Field Experience Course Research Articles

Enhancing Preservice Teachers' Self-Efficacy for Teaching Diverse Learners: Capturing Young Students' Attention through a Read-a-loud and Music

Abstract: The sense of efficaciousness for engaging diverse learners was examined with twenty-four pre-service teachers concurrently enrolled in a junior-level Creative Arts methods course and a field experience course with placements in K-2 general education classrooms. The pre-service teachers participated in music and literacy activities in their university class, then planned and implemented standards-based music activities in literacy lessons with their young students. In this case study, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, including a teacher self-efficacy scale, an attitude survey, written reflections, interviews, open-ended responses, and lesson plans. Results demonstrated a significant increase in the pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in pre-post ratings analysis and indicated that this project contributed to their efficacy for engaging and meeting needs of diverse learners in the elementary classrooms. The pre-service teachers demonstrated proactive classroom management and reflected upon their students’ increased focus in class. The pre-service teachers indicated that their success with these types of projects encouraged them to plan for similar implementation with their future diverse learners; therefore, providing potential to positively impact their future performance. Additionally, this project emanated Scholarship of Teaching and Learning by encouraging self-reflection; examining and applying effective teaching strategies; and advancing the field of teacher education.
 Keywords: self-efficacy, preservice teachers, creative arts, diverse learners, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Fostering Resilience in Experiential Learning Courses

A focus on resilience in experiential education provides students in pre-professional programs opportunities to reflect upon their experiences as interns while also supporting their mental health and professional growth. Faculty must help students to identify strategies to manage stress and develop professional norms needed to thrive in a variety of work environments – whether in-person, hybrid, or remote. Capstone internship experiences offer an ideal setting to help students develop practical skills to support their personal and professional growth and identify their personal values and priorities. Field experience courses can foster student resilience by incorporating time for student journaling and reflection into all class meetings, encouraging students to identify strategies to forge a healthy work-life balance, and focusing on professional socialization by curating their online presence and mastering online collaborative tools such as Microsoft Teams that are vital elements of hybrid and remote work settings.

E-Mentoring Student Researchers through an Undergraduate Field Experience Course - Lessons Learned

This paper is written by a mentor and mentee pair, sharing experiences from both perspectives. The mentor is an American independent public health researcher currently located in Gaza, Palestine. Her research focuses on Islam and Health, Muslim health, E-mentoring and remote research. The mentee, who co-wrote this paper, was a student in Rhode Island, USA, in a fieldwork experience course. In this paper, the pair reflected on their research e-mentoring experience and offer insights for future research mentor-mentee pairs. This paper is split into 4 sections: (1) the benefits of e-mentoring; (2) lessons learned, and policies developed; (3) effective e-mentoring tools and systems, such as the weekly meeting call notes system; e-mentoring internship syllabus agreement, mentee research orientation, and maximizing Google Workspace; and (4) tips from a mentee. One unexpected benefit to being matched with an international mentor, was being exposed to a religion (Islam) and culture (Middle Eastern) she had not been previously exposed to. While forced to remote online work during the pandemic, the authors conclude that e-mentoring offers an effective means to conduct global research, while offering a unique method for cultural or religious awareness. Therefore e-mentoring should be further explored and promoted beyond the pandemic.

Evaluating Preservice Teachers' Performance in a Blended Field Experience Course During the Quarantine of COVID-19

Evaluating Preservice Teachers' Performance in a Blended Field Experience Course During the Quarantine of COVID-19

Early childhood practicum students’ perceptions and experiences of a remote directed fieldwork course during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Early childhood (EC) education has usually involved in-person teaching and learning. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed remote teaching on EC practitioners and complicated practicum students’ fieldwork experiences. This study explored EC practicum students’ fieldwork experiences in the U.S. during the pandemic and their preparedness for online teaching and technology employment and integration. Participants included 28 students enrolled in Directed Field Experience in Spring 2021. A mixed-methods approach incorporating multiple sources of data, including reflection papers, interviews, and questionnaires, was used. The findings showed that the EC practicum students changed their perceptions of and attitudes toward a remote field experience course and online teaching with young children over the semester. Additionally, EC practicum students’ challenges and professional and academic growth were evident in their reporting. These findings have implications for the development of effective strategies for alleviating EC practicum students’ challenges, facilitating their professional growth, and providing resources to integrate digital technology in their teaching in developmentally appropriate ways.

A Field Experience without the Field: A Reflective Self-study of Teaching an Elementary Science Field Experience Online During a Pandemic

Teaching a field experience course during a pandemic resulted in unique challenges because preservice teachers could not visit classrooms like they would in a traditional field experience. This article is a self-study exploration of the tensions experienced by a doctoral student teaching an elementary math and science field experience in a fully online setting during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. To substitute for a lack of available elementary school children, preservice teacher acted as substitutes for children during lesson rehearsals. Preservice teachers were usually poor substitutes for actual children when evaluating the extent to which the pandemic field experience mimicked traditional field experience. Instructional videos were frequently used in an attempt to provide meaningful opportunities for preservice teachers to engage in classroom practices. The perceived usefulness of instructional videos by preservice videos varied based on the type of video that was used.

Noticing Student Mathematical Thinking: Self-Contemplation of a Pre-Service Teacher

This study focused on a pre-service teacher’s self-contemplations about the two opportunities provided in a field experience course, Formative Assessment Interviews (FAIs) and Model Building (MB), which were designed to support pre-service teachers developing the skills of noticing students’ mathematical thinking. In the field experience, pre-service teachers conducted FAIs with a pair of children and participated in MB sessions to hypothesize students’ mathematical thinking. The findings suggest that although the pre-service teacher, Gloria, experienced some challenges, FAIs and MBs created a supportive medium for the pre-service teacher’s development of noticing student thinking and appreciating the value of this practice, which is important to gain in teacher education.

Experiences of School Counselor Trainees in Group Supervision During Practicum: A Phenomenological Study

In this phenomenological study, we explored experience of students (N=6) in group supervision within a practicum field experience course. Using a narrative-focused approach for data analysis and interpretation of journal entries, were created a thematic structure of the participants’ lived experiences using the Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ). Discussion and implications of this journal writing activity are offered to help reveal and understand the instructional effectiveness of a field practicum counseling course.

Experiences of School Counselor Trainees in Group Supervision During Practicum: A Phenomenological Study

In this phenomenological study, we explored experience of students (N=6) in group supervision within a practicum field experience course. Using a narrative-focused approach for data analysis and interpretation of journal entries, were created a thematic structure of the participants’ lived experiences using the Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ). Discussion and implications of this journal writing activity are offered to help reveal and understand the instructional effectiveness of a field practicum counseling course.

Subjects-in-Process/ on-Trial: The Construction of Teacher Subjects in an Early Field Experience Course

Increased standardization of teacher education programs urges a reconsideration of how pre-service teacher identities are constructed/being constructed and evaluated. The purpose of my study was to examine the writings of pre-service teachers enrolled in an early field experiences course in order to identify moments in which they interacted, negotiated, and subverted the teacher-making process, which they officially enter during the semester they take this course. I approach this question from a philosophical viewpoint, and I use the theories of French post-structuralist, Julia Kristeva. My analysis of pre-service teachers enrolled in an early field experience course illustrates how their language disrupts the standardized language and expectations of a teacher education program.

Preservice teachers’ perceptions of science integration into secondary agriculture classrooms

After completing a 40-hour field experience course, 26 preservice teachers participated in interviews about their experiences observing science integration in secondary agriculture classrooms. Based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory, researchers analyzed interview transcripts for preservice teachers’ descriptions of perceived preparedness to integrate science into agricultural education programs based on personal, environmental, and behavioral determinants. Findings indicated the integration of science concepts were reliant upon participants’ perceived integration ability, importance of science knowledge, consequences of science integration, application of hands-on learning, practical application of science in agriculture, and the influence of colleague collaboration on the learning environment. From their observations, preservice teachers cited specific instances of academic science concepts relating to agriculture, which they perceived as an applied science. While natural ties to biology and chemistry appeared in classroom lessons, preservice teachers held a belief that agricultural education is a unique practical context for learning and integration of science, but too much science integration is seen as a threat to agricultural education. Many preservice teachers noted the environment surrounding their future agricultural classrooms will play a large role in how they integrate science. Future research should further investigate how behavioral, personal, and environmental factors influence science integration.

Content and Pedagogical Knowledge of Prospective Teachers in Mathematics Learning: Commognitive Framework

The purpose of this research was to describe the content and pedagogical knowledge skills of prospective teacher in learning mathematics from a commognitive perspective. This type of research is qualitative research. The subjects of this study were the 7th-semester students of mathematics education at Madura University who were taking a Field Experience (PPL) course. Students do teaching and recording is done in the form of video recordings. Teaching video recordings were analyzed by researchers to observe the ability of pedagogical and content knowledge of prospective teacher from a commognitive perspective. Data analysis in this study is inductive, that is an analysis based on data obtained, researchers present the data that has been reduced which then concludes. In this study, there are fundamental differences in the commognitive components of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge of prospective teacher. All commognitive components both word use, visual mediator, routine and narrative occur in the content knowledge of prospective teacher in the learning process.The narrative component in commognitive emphasizes more on the knowledge content of prospective teacher, this is the finding of this study.

A Head-Start to Teaching

This study explored the experiences of pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, cooperating teachers, and university collaborators in a structured early field experience course. Qualitative methodology including data sources of interviews, observations, focus groups, audio and video recordings were used. The results of the study indicated that the exposure of pre-service teachers into real school contexts provided them with the necessary foundations of becoming reflective practitioners. The benefits of the structured early field experiences outweighed the challenges. Early field experiences are critical in forming the pre-service teacher beliefs and philosophies of pre-service teachers, so they should be designed carefully to meet their needs.

Creating scientific dialogue through social media: exploration of Saudi pre-service science teachers

ABSTRACTBackground: This study explored how Saudi Arabian pre-service science teachers’ (PST) use of social media (SM) creates scientific dialogue.Design and method: Data were collected via (a) in-depth interviews with eight science PSTs completing their practice teaching during a field experience course (2017 academic year at a Saudi Arabia Eastern province university), (b) focus groups with 21 female science students being taught by the PSTs, and (c) an analysis of SM artifacts (i.e. PST’s students’ Tweets and Snapchat comments about their SM-based science homework).Results: Findings from content analyses indicate that the PSTs overwhelmingly perceived SM-based science teaching as providing their students with opportunities to pose critical questions, improve science learning, and engage in scientific dialogue and argumentation. Students welcomed the SM-based science learning, saying it excited them, made them want to learn science and helped with collaborative science learning. The majority (87%) of PST’s students expressed an interest in using SM to engage with science concepts. Also, findings affirmed that social media serve as mediating agents for reaching students in their learning Zone of Proximal Development; that is, SM-scaffolded science learning. The findings are considered in terms of further pre-service science teacher education and Saudi-based educational research.

Using e-learning in pre-service English teacher education in Chinese fourth-tier cities: An exploratory study

Nowadays, e learnin g is widely adopted in all education sectors, but different teachers utilize differentstrategies to teach their students. In the field of teacher education, views on the ways in which e learning can beused are also varied. It is worth exploring how to im plement e learning in courses and how student teachers canapply the e learning strategies they learned during their own field experience courses. A better understanding ofthe current practice will not only help teacher educators and student teachers to u nderstand relevant pedagogicalapproaches in regard to e learning, but will also enable student teachers to learn how to use appropriate e learningstrategies in their classes. This study explores the e learning strategies adopted in teacher education cour ses forpre service English teachers in mainland China, with a focus on Chinese fourth tier cities. A total of 475 studentteachers were involved and a mixed method research approach was adopted. Both qualitative and quantitativedata were collected via qu estionnaires and interviews. The findings can enhance the current understanding of thecommon strategies used in e learning in English pre service teacher education courses in Chinese fourth tier cities.We also give some suggestions for better future e le arning pedagogical approaches.

Early Field Experience Course Students’ Perceptions of School-based Agricultural Education Laboratory Environments

Laboratory instruction is an important component of school-based agricultural education (SBAE) programs (Phipps, Osborne, Dyer, & Ball, 2008). Early field experience (EFE) coursework can be an important component of agricultural teacher preparation programs (Retallick & Miller, 2007). Through the use of a modified photovoice technique, we sought to identify the perceptions of students (i.e., preservice teachers) enrolled in an EFE course in relation to the laboratory environment component of the SBAE model. Students enrolled in a 40-hour EFE course photographed a laboratory environment at their placement site and completed a 250-word descriptive/reflective summary of the laboratory. Through open coding of the summaries, three prominent themes emerged: 1) project-based learning is widely used for instructional purposes; 2) laboratory environments are set up and arranged in particular fashions based on needs; and 3) laboratory environments are arranged as settings for effective learning. Within the photographs, the agricultural mechanics laboratory was most commonly identified as a laboratory environment. The EFE students identified laboratory environments are not always traditional in their scope, and classrooms can serve as laboratory environments. We recommend photovoice be further used as a tool to explore students’ perceptions of the realities of modern SBAE programs.

The classroom observation protocol for socioscientific issue-based instruction: development and implementation of a new research tool

Background: For the past decade, science educators have been exploring the use of Socio-scientific Issues (SSI) as contexts for science teaching and learning, and research indicates that doing so can support significant learning gains. However, research related to how teachers take up the practice of SSI-based instruction is far more limited, due in part to a lack of tools for use in this kind of research.Purpose: The focus of this research is development and testing of a new classroom observation protocol specifically designed for SSI-based instructional contexts.Design and methods: Development of this SSI-Observation Protocol (SSI-OP) took place in four distinct phases: review of existing protocols and SSI-based instruction frameworks, writing and revision of protocol items, initial testing of the draft protocol, and soliciting feedback from SSI experts.Sample: Following the four stages of SSI-OP development, we progressed to a series of field tests. The field tests were conducted with three different samples. The first sample was an experienced (10 + years) high school biology teacher and one of her honors biology classes. The second sample consisted of seven Turkish Pre-service Science Teachers (PST) participating in a science methods course. The third sample included two Thai PST from a field experience course embedded within a teacher education program.Results: The final version of the protocol addressed five dimensions of SSI-based instructional activities: focus of instruction, teaching moves, role of teacher, role of students, and classroom environment.Conclusions: The SSI-OP could be used in a variety of ways for research including documentation of current practices, impacts of professional development and/or curricula on teaching practices, and changes in teaching over time. We offer the SSI-OP as a new tool with the potential to contribute to science teacher education and research that may advance the teaching and learning of science through SSI.

Relationships between Learning Styles, Perceived Advantages of Online Collaborative Learning and Practical Knowledge in Teaching among Taiwanese Student Teachers

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the three learning styles (collaborative, competitive, and individualistic) on the perceived advantage of collaborative learning (PAoCL) and practical knowledge in teaching (PKiT) among Taiwanese student teachers in an online collaborative environment. This study built a Facebook Group and developed the tasks of collaborative learning based on field-experience courses. The participants were required to share various practical experiences as the collaborative learning tasks. A total of 100 student teachers who enrolled in field-based courses between August 2016 and January 2017 participated in this study and were required to complete a validated survey in January 2017. This study determined the relationships between the three learning styles and PAoCL and PKiT and further identified predictors of online collaborative learning. The collaborative learning style of student teachers was positively associated with their PAoCL, while competitive learning style was correlated with their PKiT. Accordingly, teacher educators can encourage student teachers to share experiences about teaching practices during participating in field-experience courses through online collaboration. However, teacher educators should remind the student teachers to transfer the online information into PKiT.

Students' Perceptions of School-Based Agricultural Education Through an Initial Early Field Experience

The purpose of this study was to identify the perception of students enrolled in an initial early field experience (EFE) in relation to the components of the agricultural education model. The students enrolled in the initial field experience were freshmen and sophomore students. The initial field experience course consisted of four face-to-face class meetings and a 12-hour initial field experience observation. Students’ photographed their perceptions of each component in the agricultural education model (classroom, SAE, FFA). The coding of reflective captions led to themes in three areas of the agricultural education model: (a) classroom themes were active learning, collaboration and facilities, (b) FFA themes were activities and opportunities, and (c) SAE themes were school based projects, awards/degrees, and the smallest circle. Overall, the EFE students used their photographs and descriptions to describe the learner-centered nature of the program. The EFE students described how the three components of the agricultural education model worked together to help school-based agricultural education (SBAE) students gain knowledge and experience. It is recommended that teacher educators incorporate photovoice in EFE programs to facilitate discussion of the initial perceptions of students.

Using Design-Based Research to Develop Meaningful Online Discussions in Undergraduate Field Experience Courses

<p class="3">From a design perspective, the intentionality of students to engage in surface or deep learning is often experienced through prescribed activities and learning tasks. Educators understand that meaningful learning can be furthered through the structural and organizational design of the online environment that motivates the student towards task completion. However, learning engagement is unique for each student. It is dependent on both how students learn and their intentions for learning. Based on this challenge, the design of online discussions becomes a pedagogical means in developing students’ intentionality for the adoption of strategies leading to deep learning. Through a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach, iterative design of online learning components for undergraduate field experience courses were studied. For this paper, the focus of the research is on examining factors that influenced deep and surface levels of learning in online discussion forums. The results indicate that design factors (i.e., student engagement, group structures, and organization) influence the nature and degree of deep learning. From the findings, two implications for practice are shared to inform the design and scaffolding of online discussion forums to foster deep approaches to student learning.</p>