Although studies included in this review were conducted in different international contexts, the findings were consistent: there is a need for supportive and comprehensive preservice-teacher preparation that accounts for three factors. (1) Valuing preservice teachers’ beliefs as language learners, (2) facilitating preservice teachers’ negotiation of newer beliefs resulting from teacher education coursework, and (3) preparing them to negotiate tensions in their interactions with their mentors in field placements. This paper concludes by discussing pedagogical implications for teacher education programs.


Author(s):  
Sean Robert Powell

This chapter presents an overview of preservice field experiences in music teacher education. Field experience, also termed fieldwork, early field experience, clinical practice, clinical teaching, extern teaching, or practicum, refers to teaching and/or observation experiences undertaken by preservice teachers within P-12 classrooms or other off-campus settings as part of curricula leading to teacher certification prior to the student teaching semester. Field experience is a common curricular requirement or standard among university teacher education programs, state departments of education, and higher education accrediting agencies. The chapter examines current practices and addresses potential benefits and problems associated with various field experience arrangements. Finally, it explores innovative approaches to field experience, poses questions for consideration, and suggests implications for practice and research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Nicholas E. Husbye

Context There is an ever-growing body of work continuing the argument for play as a pedagogical resource that supports the learning of the youngest learners; despite this, there continues to be little evidence play has been considered as such in teacher education. Research Focus The study sought to understand the role of play and playful pedagogies in a school-based literacy education course within a teacher educator program. Setting Research was conducted in a school-based literacy education course housed in an urban school in the Midwest. Participants Preservice teachers enrolled in literacy education coursework at a midsized urban institution of teacher education. Research Design Data utilized in this study comes from a multiple case study using a practitioner inquiry lens. Data Collection and Analysis Data collection occurred over five semesters (Spring 2016-Spring 2018). Types of data included mid- and end-of-semester interviews, audio and video recordings of rehearsals, video recording of enactments, and a variety of artifacts produced by preservice teachers within the course. Findings Play, utilized within the context of a literacy education course, promoted the development of complexity tolerance: an ability to entertain the variables that may impact their teaching, even those they had not thought of. Recommendations This complexity tolerance supported preservice teachers in being able to respond to student learning in the moment, deviate from instructional planning when necessary, and interrogate their own educational histories. It is a powerful pedagogical tool to support preservice teacher development when intentionally invoked in teacher education coursework.


Author(s):  
Susan Gibson

Preservice teachers need to acquire both technological skill and understanding about how technology rich environments can develop subject-specific knowledge as a part of their teacher education programs. The purpose of the research project, as described in this case study, was to examine the impact that immersion in technology-infused social studies pedagogy courses had on preservice teachers’ willingness to use computer and online tools as well as how they used them during their student teaching. Teacher education students enrolled in two pedagogy courses were surveyed at the beginning and end of the courses and interviewed over the duration of the courses regarding the nature and extent of their technological knowledge and skill. Following the completion of the pedagogy courses, six volunteered to have their technology use tracked during their nine-week practice teaching experience. Findings showed that while the preservice pedagogy courses did increase the student teachers’ knowledge of and skill with a variety of computer and online tools as well as their desire to use them during their student teaching, the elementary schools in which they were placed for their practicum were poorly equipped and the mentor teachers were not using the tools that were modeled on campus. If preservice teachers are to truly understand the benefits of learning and teaching with technology, teacher education institutions and school districts need to work together to present a consistent vision of technology integration, and schools need to provide environments that encourage and support technology use.


Author(s):  
Debra R. Sprague ◽  
Maria Katradis

This mixed-method study explored a cohort of 18 preservice elementary teachers' perceptions of technology and their abilities to integrate technology in their teaching. Data sources included blog postings, a confidence survey, lessons plans and observations. Results showed a disconnect between the blog postings and confidence survey (their perceptions) and their lessons plans and observations (their abilities). Five case studies were examined, using the TPACK framework, to determine where the disconnect was occurring. Although Technical Knowledge seemed to be an issue for some, the majority of the preservice teachers struggled with Pedagogical Knowledge. Suggestions for how to address this issue are included. Implications for teacher education are discussed.


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