This research report explores relationships between fractions' task representations (discrete, rectangular, or circular) and elementary prospective teachers' (PTs) fractions conceptions. Studies show PTs' conceptions of fractions are centered on a part-whole understanding, which may be problematic when teaching children about improper fractions.…

The courses "school experience" and "teaching practice" are undoubtedly among the central courses to be received by pre-service teachers who will be future teachers. Through them, pre-service teachers obtain the realistic information about their profession. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine pre-service teachers'…

The current impetus for increasing STEM in K-12 education calls for an examination of how preservice teachers are being prepared to teach STEM. This paper reports on a study that examined elementary preservice teachers' (n = 21) self-efficacy, understanding of science concepts, and computational thinking as they engaged with robotics in a science…

The aim of this multi-case study was to explore the extent and nature of changes in elementary pre-service teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and self-efficacy toward science and science teaching as a result of participating in a science methods course. The study specifically focused on three groups of pre-service teachers based on their varying…

This study examines the development of a specific sub-skill for studying and improving teaching--the generation of hypotheses about the effects of teaching on student learning. Two groups of elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) were compared: one group that attended a typical mathematics-methods course and one that attended a course integrating…

Preservice teachers often enter teacher education programs with naïve views about mathematics and science as well as the various domains of knowledge needed for effective teaching. A significant body of research has demonstrated that teacher knowledge is multifaceted and consists of both subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge.…

Pedagogical competence and teaching efficacy significantly influence the quality of classroom science learning. Without applying pedagogical learning in realistic classroom environments, there is slight possibility that prospective teachers will increase their teaching confidence or develop understanding of how learners acquire and construct…

Response-shift bias occurs when participants' initial constructs, such as self-efficacy in teaching science, are incomplete because they do not fully conceptualize something they have yet to experience. This study examines whether elementary pre-service teachers can consistently evaluate constructs such as self-efficacy and attitudes toward…

This study examined the influence of a professional development program based around commercially available inquiry science curricula on the teaching practices of 27 beginning elementary school teachers and their teacher mentors over a 2 year period. A quantitative rubric used to score inquiry elements and use of data in videotaped lessons…

A critical aspect of teacher education is gaining pedagogical content knowledge of how to teach science for conceptual understanding. Given the time limitations of college methods courses, it is difficult to touch on more than a fraction of the science topics potentially taught across grades K-8, particularly in the context of relevant pedagogies.…

The goal of this study is to develop the professional noticing abilities of preservice elementary teachers in the context of the Stages of Early Arithmetic Learning. In their mathematics methods course, the preservice elementary teachers participated in a researcher-developed multi-session module that progressively nests the three interrelated…

The purpose of this study was to compare changes in beliefs of two groups of preservice teachers involved in two types of opportunities to immediately apply methods for teaching accompanying an elementary mathematics methods course. Students in one group applied the methods learned in class through weekly 30-minute peer-teaching sessions, while…

This study investigated Microteaching Lesson Study (MLS) and three possible MLS mentor interaction structures during the debriefing sessions in relation to elementary preservice teacher development of knowledge for teaching. One hundred three elementary preservice teachers enrolled in five different sections of a mathematics methods course at a…

This research study examined the development of 43 preservice elementary school teachers' conceptual understanding of place value after participating in a research-based constructivist unit of instruction in place value. The preservice teachers were enrolled in one of three terms of an elementary mathematics methods course in a private midwestern…

This mixed-method, dual-phase, embedded-case study employed the Social Cognitive Theory and the construct of self-efficacy to examine the contributors to science teaching self-efficacy and science teaching practices across different levels of efficacy in six pre-service elementary teachers during their science methods course and student teaching…