Perceptions and attitudes of math teachers have an impact on students. Research has shown teachers with negative self-efficacy can build fear, anxiety, and even negatively affect students' math achievement. This research study addresses teacher candidate perceptions and attitudes (value, self-confidence, motivation, and enjoyment) toward…

Purpose: To determine the influence of an elementary methods course and early field experience on eight preservice teachers' (PTs') value orientations. Method: The theoretical perspective employed was occupational socialization. Data were collected with the short form of the value orientation inventory and five qualitative techniques (formal and…

As part of a literacy development course and a subsequent language arts methods course, teacher candidates (TCs) participated in a twenty-week community service learning partnership tutoring elementary students in reading. Through TCs' case study course assignments, survey data, and a focus group interview, the researchers analyzed TCs' growth…

In light of societal pluralism, diverse visions exist for social justice. In this sense, uncertainty is a marker of social justice education and research. This article shares insights into how we came to ask a question about teaching for social justice through cross-cultural collaborative self-study. Eight New Zealand pre-service teachers…

Globally, the post graduate education landscape simultaneously undergoes rapid and tremendous changes with emphasis on research through equipping students with the necessary skills and knowledge to foster the growth of independent, creative and lifelong researchers. Among the resources to facilitate this aim, mentoring plays a vital role. This…

This study explored preservice teachers' views of their own cultural values, the cultural values they believed scientists hold, and the relationships of these views to their conceptions of nature of science (NOS). Parallel assignments in a foundations of early childhood education and a science methods course required preservice teachers to explore…

In this study, I recount my experiences teaching elementary literacy methods courses and interacting with my racial Others--my White preservice teachers/students, senior faculty, and administrators at a predominantly White university in the rural Mountain West. Using an ethnographic approach (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 1995), I analyzed students'…

Few studies have examined the value orientations of physical education preservice teachers (PTs). The purposes of this study were to: (1) describe the extent to which one cohort of PTs' value orientations changed and developed during a secondary methods course and early field experience (EFE); and (2) determine why PTs' value orientations changed…

This study tracked the influence of explicit reflective instructional methods on cultural values, ethical and intellectual development, and the relationship of these with preservice teachers' views of nature of science (NOS). The researchers used the Views of Nature of Science Form B (VNOS B) to describe NOS views, the Learning Context…

In this study, researchers examined the educational value orientations of physical education preservice teachers in an elementary methods course, investigating the link between value profiles and teacher behaviors. Data from the Value Orientation Inventory indicated that subjects entered school with defined value profiles, but priorities within…