Using Primary Research Literature to Teach Critical Thinking in Pre-Service Teacher Education

Much of the coursework in pre-service teacher education programs focuses on “best practices” in classroom teaching that span from general pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (e.g., methods, management, assessment, etc.), in addition to supervised practica and student teaching experiences. Given that pre-service (and in-service) education students are being prepared for a career in teaching, coursework should also prepare them to understand, critique, and adapt to changes in best practices that occur over the course of their careers. The authors argue that one of the best ways to prepare students for changes in educational practices is to help them understand where best practices come from in the first place—primary research in education. Reading, thinking critically about, and applying the findings from primary research articles can improve the professional development of pre-service teachers. The goals of this chapter are to 1) provide a review of the benefits of requiring primary research articles as required readings in undergraduate curriculum, 2) underscore the argument for why primary research should be included in pre-service teacher education curriculum, and 3) offer a model for how this could be implemented in a pre-service teacher education curriculum.

Developing Critical Dispositions in Teacher Education Programs

This chapter advocates for the (re)framing of critical thinking from a skill to a disposition and proposes a framework whereby teacher education programs can create space for pre-service teachers to develop a critical disposition. By studying the context of American education and schooling and their corporate interest, pre-service teachers along with teacher educators can start to unravel the discourse and power inherent in American education. Understanding how these concepts lead to hegemony can begin the process of creating a counterhegemonic movement among American educators that includes the reclaiming of the purpose of education, raising pertinent epistemological question, and practicing critical self-reflection. The final part of the new framework for developing critical dispositions is a reintroduction of broader theoretical concerns into teacher preparation programs.

Critical Thinking for Practice

This chapter presents an analysis of the feedback that the three authors gave on lesson plans created over the course of three semesters by pre-service teachers (PSTs) in an elementary student teaching practicum and how this feedback led to changes in PSTs' critical thinking about teaching. The authors use the term critical thinking for practice (CTP) to refer to a critical approach to understanding problems of practice. They show what PSTs took up and modified in their lessons and what they adapted in their teaching based on reflections with the authors, all supervisors in a teacher education program.

Critical Thinking in Teacher Education

This chapter documents the development of critical thinking skills in preservice teachers as they engaged in practicum settings in a teacher education program. Qualitative data helps illustrate the shifts in thinking that correlated with particular experiences in the program. Data is used to illustrate strategies that teacher preparation programs might draw on to help teacher education students develop critical thinking skills related to pedagogies and practices. The authors conclude by theorizing a relationship between the structure and strategies employed within a literacy methods course and the expansion of preservice teachers understanding of literacy, teaching, and learning.

Integrating Critical Pedagogy With Teaching Statistics for Social Justice

The following chapter describes the creation and implementation of a “Content Underpinnings” course for graduate students in middle grades statistics that required students to complete a teaching for social justice lesson in a K-12 classroom. The content underpinnings course consisted of three major goals that promoted critical thought: critical race theory (CRT) and teaching for social justice (TSJ), statistical pedagogical content knowledge, and statistical content knowledge. A review of research related to each these goals is integrated with student implementation of a CRT/TSJ lesson, along with details on how this research guided the course creation and implementation. Implications and suggestions for including CRT and TSJ in mathematics are suggested as a tool to promote equity, access, and empowerment for democracy in teacher education.

Transmitting Metacognitive Pedagogy to Math Pre-Service Educators

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the impact of embedding metacognition into pre-service education with two intended outcomes: to develop pre-service educators' identification development of metacognition and to transmit metacognitive pedagogy to pre-service educators. An ethnography chronicles an intervention introduced through a mathematics methodology course for pre-service educators at a Canadian institution. The focus of the intervention emphasized explicit instruction of metacognition and the development of a metacognitive reflective practice supported by weekly metacognitive prompts. Data was collected from both students' reflections and instructor's responding prompts and were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Critical Thinking, Critical Doing

This chapter outlines five instructional routines utilized by teacher educators to support the development of not only critical thinking but critical doing for future educators. The five routines—collaborative facilitation, behind-the-glass peer reviews, lesson play, virtual peer coaching, and rehearsals—are both described and expanded in a worked example using data from undergraduate coursework for pre-service teachers in literacy education. Individual routines foreground and background particular elements of the teaching process; however, all maintain an emphasis on critical thinking and doing as a core competency. Importantly, these instructional routines were found to be most effective when (1) preservice teachers are given opportunities to engage in multiple iterations of each routine and (2) preservice teacher doing is surrounded by substantial amounts of teacher educator feedback.

Positioning Teacher Candidates as Self-Regulated, Critically Thinking Learners and Teachers in an Elementary Writing Course With a Tutoring Component

Few interventions attempt to foster teacher candidates' self-regulated learning and teaching roles concurrently. This chapter explores 12 education majors' development of self-regulated, critical thinking skills related to learning and teaching as they participated in an elementary writing methods course with a tutoring component. The instructor of the course devised and offered a four-step model of intervention to stimulate the teacher candidates' self-regulatory dispositions. The teacher candidates perceived their responses to context-specific questions created by the instructor as most beneficial to their development of self-regulated attributes.

How Mentorship, Critical Thinking, and Self-Efficacy Impact Pre-Service Teachers and Teacher Educators in P-12 and Higher Education

This chapter researches the impact of mentorship, critical thinking, and self-efficacy and each of their influences on pre-service teachers and teacher educators in both the P-12 system and in higher education. This work delves into why each of those aspects—having a mentor, understanding critical thinking and its various strategies, and focusing on having a high level of self-efficacy and teacher efficacy—are critical for a successful educator in both a school district and a university setting.

Promoting Critical Thinking Through the Use of Student-Generated Case Studies

Often, using case studies as instructional prompts and methods can lead to frustration by both the teacher and the students. This has led many in the field of teacher education to question the utility of this instructional method. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how preservice educators may enhance their critical thinking by learning how to create student-generated case studies. The authors also provide the psychological and educational evidence which supports purports the importance of critical thinking in preservice k-12 education. In this chapter, the authors discuss why student-generated case studies are an effective teaching tool and explain how research on elaborative interrogation and worked examples explains why using student-generated case studies promote critical thinking. Two examples of student-generated case studies are provided (one from elementary and one from secondary education) along with guiding questions and prompts students may use to develop their own effective, elaborative, and worked-example of case studies in a teacher education course.