Three education classes of mostly prospective teachers provided instruction on issues related to lesbian- and gay-identified (LG) youth in schools. Written responses of 97 students revealed lack of knowledge of LG youth prior to instruction. Though some students voiced resistance related to religiosity, the dominant stance was a strong…

Used a refutational text on motivation to address preservice teachers' conceptions of motivation. Participants completed pretests, posttests, and questionnaires on motivation theories and motivational strategies. Participants who read the refutational text performed significantly better on posttest and demonstrated more change in knowledge.…

Assessed preservice teachers' contrasting views between their own use of calculators and appropriate use of calculators in elementary school mathematics classrooms. Survey results indicated that respondents did not use calculators on simple problems, nor did they rely on them as a crutch. They viewed calculators largely as tools to speed up…

Investigated preservice teachers' thinking on research, considering how it might inform approaches to inquiry-oriented teacher education. Surveys and interviews with preservice teachers involved in inquiry-oriented programs indicated that the programs only modestly influenced their thinking about research. To have more influence, goals must be…

Assessed hardiness, stress, and burnout among Chinese preservice teachers. Different responses to positively and negatively worded hardiness items suggested positive and negative hardiness stress resilience and stress vulnerability. Stress, positive hardiness, and negative hardiness had main, independent significant impact on emotional exhaustion…

Examined Dutch and Israeli teacher educators' and student teachers' perceptions of meaning, implementation, and role expectations in self-regulated learning (SRL) within teacher education. Interview data indicated support for the concept of SRL, although conditions for its actual implementation were not always favorable. Student teachers were more…

Examined future teachers', current teachers', and teacher educators' attitudes regarding various suggestions for improving the professional status of teaching. All groups rated extrinsic and intrinsic rewards for teaching the most important. They considered raising the standards of preservice programs and teacher certification important and…

Surveys of preservice teachers explored their concepts of caring and order. Results indicated that they thought about achieving order in terms of management rather than pedagogy or interpersonal relationships. They saw caring in terms of interpersonal relationships rather than pedagogy or management. There were significant differences by status…

To study knowledge teachers acquire about students, researchers had student teachers describe several pupils at three points in time. Evaluations of professional growth indicated elementary teachers were more intimately involved with pupils and perceived them in more multifaceted terms. Secondary novices remained aloof and approached student…

Examined how situative knowledge, embedded in student teachers' prior experiences and a dilemma-based case, influenced their analyses of the case-as-written. Analysis of students' pre- and post-discussion writings about one case and during-discussion dialogue indicated that homogeneous thinking limited their ability to reflect critically and…

Analyzed prospective teachers' e-mail messages to their instructors as they tutored pupils in reading and mathematics. Results revealed several themes which indicated that students benefitted from the field-based experiences and the support of e-mail communications. Themes focused on instructional growth, emotional attachments, why students…

Explored reading-and-writing student teachers' representations of reading and writing practices, emphasizing their representations of text types used in several subjects. Surveys and focus groups indicated that student teachers had separate representations for the literacy practices of each discipline, and they preferred and had more detailed…

Discusses decisions that must be addressed when using repertory grid techniques to study teacher thinking, suggesting there is an art and a science to conducting constructivist research. The article illustrates the use of the repertory grid, snake, and self-characterization sketch to help student teachers consider their views on teacher…

Analyzed U.S. and South African teachers' discourses, investigating differences in development of commitment among teachers who engaged in talk-related activities within teacher education versus those who engaged in talk-related activities plus theory-enacting activities within diverse classrooms. Results highlight how developing commitment can be…

Surveyed preservice teachers at the beginning and at the end of an educational psychology course, targeting prior beliefs to identify prior beliefs about learning and teaching, and how those beliefs changed after taking the course. Most students believed their views had changed. Targeting preservice teachers' prior beliefs in instruction may…