Examine Teacher Candidates Research Articles

Teacher candidates’ opinions and experiences as input for teacher education curriculum development

The aim of this international study was to generate recommendations for curriculum improvement in family–school partnerships (FSP) by examining teacher candidates’ understandings, attitudes and experiences. A survey of 1144 candidates in their first or final year of preparation at three universities, one each in Belgium, the Netherlands and the USA, provided qualitative and quantitative data regarding their understandings, attitudes about FSP and their experiences in their teacher preparation. The data indicated modest approval of the value of partnerships, understandings of partnerships weighted towards teacher to parent communication, preference for traditional teacher–parent activities over non-traditional choices, and, among final year candidates, mildly positive feelings of preparedness. Candidates wished more interactions with parents during field experiences and practical strategies for communicating with parents. Inferred in their responses was the need for curriculum to develop an expanded view of partnerships, enhance attitudes, especially among secondary education candidates, and cultivate skills in working with families from culturally diverse backgrounds. However, few candidates expressed a desire for exploring theory and research on partnerships or for the opportunity to develop a personal philosophy, components which are thought critical for teachers’ ability to establish partnerships with parents.

Getting Out of their Comfort Zone: Examining Teacher Candidates' Reactions to Service-Learning Abroad

This study presents data gathered from a service-learning trip to Costa Rica designed for teacher candidates. Data include participant responses to writing prompts, field notes, and follow-up questionnaires. Results show that participants' experience with the language barrier raised their empathy toward English learners. However, participants expressed dissonance regarding student behavioral norms.

Perceptions of Teacher Candidates regarding Project-Based Learning

Problem Statement. Project-based learning (PBL) is a learning and teaching approach that makes students search for new knowledge and skills, helps them overcome real-life questions, and makes them design their own studies and performances. Research in Turkey reveals that teachers are not well-informed about PBL, can not guide students in this process, and have problems in implementing PBL. This situation raises questions on the effectiveness of teacher education and pedagogical courses in the attainment of knowledge and skills on PBL. Thus, it is important to examine teacher candidates’ perceptions regarding PBL during their teacher education. Purpose of Study. The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher candidates’ perceptions about the PBL approach in terms of different variables. In this direction, the research question has been specified as ‘What are the perceptions of teacher candidates toward PBL?’ Methods. It was a qualitative phenomenological study. The research group consisted of 58 students (40 female, 18 male), who were in their third and fourth years in a public university in Istanbul in the 2014–2015 academic year. In order to gather data, open-ended questions were asked. The data were analyzed using content analysis. Findings and Results. According to the findings, more than half of the teacher candidates expressed that they learned PBL approach in theory, but almost half said that they did not have the opportunity to apply it. None of them produced an exact definition of the PBL approach but referred to different aspects of it. Moreover, they mentioned that they will use the PBL approach after graduation. They had a positive attitude to this approach, and they believed that it is a useful approach in developing skills such as doing research, group work, and productivity. Conclusions and recommendations. The results of the research show that teacher candidates are familiar with the PBL approach, but their lack of skills and knowledge in managing it might cause them to have difficulties during their implementation process. In order to equip them with the required skills and information, more space should be left to PBL practices in their pedagogical courses so as to provide opportunities for them to use and apply this approach. In further research, a pedagogical course can be designed according to PBL, and its impact on teacher candidates can be investigated.

Examination of teacher candidates' achievement levels and views towards the routine and real life problems

The aim of this study is to examine teacher candidates' success in solving the routine problems and real life problems, and also to state their opinion concerning to this subject. It is a research which is designed in accordance with the mixed research method in which quantitative and qualitative research techniques are used together. The research handles 106 third grade teacher candidates who continue their education at Primary Education Department. While collecting the data, a ten item Problem Test and semi structured interview form were used. Research results reveal that although teacher candidates are quite successful in the stage of solving the routine problems, they are not successful enough to solve real life problems. Moreover, the findings acquired in the second sub-problem put forth clearly that the real life problems develop the interpretation technique of teacher candidates, lead them to think, facilitate their learning and are important elements for the period binding daily life to mathematics. At the third last sub-problem, it was asked the teacher candidates for their opinions concerning to place of real life problems in their occupational life. The teacher candidates stated that they may use such problems in their lessons constantly because most of them are enjoyable, related to daily life, develop high-level thinking skills.

The Implementation of High‐Leverage Teaching Practices: From the University Classroom to the Field Site

AbstractIn response to the ACTFL's Research Priorities Initiative, the present study used a multiple case study design to examine teacher candidates' ability to implement two high‐leverage teaching practices: increasing interaction and target language comprehensibility and questioning to build and assess student understanding. Candidates implemented these practices in K–12 foreign language classrooms following a practice‐based methodology course. Findings revealed that candidates could more easily translate some aspects of practice to the field site than others. Generally, teacher candidates scored better on aspects of practice for which they were able to plan and practice than on those that required them to vary from their lesson plans or make in‐the‐moment decisions. Teacher candidates struggled the most with aspects of practice that involved sustaining meaningful interaction with students.

Teacher candidates' perceptions of their learning and engagement in a writing methods course

In this paper we examine teacher candidates' perceptions of learning and learning opportunities in a semester-long course writing methods course. Results from this study indicate candidates felt they had developed understandings of writing, teacher practices, and themselves as writers. They also indicate that three factors fostered candidates' engagement in learning experiences: (1) learning across multiple activity settings, (2) interactions with peers, and (3) overlapping experiential learning roles as both teachers and writers. These factors provide a useful framework for planning and implementing learning activity in practice-focused teacher education. Other implications for teacher education programs, teacher educators, and researchers are discussed.

Öğretmen Adaylarının Ölçme ve Değerlendirmenin Gerekçesi ve Öğrenme Değişiminin Belirlenmesi Hakkındaki Kavramsal Anlamlandırmaları

AbstractDetermining the learning quality and the role of measurement and evaluation are accepted as part of the duties and responsibilities of teachers and operators in structured teaching programs. This qualitative case study research examined teacher candidates' conceptual understanding of the reasons for measurement and evaluation and for determining of the learning change to ascertain if trained teacher candidates met the required expectations. The study participants were determined using criteria sampling and consisted of 101 science teacher candidates. The data was collected using open ended questions, which were analyzed using content analysis. The research found that the teacher candidates' conceptual understanding as to the reasons for evaluation and determining the learning change were inadequate. It was found that the participants were unable to relate the measurement and evaluation purposes with learning change, arid that the understanding of the measurement and evaluation concepts aimed at determining the need for learning change did not coincide. The data suggested that there could be teacher training insufficiencies arid that the duties and responsi bititles of the new teaching programs encumbered the teachers. In this context, it was suggested that determ ini ng the learning changes by measurement and evaluation practices be emphasized during teacher training.KeywordsDetermining the Learning Change, Teacher Candidates, Measurement, Evaluation, Conceptual Understanding.Over the last five years the teaching programs in our country, which had been developed within the frame of the European Union adaptation standards, have been restructured with regard to learning areas and approaches. Newer teaching programs, therefore, have improved natures/structures (Kurnaz & Cepni, 2012; Milli Egitim Bakanligi [MEB], 2007; Ustun, Eryilmaz, & Gulyurdu, 2008). Therefore, teachers and the operators of teaching programs have new important responsibilities with regards to the areas of learning and approaches to the program (Ates et al., 2009; Gunes & Tasar, 2006; Serin & Kanli, 2008). This implies that teachers are expected to assimilate these renewed learning areas and approaches into their teaching, such as the constructivist learning approach which requires that learners take responsibility for their own learning progress while the teachers act as facilitators or guides (Cobern, 1993; Karamustafaoglu, Costu, & Ayas, 2005; Kurnaz & Calik, 2008, 2009; Mathews, 2000; Osborne & Wittrock, 1983).For science and technology teaching programs, teachers are required to carry out diagnostic, formative, and summative measurement and evaluation (Kumaz & Cepni, 2012). Therefore, there needs to be a change in the way teachers perceive the measurement and evaluation process in parallel with the new teaching programs, a process which is clearly stated in the teaching programs (see also MEB, 2006, 2013). The key features of the diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments are shown in Table 1.As shown in Figure 1, a teacher needs to first conduct a diagnostic assessment to determine a student's present knowledge. From the data obtained, a formative assessment is conducted to enable a deepening of the learning. Finally, a summative assessment is conducted to determine the student's acquisition, recognize the learning change, and identify learning gaps. What is new here is the need for the diagnostic assessment at the start of the learning process and determining the learning changes. As stated above, the diagnostic assessment is related to understanding the extent of a student's prior knowledge.According to Hailikari (2009), prior knowledge is used for (I) determining the student's level, (II) determining the class aims, and (III) designing the student learning environment. In recent research, it has been observed that students' prior knowledge level should be considered for determining learning change (Hake, 2002a, 2002b; Ladd & Walsh, 2012; Meltzer, 2002; Thompson, 2008; Zeilik, 2012). …

Teacher Candidates' Level of Concerns about Environment

This study aimed to examine teacher candidates’ levels of concerns about the environment. The study was composed as a survey model. The participants were 271 teacher candidates who are attending Faculty of Education at Gazi University. The Environmental Concern Scale, which was developed by the researcher, was used to gather data. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was found as .859. Data were analyzed via SPSS 18 by using t-test and ANOVA. The results of the study revealed that the concerns about the environment did not differentiate according to gender, age, geographical region, and department, whereas the variables of “knowledge about the environment” and “environmentally-sensitive behavior” were significant in determining the teachers candidates’ level of concerns about the environment. © 2014 IOJES. All rights reserved

Reconceptualizing "Special Education" Curriculum in a Bachelor of Education Program: Teacher Candidate Discourses and Teacher Educator Practices

This paper identifies dominant perceptions neophyte teachers have about students with special needs and/or identified as having a learning disability in order to reconceptualize curricula that may provide them with opportunities to critically deconstruct established notions and extend practices they make available for these students. This is accomplished by examining teacher candidates’ responses to surveys they completed before and after their Bachelor of Education program as well as during focus group interviews. The paper specifically addresses how instructional practices designed for teacher candidates in “special education” classes can ensure that they remain focused on a definition of disability that reinforces and reifies deficit-oriented perspectives of disability. The researchers’ processes and critical reflections are offered as a way of demonstrating how they we were implicated in replicating dominant discourses that universalize and fossilize disability. They also offer their attempts to revise curricula and their practices in ways that address this replication.

Writing Instruction for Teacher Candidates: Strengthening a Weak Curricular Area

In this case study, two teacher educators in literacy examined teacher candidates' (N = 24) learning of writing instruction across a three-course sequence of literacy methods. Data collected included a survey of candidates' knowledge of writing instruction, their formal observations of writing lessons in their student-teaching placements, a writing lesson co-constructed with a cooperating teacher during their final student-teaching placement, and structured reflections on the observations and lessons. The researchers found that little writing instruction occurred in the schools where teacher candidates were placed and that reading and reading skills dominated observed literacy instruction. Teacher candidates valued particular elements of process writing (focus on student needs, choice, scaffolding, student interest and engagement, and literacy skills). Lesson plans and reflections toward the end of the academic sequence demonstrated that teacher candidates' knowledge about writing instruction increased in complexity and that their beliefs and their practices were somewhat aligned. Implications for teacher education programs include a need to provide scaffolded and distributed instruction for new teachers in the area of writing instruction.

The Impact of Visual Frameworks on Teacher Candidates’ Professional Reflection

This study examined teacher candidates’ reflections about the use of two graphic organizers referenced in their teacher education program. Fourteen themes were identified relating to teacher candidates’ instructional focus; awareness of the value of the organizers to improve focus on their students’ learning, growth, and independence with instructional tasks; and their focus on professional growth. Data from this study provides information to allow future comparison of teacher candidates’ diversity in reflections with their teaching evaluations. Connections with brain development are identified to support the use of complex graphic organizers in professional contexts for teachers.

Investigating Teacher Candidates’ Mentoring of Students at Risk of Academic Failure: A Canadian Experiential Field Model

In this study, the authors explore a Canadian field experience model in a bachelor of education program that focuses on mentor‐based relationships between teacher candidates and students at risk of dropping out of high school. They examine teacher candidates’ and at‐risk students’ attitudinal approaches. The model emphasizes praxis and social justice, and the authors argue that it would benefit from a greater emphasis on critical literacy theory. Data were collected through triangulation of Ministry of Education documents, a literature review, program coordinators’ informal reflections and field notes, and interviews. Interview participants were two teacher candidates, three at‐risk students, and three Student Success teachers. The mentoring improved human relations and attendance more than grades for the at‐risk students. The results indicate that at‐risk students feel individually empowered through the mentor‐based model and teacher candidates demonstrate insights into their mentoring relationships.

Learning to Teach: Teacher Candidates Reflect on the Relational, Conceptual, and Contextual Influences of Responsive Mentorship

Using interviews, focus groups, and observations, I examined teacher candidates’ experiences with their mentoring teachers over two student teaching periods. Using Feiman‐Nemser and Rosaen’s (1997) mentorship model of guiding teacher learning, I investigated the relational, conceptual, and contextual aspects of the student teaching experience. Results suggest that opportunities to question teaching practices as well as co‐ planning and co‐teaching with associates supported the development of self‐reflection and educational philosophies. Data suggest that mentor beliefs and pressures to maintain board and provincial standardized curriculum reforms prevented teacher candidates from exploring social justice, constructivist, and inquiry‐oriented pedagogies.

A study of alternative English teacher certification practices in Turkey

For several years the number of teachers trained in several subject areas through regular teacher education programs in Turkey has been insufficient to meet the demands in the country. As a result, to combat teacher shortages in many subjects alternative routes to teacher certification have been sought. Here we examine teacher candidates' perspectives of some of these practices. The participants in this examination comprised 140 senior undergraduate students in the English teaching program in a Faculty of Education in Ankara. Almost all participants believed that the teacher candidates who go through alternative routes to become teachers of English do so because they seek employment and this is the last resort. The study highlights the fact that it is critical to pursue educational planning if we are to improve quality in education.