Background/purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify strengths and deficits of alternative teacher certification programs, with particular emphasis on approaches to strengthening mathematical content knowledge and pedagogy. Materials/methods: Six participants included both teacher candidates enrolled in internship in the…

Research (Ling, Sharifah & Hasnah, 2014; Rohaty, 2003) has shown that Malaysian preschool teachers, despite knowing and understanding the importance of visual arts and inquiry-based learning, lack the theoretical knowledge and practical training that would enable them to implement the approach in their teaching (Ling, Sharifah and Hasnah,…

In the United States, recent STEM education reform initiatives call for teaching STEM subjects through integration of multiple related subjects. In response to this call, an integrated STEM education methods course was developed for secondary preservice teachers in STEM disciplines. At the conclusion of the course, qualitative data (e.g.,…

Methods for teaching early childhood mathematics and science are often addressed in a single, dual-content course. Approaches to teaching this type of course include integrating the content and the pedagogy of both subjects, or keeping the subject areas distinct. In this article, the authors discuss and illustrate their approach to such a combined…

Twelve leading Social Foundations of Education (SFE) scholars describe their professional work in the field. The research question within this oral history study is: In what ways do SFE scholars express the importance of the Liberal Arts (LA) framework for the community of educational stakeholders in a democracy? The respondents explain the degree…

This article reports on the findings of manipulative analyses performed by preservice and in-service teachers in an early childhood teacher education program mathematics methods course. The activities are intended to model and promote mathematical analyses for better discrimination between mathematics manipulatives by early childhood teachers.…

Background: English language learners (ELLs) are dramatically increasing in U.S. schools: by 2025, 25% of public school students will be ELLs (NEA, 2018). In one teacher education program in the Southeastern U.S., all students earning teacher certification must complete a course in second language methodology. This study seeks to understand…

Illiteracy is on the rise in the United States, and the potential negative impact on today's struggling reader is devastating. Now more than ever, preparing pre-service teachers to be effective teachers of literacy is crucial. This study examined the growth in understandings of best practice literacy of eleven pre-service teachers through paired…

Through a case study, this article sheds light onto generative text sets as tools for developing and enacting critically inclusive early childhood teacher education pedagogies. In doing so, it positions teaching and learning processes as sociocultural, historical, and political acts as it inquires into the use of generative text sets in one early…

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of early childhood preservice teachers in a southeastern university as they worked for mastery of phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphemic awareness. Mastery was set at 90% accuracy in a series of tests, which required them to perform different tasks related to the said…

This research studied the development of preservice teachers' understandings and attitudes about teaching science through playful experiences. Subjects were 94 senior preservice teachers in two sections of a science methods class on teaching preschool children. Data sources were semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaire at the…

Although the importance of field experience is supported and attended to by teacher education programs across the United States, there have been numerous national reports and research findings stressing the need for major improvements in the preparation of teachers with an emphasis on more authentic experiences. Quality field experiences have the…

This research investigated the use of electronic journaling to promote collaboration between special education and general education preservice teachers. During the field experience component of their methods courses, the participants responded to weekly prompts, shared experiences with each other, and frequently offered advice about events their…