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.…

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…

Research has shown that progressive methods taught in teacher education programs have little impact on traditional approaches teacher candidates encounter during their internship semester. To understand how to better address this disconnect with regard to preparing teacher candidates, the study reported here used instrumental case studies to…

The international trend towards a practice-based approach in teacher education has permeated foreign language teacher education and English language teaching. A practice-based approach is based on the understanding that teachers learn to teach a language by engaging in "actual" teaching rather than "talking" about teaching. We…

This study examines the challenges faced by pre-service chemistry teachers teaching in a laboratory and their proposed solutions to these challenges. The study was conducted in a 13-week-long methodology course. Written statements from participants and observations from researchers were used as data sources. From these data, it was found that the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a pedagogical innovation -- a matrix construction exercise -- intended to help pre-service teachers (PTs) navigate the multiple and oftentimes competing discourses that shape the school subject English Language Arts (ELA). Design/methodology/approach: To explore the various ways the PTs drew on the…

There is a continuing emphasis in the United States on improving students' mathematical abilities, and one approach is to better prepare teachers. To investigate the potential usefulness of Lesson Study to better prepare teachers, one author set out to conduct action research on his classroom practice. Specifically, he sought to determine whether…

Often secondary mathematics methods courses include classroom peer teaching, but many pre-service teachers find it challenging to teach their classmate peers as there are no discipline issues and little mathematical discourse as the "students" know the content. We will share a recent change in our methods course where pre-service…

This mixed design study chronicles the yearlong outcomes of 27 undergraduate preservice teacher candidates' ability to design and deliver culturally responsive lesson plans during field-based experience lesson observations and student teaching settings after receiving instruction in a special education methods course. While components of…

Issues of diversity and social justice are critical for teacher education as the student population in the United States becomes increasingly diverse ethnically, racially, socially, and linguistically. It has been traditionally assumed that social studies, more than other curricular areas, should deal with these issues, especially in raising good…

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework is a relatively new construct that offers a useful perspective from which to understand the development of pre-service teachers' abilities in teaching with technology. It is grounded in the understanding that if teachers are to effectively integrate technology into their…

This investigation explores the effectiveness of a teacher preparation program aligned with situated learning theory on preservice science teachers' use of technology during their student teaching experiences. Participants included 26 preservice science teachers enrolled in a 2-year Master of Teaching program. A specific program goal was to…

"Teacher Prep Review 2014" is the second edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) annual assessment of the nation's 2,400 teacher prep programs. The "Review" uncovers early evidence that teacher prep programs are beginning to make changes. It arrives at a time of heightened, unprecedented…

This case reflects a yearlong project I, as the instructor of an Advanced Methods course, conducted with my students to help them plan and implement critical literacy units in their high school and middle school student teaching placements. To do so, I assigned student teachers to explore notions of critical literacy (including resistant reading,…

This study investigated the journey of four Thai pre-service chemistry teachers as they sought to develop their Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) throughout a PCK-based chemistry methods course and field experience. In an interpretive case study approach we drew upon classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, chemistry content knowledge…