In 2014 NCTM advocated for productive struggle by expressing the need for teachers to allow their students the time necessary to grapple with their mathematical "uncertainties." We posit pre-service teachers need opportunities to productively struggle when learning and applying their mathematical understanding in order to understand how…

Despite the importance of learning to teach writing, many preservice teachers do not take a writing course as part of their teacher preparation. For those universities that do offer a writing methods course, teacher educators face challenges in designing responsive and rigorous clinical experiences especially since writing is often under taught in…

Task selection is a critical element of mathematics teaching because mathematical tasks differ in the mathematical opportunities made available to students. Thus, it is important to examine both the tasks that PSTs chose and why they were chosen. This study examines the task selection of 10 pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a middle grades…

We explored how preservice teachers in a middle school science methods course learned and applied computational thinking (CT) concepts and activities during a month-long intervention. In the intervention, preservice teachers learned about CT concepts through an hour-long lecture in their methods class, practiced a computing-integration activity…

Purpose: This study introduces the idea of "Kyouzai Kenkyuu" and examines its potentiality as a conceptual tool to point to the curriculum design process with a case of social science education. By doing so, this study can contribute to expanding the target of reflection from the practices "inside" classrooms toward the…

This examination of practice aims to share pedagogical practices, grounded in the research of teaching and learning, for building a community of learners in teacher education coursework. The pedagogical exploration supports explicit modeling of strategies to support teacher candidates in their mission to develop a community of learners in their…

Similar to other teacher education disciplines, Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) must adjust to calls for clinically rich teacher preparation because knowledge learned in PETE does not easily transfer to cultures of schools, classrooms, and gymnasia. Opportunity exists to understand more about clinically rich PETE courses, particularly…

The purpose of this study was to investigate middle level preservice teacher self-efficacy beliefs in general, as well as in the domain of reading. The participants were 8 middle school preservice teachers enrolled in a state-mandated reading methods course and student teaching over the course of a year. As part of the yearlong internship, the…

Drawn from the norms and rules of their fields, scientists use variety of practices, such as asking questions and arguing based on evidence, to engage in research that will contribute to our understanding of Earth and beyond. In this study, we explore how preservice teachers' learn to teach scientific practices while teaching plate tectonic…

This qualitative self-study examines the incorporation of service learning in 2 sections of a middle childhood undergraduate methods course. As a beginning teacher educator, I used self-study to explore the following research questions: (a) How does engaging in a service-learning project during a field experience influence middle level preservice…

This article introduces the Instructional Field Observation Rounds Model (INFORM), drawn from the medical profession where resident interns make rounds with experienced physicians, as an alternative approach for conducting classroom observations in pre-service teacher education methods courses. INFORM centers on structured group observations in…

In a preexperimental study of preservice practitioners' professional dispositions, we examined the relationship between an innovative culturally responsive teaching model in a social studies methods course and teacher candidates' culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy. Findings indicate preservice teachers exposed to an in-depth culturally…

A structured interview process is proffered as an effective means to advance prospective teachers' understandings of students as learners of mathematics, a key component of pedagogical content knowledge. The interview process is carried out in three phases with the primary objective of developing listening skills for accessing students'…

Researchers have found that as students progress through school, the importance of language grows due to the content specificity that emerges, especially in the secondary grades, and due to the preparation of these students to enter adulthood once their schooling is completed. Even as students' instruction in various content areas becomes…

A focus on mathematics vocabulary must be part of teachers' instructional plans to develop students' understanding of key ideas. The author presents examples from work with preservice teachers regarding two vocabulary strategies and other related activities that can be used by middle and high school mathematics teachers. (Contains 8 figures.)