Describes how prospective teachers in an education course responded to three cases that challenged their entering beliefs about teaching. Interviews and essays indicated that students' entering beliefs about teaching remained central to their interpretations of the cases, though each learned new ideas about teaching that were compatible with her…

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.…

Ethnographic data from a study of one teacher education program highlighted preservice teachers' values and beliefs concerning minority education. Results suggest that preservice teachers experience and adopt a meritocratic and hegemonic system of schooling in which academic performance is viewed in terms of individual abilities and based on…

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…

Australian researchers surveyed the practical knowledge of student teachers, focusing on the construct of images of teaching to identify ways in which two student teachers thought about themselves as teachers and how that related to their teaching practice. The paper proposes images as a means of understanding student teacher knowledge. (SM)

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…

Interviewed three prospective elementary teachers regarding progress toward an integrated view of learner and learning concerns. Two had similar questions about balancing concerns for individual students' class experiences with concerns about learning content, despite having very different initial conceptions and conceptual paths. The third…

Examines questions about culture and cultural identity that surfaced as student teachers in their elementary practicum attempted to learn about their students' communities and use culture in the classroom, illustrating how culture can be used in classrooms to frame and limit children and suggesting how to reframe classroom practices and…

Analysis of student teachers' expressed conceptions of successful teaching (recorded in journals) throughout a year-long field experience suggested that, while the seven stronger and seven weaker teachers recorded similar descriptions of successful lessons, their descriptions of unsuccessful lessons differed. (Author/CB)

Used interview and essay data to investigate history student teachers' development and beliefs about teaching. Most respondents became interested in the subject very early, independently of formal education. Models adopted during early school years influenced their attitudes toward teaching and teachers' role. Their tended to focus on their own…

Researchers surveyed secondary student teachers to identify changes in their thinking about teaching and learning and their postgraduate preservice education course. Knowledge of teaching gained from earlier experience significantly influenced students' thinking. Differences between individuals and curriculum groups suggested that the course of…

This study examined preservice teachers' attitudes and awareness regarding multicultural education. Subjects provided background information and answered questions about multicultural education. Most were aware of issues related to multicultural education and anticipated having diverse student populations. Subjects were undecided about how well…