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.…

Education reforms in the United States and abroad have increased efforts to improve student interest and capacity in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Despite these attempts, students still have little opportunity to engage in STEM learning in K-12 education. This qualitative case study was designed to investigate how…

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…

This phenomenological study explored best practices to increase preservice teacher self-efficacy before the student teaching semester. The research was guided by this central inquiry and three sub-questions. Using a pre- and post-phenomenon survey instrument as well as an initial questionnaire and a final reflection, preservice teachers who were…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate preservice elementary teachers' science teacher identity development during their participation in the field-based science methods course and a year after. Grounded within the Feiman-Nemser's thematic framework of learning to teach, this study utilized a case study approach aimed to examine…

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…

While knowledge, attitudes and beliefs as well as skills are integrated parts of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) competency, few teacher education programmes have targeted the well-rounded CRT competency in all of these three aspects. Drawing on the conceptual framework of CRT competency and constructivist learning theory, the present study…

Gaps in elementary teachers' subject matter knowledge influence their teaching and student learning of science. Educative curriculum materials can support teacher subject matter knowledge. We investigated whether preservice teachers in 2 universities (n = 92) had gains in subject matter knowledge if they participated in modeled instruction related…

The internet is used by teachers to help find resources to integrate technology into their classrooms in a variety of ways (Handal, Campbell, Cavanagh, Petocz, & Kelly, 2013). The purpose of this study was to investigate the websites preservice teachers (PSTs) used during their field experiences in secondary mathematics. To address the purpose…

Framed by occupational socialization theory (Lawson, 1986), the purpose of this research was to examine perspectives of one university faculty member, eleven pre-service teachers and two cooperating teachers while enacting two clinically rich methods courses in a physical education teacher education program. We analyzed the data (researcher notes,…

Supporting prospective teachers to enact high quality instruction requires transforming their methods preparation. This study follows three teachers through a practice-based elementary methods course. Weekly class sessions took place in an elementary school. The setting afforded opportunities for prospective teachers to engage in cycles of…

The authors designed the project described her in order to address their students' expressed frustrations at the perceived disconnect between theory and practice. The project combined course readings, journaling, collaboratively created observation protocols, and classroom observation into a semester-long iterative assignment. The students' work…

Given students' preconceptions of history as fixed information, cultivating students' interpretive and evidence-based thinking is foundational to advancing their disciplinary understanding. This study examines the ways in which preservice history teachers construct tasks that demand students' interpretive and evidence-based thinking and attend to…

Service learning experiences hold the potential to significantly influence participants' view of cultures other than their own. This qualitative study examines how service learning affects preservice teachers' attitudes about working with students from diverse backgrounds. Two groups of preservice teachers enrolled in a reading methods course…

Analyzes science teaching on the basis of results of an assessment instrument which was administered to 283 preservice elementary teachers immediately following their teaching experience. Indicates that the brightest hope for the future is greatly dependent upon implementation of teacher education in colleges or universities. (CC)