As a part of the teacher licensure program at the graduate level at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the M.Ed. licensure candidate is required to complete an action research project during a 3-semester-hour course that coincides with the 9-semester-hour student teaching experience or with school employment. This course, Education…

This study describes two years of findings with a unique field experience (teaching science inquiry activities to African-American girls in a summer STEM camp) for preservice elementary education majors. It reports on the effects of the field experience, in conjunction with blocked science and mathematics methods courses, on preservice teachers'…

In this article, I argue for the need to improve teacher preparation (TP) courses for elementary education student teachers to teach English-language arts (ELA). In particular, these TP programs need to support student teachers in delivering culturally responsive pedagogy within rural classrooms. Twenty-three student teachers participated in this…

Disciplinary literacies in dance and drama are underrepresented in classrooms and in scholarship, especially at the elementary level. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how preservice teachers constructed meaning of the disciplinary literacies in dance and drama. The theoretical framework guiding this study was drawn from…

This study examined the relationship between a constructivist/hands-on elementary methods course in science and preservice teachers' dispositions toward science content and teaching. The study investigated how an active learning and teaching style in science methods courses would affect preservice teacher self-efficacy and attitude. Data came from…