The purpose of this photovoice study was to investigate what and how pre-service teachers conceive and make meaning of exploration observations of early field experiences (EFEs). EFEs are vital components of the teacher preparation program and include all activities that occur in pre-service teacher education prior to student teaching, including…

Fresh from teaching his first full school year the author reflects on his traditional teacher preparation path into the classroom and finds he was instilled with a common sense of ethics, compassion, a demand for reflective practice, and a robust guiding philosophy. As a college student, he learned theory and was able to augment that with…

This study investigates the value of early field experience students' observations of both peers and cooperating teachers in elementary classrooms where they had daily instructional duties. The participants in this study were 34 elementary education students enrolled in their last semester of coursework before the final student teaching…

Identification of the basic skills and roles in field experience education should answer the question "Can and should educators identify a set of basic skills required for effective performance in experiential learning as part of general education?" New roles required of students in using experiential learning opportunities include initiator,…

Early field experiences for preservice teachers can serve as a catalyst for the development of new insights and instructional techniques, particularly if they are in diverse settings. This study provided one preservice teacher with two 30-hour field experience components at two diverse sites. The project involved a comparative analysis of two…