Enhance Preservice Teachers Research Articles

Enhancing Pre-Service Teachers' Awareness to Pupils' Test-Anxiety With 3D Immersive Simulation

This study investigated whether participating in a 3D immersive virtual reality world simulating the experience of test-anxiety would affect pre-service teachers' awareness to the phenomenon. Ninety subjects participated in this study, and were divided into three groups. The experimental group experienced a 3D immersive simulation which made tangible the cognitive aspect of anxiety. One control group watched a TV film on the subject of test-anxiety, while the second control group read statements by pupils who suffer from that syndrome. The level of awareness was tested four times: two weeks before the 3D experience, one week before it, immediately after the experience, and two weeks thereafter. At each stage, the subjects filled out an Awareness of Test Anxiety Questionnaire (ATAQ), which was composed expressly for this study. The research results demonstrate that virtual reality technology is effective in raising the level of awareness of test-anxiety. Even though it is difficult to express abstract ideas in concrete terms, it appears that this technology was more successful in making clear, understandable, and tangible the cognitive aspect of test-anxiety than were the methods tested in the two control groups.

Preservice Teachers' Abilities, Beliefs, and Intentions regarding Technology Integration

This study investigated changes in and factors related to students' technology-related abilities, beliefs, and intentions. Participants were 76 preservice teachers who responded to pre- and post-course surveys while taking an introductory educational technology course. Statistically significant changes were found in students' perceived abilities, self-efficacy beliefs, value beliefs, and intentions to use software in their future classrooms. Students' self-efficacy, value beliefs, and intentions were moderately correlated with each other. Abilities were correlated with self-efficacy and computer access. The best predictors of intentions were self-efficacy beliefs, gender, and value beliefs. These results strongly support the effectiveness of educational technology coursework in improving not just abilities, but also beliefs and intentions. They highlight the importance of relationships between preservice teachers' beliefs about technology integration and their potential use of technology in their future classrooms. The authors provide suggestions for enhancing preservice teachers' beliefs during technology coursework.

Examining mentors' practices for enhancing preservice teachers' pedagogical development in mathematics and science

Mentoring is too important to be left to chance (Ganser, 1996), yet mentoring expertise of teachers varies widely, which may present inequities for developing preservice teachers' practices. Five factors for mentoring have been identified herein: personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, and feedback, and items associated with each factor have also been justified in context of the literature. An original, literature‐based survey instrument gathered 446 preservice teachers' perceptions of their mentoring for primary teaching. Data were analysed within the above‐mentioned five factors with 331 final‐year preservice teachers from nine Australian universities responding to their mentoring for science teaching and 115 final‐year preservice teachers from an urban university responding to their mentoring for mathematics teaching. Results indicated similar Cronbach alpha scores on each of the five factors for primary science and mathematics teaching; however percentages and mean scores on attributes and practices aligned with each factor were considerably higher for mentoring mathematics teaching compared with science teaching.

Use of Computer-Mediated Communication in a Teaching Practicum Course

This study investigates how Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) can be effectively used in a teaching practicum course to enhance preservice teachers’ learning. We constructed a web-based CMC system and used it in a Teaching Practicum course. Computer science preservice teachers and experienced secondary school computer teachers, who served as mentors, participated in the study. The research findings indicate that the preservice teachers considered the CMC system helpful for supporting their learning. The findings also indicate that some initiating/follow-up discussion styles of the mentors were more effective than others in promoting interactions in the discussion forum. It was also found that a teaching-video-enhanced CMC environment is valuable in improving quality of mentoring and in increasing preservice teachers’ reflection on teaching.

How teacher educators created a course curriculum to challenge and enhance preservice teachers' thinking and experience with diversity

Recognizing that students of color often do not achieve as well as their White counterparts, the authors of this article acknowledged the need for preservice teachers to study racial and cultural issues as they relate to teaching in diverse classrooms. For four months prior to the beginning of the course that the authors would co-teach, they systematically read multiple articles and book chapters about racial and cultural issues in schools and met weekly to discuss, from their own perspectives and experiences, their reactions to the readings. Simultaneously, they considered emerging possibilities for a course curriculum where preservice teachers would explore issues important to what they called creating culturally celebratory pedagogy and classrooms. The authors, a Black faculty member and a White faculty member in a teacher education program, share key questions that emerged from their readings and discussions, describe four major components they integrated into the course curriculum, and present assignments that may reduce preservice teachers' deficit knowledge and thinking about racial and cultural issues in classrooms and schools. The authors also consider students' initial reactions to the course content and what the students' reactions might mean for the structure and restructure of the course.

Enhancing Preservice Teachers' Understanding of Web-based Scientific Inquiry

This paper describes how the Web-based Inquiry for Learning Science (WBI) instrument was used with preservice elementary and secondary science teachers in science methods courses to enhance their understanding of Webbased scientific inquiry. The WBI instrument is designed to help teachers identify Web-based inquiry activities for learning science and classify those activities along a continuum from learner-directed to materials-directed for each of the five essential features of inquiry as described in Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 2000). Recommendations for using the WBI instrument in preservice science methods courses are discussed.

Elaborate analogies in science text: Tools for enhancing preservice teachers’ knowledge and attitudes

Preservice teachers studied texts about three fundamentally important science concepts. They read versions with no analogy, versions with a simple analogy, and versions with an elaborate analogy. An elaborate analogy is one that consists of text and pictorial components in which similarities between the analog and the target concept are made explicit. Verbal and imagery processes combine to promote a mapping of conceptual features. The findings indicated that elaborate analogies improved the science knowledge and attitudes of preservice teachers by relating what is familiar to what is new. The findings are consistent with a constructivist view of learning science and suggest that science texts for preservice teachers should be adapted to take advantage of elaborate analogies in a systematic way.

Enhancing Preservice Teachers Field Experiences through the Addition of a Service-Learning Component

Field experiences have always been an important component in teacher education programs. Researchers have long studied field experiences and their impact on pre-service teachers. However, in the past ten years service-learning has also become a more vital link in the preparation of teachers. This paper describes an early field experience combined with a service-learning component and the corresponding assessment of the project. Goals of the collaboratively developed project included a multi-directional impact to individuals involved, increased student motivation, and increased student participation. Several sources of data were used including: open ended teacher questions, teacher and student surveys, undergraduate reflection papers, and perceived undergraduate goals and challenges. Qualitative analysis methods were implemented to provide an interpretation of the data. Results indicated that this project did have a multi-directional impact on teachers, pre-service teachers and students. Additionally, the project impacted student motivation and classroom participation through the use of non-traditional activities.

Using Reflective Practice in Teaching Dance to Preservice Physical Education Teachers

The need for reflective pedagogical practices in teacher education to enhance preservice teachers’ understanding of teaching, and to assist the link between theory and their own practice, has long been accepted. This study sought to investigate the use of reflective strategies to develop attitudes and skills in teaching dance in physical education by a group of first year preservice physical education teachers (N=90)undertaking an introductory course in dance in an Australian university. Monitoring occurred at regular intervals during the course to identify any longitudinal developmental trends in attitudes. Inductive analysis of weekly journal responses was undertaken to identify major themes or focus areas using the Reflective Framework for Teaching in Physical Education (Tsangaridou and O'Sullivan, 1994). Attitudinal data from questionnaire responses were analysed using SPSSPC and focus group discussion data were transcribed and analysed for dominant themes using NVivo software. The results indicated an increase in the focus and level of complexity of reflections and analytical responses in line with changes in attitudes and confidence in teaching dance experienced during the course. Significant gender differences in attitudes to teaching dance prior to undertaking the course and in the early journal entries were identified. Improvement in and value given to journal writing was evident, however, some preservice teachers felt hindered by a lack of personal reflective writing skill.

Preservice Teachers Integrate Understandings of Diversity Into Literacy Instruction: An Adaptation of the ABC's Model

Teacher educators across the nation face the increasingly challenging task to better prepare preservice teachers to work with students of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Most preservice teachers are from White and middle-class backgrounds and have had limited experiences with cultures other than theirs (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Schmidt, 1998a, b). Their life and cultural experiences shape their beliefs and perceptions of students from other cultures (Cabello & Burstein, 1995; Pohan, 1996; Sleeter, 1995). In 2000, 85% of teachers are White and middle class (Ladson-Billings, 1995), but 33% of school-age children are minorities (Adler, 1993). Many teacher preparation programs include multicultural education courses in the curriculum (Goodwin, 1997; Grant, 1994; Zeichner et al., 1998). However, they are particularly ineffective in changing preservice teachers' beliefs about diversity and students of diverse backgrounds (Deering & Stanutz, 1995; Goodwin, 1997; McDiarmid & Price, 1993), enhancing preservice teachers' culturally relevant teaching (Goodwin, 1997; Guillaume, Zuniga-Hill, & Yee, 1995; Zeichner et al., 1998), and promoting critical reflections upon diversity issues within a broader sociopolitical context (Goodwin, 1997; McIntosh, 1988; Sleeter, 1995). Many researchers and teacher educators have investigated different approaches to enhance the effectiveness of multicultural education courses. One approach is to immerse preservice teachers in cultural communities different from theirs (e.g., Mahan, 1982; Wiest, 1998). Another is to place preservice teachers in schools with students of diverse backgrounds for field experiences or student teaching (Bennett, 1995; Colville-Hall, MacDonald, & Smolen, 1995; Vavrus, 1994). Few, if any, studies have specifically investigated how preservice teachers integrate multicultural understandings into literacy instruction for students of diverse backgrounds. Researchers (Nieto, 1996; Sleeter & Grant, 1999) have documented that diverse students continue to experience school failure and that lack of adequate literacy skills appears to be a primary cause for their low school achievement (Allington & Walmsley, 1995; Au, 1993). Preservice teachers must be able to link their understandings of diversity to teaching reading and writing. In the study I report on in this article, I explored two questions: What were preservice teachers' understandings of their cultural backgrounds and their students' cultural backgrounds? How did preservice teachers integrate their understandings of diversity into literacy instruction? The ABC's Model Schmidt (1998a, 1998b, 1999) developed the ABC's Model based on the following premises. One must be familiar with one's cultural background and values before understanding others' cultural backgrounds (Banks, 1994; Zeichner, 1993). Learning about others' life experiences exposes one to others' cultures (Schmidt, 1998a, 1998b). Cross-cultural analysis of one's own and others' cultures, in turn, enhances one's awareness of similarities and differences among various cultures (Spindler & Spindler, 1987). The ABC's Model (Schmidt, 1999) includes five components: * An autobiography, written in detail, by each student to include key life events related to education, family, religious tradition, recreation, victories, and defeats. * The biography of a person who is culturally different from the student, written from in-depth, unstructured interviews (Spradley, 1979) that include key life events. * A cross-cultural analysis of similarities and differences between the life stories is charted (Spindler & Spindler, 1987). * An analysis of cultural differences examined in writing with encouragement for students to explain personal discomforts and identify positive affect. * Modification for classroom practice and communication plans for literacy development and home/ school connections based on the preceding process are designed. …

Scaffolds in the field: Vygotskian interpretation in a teacher education program

Vygotskian theory has often been promoted for understanding children’s learning, yet few studies have examined this theory in relation to preservice teachers’ understanding of teaching. This paper seeks to address this gap by reporting on a study of four preservice teachers in a teacher education program designed from Vygotskian tenets of learning. Peer and cooperating teacher support systems in learning to teach are explored. The analysis suggests that socially shared cognition in field work and course work makes a significant difference in enhancing preservice teachers’ sense of what it means to teach in terms of using partnership for cognitive and collegial support, perspective-taking, social negotiation, and ownership. Control and feedback styles of cooperative teachers had an impact on preservice teachers’ perceived readiness for student teaching, opportunities for reflection, and spirit of social reconstructivism. Implications for teacher education programs are addressed in regard to relationships that best prepare preservice teachers for the real world and field experiences and sociocultural learning contexts that assist in that process.