Designing and analyzing lesson plans is a ubiquitous practice in teacher education, and yet we know little about how preservice teachers (PSTs) notice elements of their lesson plans that afford opportunities for supporting equitable student sensemaking. We investigate how the use of a tool, a framework for supporting equitable sensemaking, guided…

While recent research has examined students' and teachers' understanding of models and modeling, few studies have focused on how teacher educators can support preservice elementary science teachers in envisioning enriched learning processes and outcomes for their students while engaging in modeling practices. Informed by reflective practices…

Due to the increasing popularity of STEM education, preservice preparation colleges have also become more important for training teachers. This study involved (25) preservice teachers completing STEM-based lesson plan training sessions during a mathematics teaching methods course. This study seeks to describe and gather opinions regarding the…

Literature suggests the transfer of understanding the nature of science to instructional practice requires preservice teachers to value teaching about the nature of science. Despite decades of research developing preservice teachers' views of nature of science, there is still a disconnect between their understanding and instructional practice.…

Limited research examines the critical intersection between science and special education (SPED), particularly on the nature of science (NOS) in science methods courses. This study addresses this gap by investigating 10 preservice SPED teachers' NOS understanding, NOS implications for SPED, and the integration of NOS into their lesson plans in a…

The purpose of this study was on understanding and interpreting five minoritised pre-service teachers' past educational experiences that impacted their first-time science microteaching experiences in a science teaching methods course. The study is unique because it illuminates and contributes to the literature on the importance of minoritised…

The study aimed to explore the integration of lesson study into science teacher education programs to enhance preservice science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for STEM. The lesson study cycle encompassed planning, teaching, reflecting, re-teaching, and re-reflecting phases, and the participants' experiences regarding PCK for STEM…

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…

Previous research has explored the possibility of changing preservice teachers' beliefs and has examined the role of methods courses and field experiences in shaping their pedagogical views. This study uncovers the beliefs of preservice Spanish teachers by examining how they evaluate a lesson at the beginning and end of a methodology course and…

Preservice elementary teachers need to be able to engage young students in science practices but may not have extensive experiences with those practices. They also may have contrasting beliefs about them, which inform their teaching practice. To understand preservice teachers' beliefs related to science practices, we focus on the connections they…

During university-based programs that prepare K-12 teachers, candidates traditionally participate in course work that discusses educational theory and application related to the future teacher's chosen population (based on age range and subject areas). Traditional methods courses cover the pedagogy related to a single, specific content area, or…

This study investigated the nature of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development among 22 prospective teachers enrolled in an elementary science methods course. The nature of prospective teachers' PCK development was investigated in relation to their experiences in planning, enacting, and reflecting upon a Physical science lesson. The…

Scientific modeling is a scientific practice that uses models to prepare elementary and middle school science teachers to engage students using scientific inquiry. Model-based inquiry (MBI) is a pedagogical teaching approach that engages students using scientific inquiry during scientific modeling. However, preservice teachers lack understanding…

The purpose of this case study was to examine pre-service music teachers' perceptions of peer feedback from two different vantage points (giving and receiving). Music education majors (N = 4) enrolled in a choral music teaching methods course were asked to develop a series of lessons over a semester, teach them to their peers, and provide oral and…

In recent decades, scholars of teacher education have suggested that teacher educators (TEs) should integrate the development of prospective teachers' (PTs') knowledge with their skills for enacting teaching, characterized in the literature as pedagogies of practice. One way to operationalize pedagogies of practice is through engaging PTs in…