Supporting elementary preservice teachers' development of a science teacher identity provides a way to address challenges of low self-efficacy, self-confidence, and pedagogical content knowledge in science. Meaningful teaching experiences in student teaching placements and field-based science methods courses provide opportunities for preservice…

This article provides concrete critical and ethical responses to dominant educational policies promoting the teaching of STEM fields. Recognizing how dominant discourses of modernity (Martusewicz, et al. 2015) work discursively to constitute STEM, this paper examines and exposes how STEM education is prioritized via funding in teacher education.…

This article describes The Bare Book Project, a writing and research project that challenged pre-service and in-service teachers to create their own original pieces of children's literature, and use aspects of their personal writing as models for students in elementary school classrooms. Building on research regarding teacher modeling in writing…

Facilitating discussions in English Language Arts can develop students' skills as speakers and listeners and their ability to engage with diverse perspectives. However, classroom observations often demonstrate a lack of student talk, raising questions about the complexity of facilitating discussion and teachers' opportunities to learn and hone the…

This proof of concept study investigated a secondary science teacher preparation intervention in six university programs across Arizona, California, and Texas. Researchers and science method instructors (SMIs) collaboratively restructured respective science method courses to hold fidelity to an interrelated set of instructional practices that…

This article discusses ways literature is taught at the university. It describes a gap in the way English is often taught in literature programs and the way future teachers are taught to teach English to secondary students. It argues for teaching literature in ways that might be good for majors in both fields, ways that support the work valued by…

Fifty-seven students in mathematical content and secondary mathematics methods courses from four U.S. universities participated in an instructional sequence to generate communal criteria defining mathematical proof within their respective classrooms. Participants completed a proof-related task before class, worked together in small groups to…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in school closures, shifting to online instruction poses unique challenges for educators. The purpose of the paper is to inform practitioners on how online instruction was facilitated in a science methods course for preservice teachers (PSTs) enrolled in a public university across three campuses. The major…

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…

Preparing students with 21st Century Skills through STEM related teaching is needed, especially at the elementary level. However, most teacher education preparation programs do not focus on STEM education. To provide an exemplary STEM unit, we transformed an inquiry-based unit on moon phases from a traditional science activity into a…

The quantitative research methods course is a staple of graduate programs in education leadership and administration. Historically, these courses serve to train aspiring district and school leaders in fundamental statistical research topics. This article argues for programs to focus as well in these courses on helping aspiring leaders develop…

There is urgency for teacher educators to instruct preservice teachers in the core tenants of social justice education. This urgency is based upon the ever-growing shift in the American demographic landscape and the responsibility of educators to teach for equity, justice, identity and community within classrooms across the U.S. Preservice…

In response to the COVID 19 pandemic, universities and colleges closed abruptly and teacher educators had little time to move instruction from face-to-face classrooms to digital learning environments. This sudden shift created a myriad of obstacles as instructors worked to retain pedagogically sound and effective instruction through online…

This paper describes the long-term re-development of an introductory graduate research methods course. The initial design is presented, followed by the two re-design phases. Phase 2 introduced additional inquiry-based strategies such as concept mapping and multiple levels of peer collaboration. Phase 3 incorporated competency-based techniques as…

This article describes a recent collective case study of English language arts methods students at a large university in the southwestern United States who created literacy-based welcome videos addressed to future students. By crafting "This is my Story" videos, preservice teachers practiced technology implementation with traditionally…