German Pre-service Teachers Research Articles

Preservice Biology Teachers’ Beliefs About Evidence-Based Medicine and Alternative Medicine

AbstractHealth-related discussions in society and the media—specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic—showed that individuals are confronted with Alternative Medicine and Evidence-Based Medicine. When making reflective decisions about these treatments, both knowledge and beliefs are important. Previous research with preservice biology teachers has shown that they commonly use Alternative Medicine, although they have little knowledge about it. To date, systematic studies on preservice biology teachers’ beliefs about Alternative Medicine and Evidence-Based Medicine are lacking. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, the present study elicited German (N = 40) preservice biology teachers’ beliefs about these treatments via an open-ended questionnaire. Behavioral, normative, and control beliefs were categorized using qualitative content analysis. The results showed that the participants mentioned the efficacy, scientificity, and safety of treatments as important beliefs. For Alternative Medicine, beliefs were related to scientific evidence for its efficacy, naturalness and mild effects. These beliefs indicate that some preservice biology teachers do not have a clear understanding of Evidence-Based Medicine and Alternative Medicine, which can influence their decision-making. The results highlight the need to incorporate Alternative Medicine and Evidence-Based Medicine into health-related decision-making within biology education and biology teacher education and provide a basis for further research.

Diagnostic and Feedback Behavior of German Pre-Service Teachers Regarding Argumentative Pupils’ Texts in Geography Education

The study sheds light on the importance of diagnostic and feedback skills regarding argumentative pupils’ texts for (prospective) teachers and the current state of research in this area. The importance of argumentation in geography education is undisputed, as geographical problems often require multi-layered solutions that can be analyzed, assessed and reflected upon by teachers and pupils through argumentation skills. Nevertheless, research findings reveal that both teachers and pupils often have limited argumentation skills, which poses a challenge for both. The present study investigates the attitudes and practices of prospective geography teachers regarding the diagnosis of and feedback on pupils’ argumentative texts. Using a qualitative research design, twenty German pre-service teachers of geography were interviewed about their diagnostic and feedback experiences and asked to analyze and provide feedback on an argumentative pupil text. The results were evaluated using qualitative content analysis. In addition, a theoretical model for diagnosis was developed, which was used to analyze the pre-service teachers’ diagnostic behavior. The criteria used by the pre-service teachers to evaluate the argumentative pupils’ text were examined. The results show that the diagnosis often lacks the exploration of causes and the deduction of consequences, and that only a few subject-specific criteria were taken into account in the text assessment. In addition, the feedback was generally more positive than the diagnosis itself. The results offer insights into the design of diagnostic and feedback processes in geography education and provide impulses for (higher) education teaching and future research.

Influence of the Type of Mathematical Problems on Students’ and Pre-service Teachers’ Interest and Performance. A Replication and Elaboration Study

Influence of the Type of Mathematical Problems on Students’ and Pre-service Teachers’ Interest and Performance. A Replication and Elaboration Study

What you think is what you feel: Immigration-related value beliefs predict emotional exhaustion in pre-service teachers

Cultural diversity has recently been discussed as a potential stressor for teachers. The present study contributes to this discussion by examining the role of cultural diversity in the development of emotional exhaustion among teachers. Using the teacher stress model as a framework, we investigated if working conditions, such as cultural diversity (1), value beliefs, such as cultural beliefs or stereotypes towards students with an immigration background (2), and perceived professional competence, such as teaching experience and self-efficacy (3), predict emotional exhaustion. The data comes from a longitudinal study with 291 German pre-service mathematics teachers (M = 9.5 month). Results from robust multiple regression analyses showed no relation between cultural diversity and emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion was significantly predicted by prior emotional exhaustion, frequent class disruptions, and large classes. Regarding cultural beliefs, participants with more stereotypes towards students with an immigration background experienced a higher level of emotional exhaustion, whereas the actual cultural diversity in their class had no impact. Contrary to our hypotheses, no effect was found for cultural beliefs. Taken together, our results suggest that it is not cultural diversity per se that leads to emotional exhaustion but evaluative processes of seeing students with an immigration background as burden that reflect beginning teachers' stereotypes. Practical implications are that teacher training should aim to reduce candidates' stereotypes towards students with an immigration background and allow more hands-on teaching experience.

Revisiting effects of teacher characteristics on physiological and psychological stress: a virtual reality study

Identifying personal characteristics associated with teachers’ stress is a longstanding research goal with important implications for practice. The present work revisits the effects of individual characteristics in terms of neuroticism, classroom management self-efficacy, and cognitive (reasoning) abilities on stress using virtual reality (VR). Relying on a sample of 56 German pre-service teachers (Mage = 22.73, SDage = 4.93; 50.9% females), we capitalized on a VR classroom environment that allowed the integration of experimental control and authentic teaching situations, where pre-service teachers responded to the disruptive behaviors of the student avatars. We focused on stress responses in terms of psychological stress (self-reported stress) assessed after the VR session, and physiological stress (heart rate) assessed during the VR session. A total of 30 (26) participants was assigned to a condition with higher (lower) levels of disruptive student behavior, referred to as higher and lower complexity condition, respectively. Results from linear mixed-effects models revealed that neuroticism positively predicted psychological and physiological stress responses in pre-service teachers, whereas classroom management self-efficacy and cognitive (reasoning) abilities were not significantly related to stress responses. Level of complexity and the interaction between complexity and individual characteristics did not have an effect. This study underlines the value of VR as a tool for psychological research and contributes to existing knowledge on teacher characteristics and stress.

Investigating U.S. and German pre-service teachers’ beliefs regarding digital technology

ABSTRACT Based on different educational policies around the world, pre-service teachers are expected to use digital technology in their future teaching in school. However, to do this successfully, they need knowledge, skills and appropriate beliefs regarding utilising digital technology in learning scenarios. Thus, this study explores pre-service teachers’ beliefs regarding current digital technologies in their learning and future teaching. 232 pre-service teachers from Germany and the US participated in the comparative study and responded to the Digital Technologies Survey. The results show that overall pre-service teachers’ beliefs regarding digital technology in learning and teaching are on a moderate level. However, significant differences were seen between pre-service teachers from Germany and the US. For US pre-service teachers, digital technology seems more important and helpful for their current learning and future teaching than for German pre-service teachers. The same can be seen for self-assessed competence. The results and further implications are discussed.

Using different acceptance measures: The interplay of evolution acceptance, evolution understanding, and religious belief among German preservice biology teachers, secondary school students, and creationists

AbstractEvolution understanding is often positively connected with magnitudes of evolution acceptance, whereas religiosity mostly interferes negatively. However, comparisons between studies and countries must be treated cautiously due to the diversity of used instruments and samples. This study aims to generate new evidence concerning the interplay of evolution acceptance, evolution understanding, and religious belief by comparing the results of preservice biology teachers, school students, and self‐identified creationists answering several acceptance instruments (i.e., ATEVO, GAENE, I‐SEA, and MATE) while using the same measurement for understanding and belief. Results of our regression analysis indicate that belief and understanding were significant predictors but often diminished after including the interaction term of belief and understanding. When gender is included in the model, this variable is often significant. The interaction term of belief and understanding was only significant for two instruments in the group of school students. For the creationists, gender appeared as the essential term. While relationship patterns of preservice biology teachers seldom seem to be impacted by the choice of acceptance instruments (at least in correlations and regressions using only belief and understanding), this is not true for our school students and creationists. Our findings indicate that the magnitude of understanding may not mutually be the exclusive factor for (non‐)acceptance. Other factors, such as gender or religiosity, might be more prominent in people's attitudes toward (controversial) topics. Our study creates new insights into the interplay of acceptance, understanding, and belief, and we encourage researchers to carefully consider their choice of instruments.

Acceptance of artificial intelligence among pre-service teachers: a multigroup analysis

Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI)-based educational applications in education. As pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards educational technology that utilizes AI have a potential impact on the learning outcomes of their future students, it is essential to know more about pre-service teachers’ acceptance of AI. The aims of this study are (1) to discover what factors determine pre-service teachers’ intentions to utilize AI-based educational applications and (2) to determine whether gender differences exist within determinants that affect those behavioral intentions. A sample of 452 pre-service teachers (325 female) participated in a survey at one German university. Based on a prominent technology acceptance model, structural equation modeling, measurement invariance, and multigroup analysis were carried out. The results demonstrated that eight out of nine hypotheses were supported; perceived ease of use (β = 0.297***) and perceived usefulness (β = 0.501***) were identified as primary factors predicting pre-service teachers’ intention to use AI. Furthermore, the latent mean differences results indicated that two constructs, AI anxiety (z = − 3.217**) and perceived enjoyment (z = 2.556*), were significantly different by gender. In addition, it is noteworthy that the paths from AI anxiety to perceived ease of use (p = 0.018*) and from perceived ease of use to perceived usefulness (p = 0.002**) are moderated by gender. This study confirms the determinants influencing the behavioral intention based on the Technology Acceptance Model 3 of German pre-service teachers to use AI-based applications in education. Furthermore, the results demonstrate how essential it is to address gender-specific aspects in teacher education because there is a high percentage of female pre-service teachers, in general. This study contributes to state of the art in AI-powered education and teacher education.

Preservice teachers’ professional beliefs in relation to global social change: Findings from Finland and Germany

This article presents empirical findings on orientations that guide Finnish and German preservice teachers’ professional action in the face of global social change. Drawing on group discussions interpreted with documentary method, the findings show that education under the conditions of global social change is discussed in relation to four thematic categories: the self in the world-relation, culture, social change and teaching praxis, each of which are connected to five distinctively different types of orientations. The findings shed light on how preservice teachers see themselves as change makers, and the importance of addressing each of these four perspectives in teacher education.

Do societal and individual multilingualism lead to positive perceptions of multilingualism and language learning? A comparative study with Australian and German pre-service teachers

Many metropolitan cities have undergone rapid demographic changes in recent years, and such changes hasten and widen linguistic diversities. Similar changes are happening in Sydney, Australia and Hamburg, Germany. These changes are most acutely felt and observed in the classrooms where multiple languages are spoken, despite a prevalent monolingual mindset in education in both these contexts. What do pre-service teachers think of language learning and multilingualism in the face of demographic and sociolinguistic changes? This is a particularly urgent question for pre-service teachers, whose perspectives on multilingualism will considerably influence on how their students view language learning and maintenance. Based on a survey of 436 pre-service teachers in Sydney and Hamburg, this comparative study explores the relationship between their linguistic profiles (monolingual, multilingual and how they become multilinguals) and the way they perceive societal multilingualism and the need to promote multilingual education to all. The findings suggest that formal language education, more than heritage backgrounds and knowledge, provided the necessary experience to foster a more open attitude towards societal multilingualism and language learning.

“I wish I could say, ‘Yeah, both the same’”: Cultural stereotypes and individual differentiations of preservice teachers about different low socioeconomic origins

Previous studies have shown that (preservice) teachers have more negative stereotypes toward students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds than toward students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. School-specific studies on different low socioeconomic origins have been non-existent so far. Evidence collected in non-school settings shows that welfare recipients are stereotyped more negatively than the working poor. This mixed methods study therefore surveyed cultural stereotypes and individual constructions of difference concerning the working poor and welfare recipients by German preservice teachers. In the quantitative study (N = 196), more stereotypes were mentioned in relation to welfare recipients than to the working poor, and more negative and fewer positive stereotypes were mentioned in relation to welfare recipients. In addition to social status, the individual characteristics (e.g., commitment) of welfare recipients were more frequently stereotyped negatively than those of the working poor. In the qualitative interview study (N = 10), preservice teachers reported that the general public perceives welfare recipients more negatively than the working poor. Preservice teachers who obtain their information about welfare recipients from public perception attributed individual failure (e.g., low commitment) as the cause for welfare recipients and structural failure (e.g., incorrect decisions by policy-makers) as the cause for the working poor. Other preservice teachers disagreed with the negative public perception based on personal experience and described welfare recipients as only being in a worse social position than the working poor. The results of the mixed methods study reveal the need to distinguish between different low socioeconomic origins in future stereotype studies.

German Preservice Teachers’ Stances on Criteria for Discussing Controversial Issues in the Classroom

In times of increasing political polarization, the question of how teachers deal with controversial issues in their classrooms becomes more important than ever. Rejection, avoidance, or an overtly neutral stance on different positions on these issues can be detrimental to democratic education. In this study, we examine preservice teachers’ stances on different criteria for discussing controversial issues in their prospective classrooms and propose a specification of the approach of balancing different views on controversial issues that we call “committed balancing”: a form of balancing that avoids according equal weight or importance to fundamentally unequal positions. To examine different stances that preservice teachers hold on controversy, we used a convenience sample of 162 German preservice teachers to develop the foundation for a standardized instrument that can be used to detect different ideas about the limits to controversial classroom discussions. We analyzed interviews with a subset of respondents to further examine their ideas about controversial issues in their future classroom practice. We found evidence of different strategies of (not) dealing with controversial issues as well as an emerging strategy of committed balancing. Our findings have practical implications for teachers and teacher educators in addressing controversial topics in the classroom. We suggest that “committed balancing” should be considered as a guide for how to approach these issues.

Aquaculture: How German Preservice Teachers’ Perception Interacts with Values, Knowledge, and Conceptions of Environmental Concern When Making Purchasing Decisions

Responsibly using resources is an essential goal of the 2030 agenda. An overall need for 180 tonnes of fish per year is pushing the limits of sustainable fishing. Teachers can focus on this topic to enhance the environmental awareness of sustainability issues in learners (e.g., sustainable consumption, production, and supporting sustainable judgements). For this purpose, we developed a questionnaire on the topic of aquaculture using LimeSurvey and administered this survey to preservice teachers. The survey contained five open questions relating to aquaculture terms, a semantic differential with 14 adjective pairs that concern the interest in and usefulness of aquacultures; the environmental motives scale to determine the environmental concern of the teachers, and a self-developed set of items on systems—consumption knowledge, and social influence. Individuals in the target group (n = 158) indicated that they thought aquaculture products were rather useless and uninteresting, and they purchased them less. The results showed that the participants mostly correctly defined the aquaculture terms, but an overall understanding of system- and consumption-related knowledge, for example, was missing. Aquaculture seems to be associated more with profit than with nutrition or environmental concerns. We illustrate a possible barrier to the communication of less-familiar issues in society.

Pre-service teachers’ ability to identify academic language features: the role of language-related opportunities to learn, and professional beliefs about linguistically responsive teaching

In order to reduce language-related disparities in educational attainment, teaching standards in many (Western) countries nowadays request teachers of all subjects and grades to focus on their students’ academic language development: Especially second language learners and socioeconomically disadvantaged students need continuous and systematic language support (linguistically responsive teaching) in order not to be left behind. To be able to act accordingly, (prospective) teachers need to acquire pedagogical language knowledge and develop positive beliefs about linguistically responsive teaching practices. Our cross-sectional survey among German pre-service teachers (n = 115) shows that – despite positive beliefs towards linguistically responsive teaching – hardly any of the participants had acquired a solid knowledge base in the area of educational linguistics: The majority could not identify a substantial amount of academic language features (known to be challenging especially for second language learners) in a content-specific explanatory text. This ability, however, is the basis for planning and carrying out linguistically responsive lessons. Although latent profile analyses show differences among the participants, many of them did not have opportunities to learn in the area of linguistic diversity during their studies. The results give rise to the question whether and how pedagogical language knowledge could become compulsory in teacher training.

EXPERIENCES THAT SHAPE THE DEVELOPMENT OF INCLUSIVE INSTRUCTION IN PRESERVICE TEACHERS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

Preservice teacher education programs are vital in teachers’ development of instructional practices for inclusive classrooms. In previous research, preservice teachers in Canada had higher scores on measures of experience with people with disabilities when compared to those in Germany. The current study investigated the proposition that differences existed because of experiences of inclusion in the respective countries. Participants were 18 Canadian preservice teachers from faculties of education in Ontario, Canada and 29 German preservice teachers from a Bavarian university. A Group Concept Mapping (GCM) technique was employed. Both groups identified Practicum Experiences, Education Program, Past Jobs, and Personal Life Experiences as contributing to the development of their inclusive practice. Only the Canadian sample identified Mentoring Relationships and Professional Development. Differences and similarities in teacher education programs are highlighted as possible contributors to the differences in Canadian and German preservice teachers’ perceptions of experiences useful for shaping their instructional practice.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0946/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Pre-service Chemistry Teachers’ Views about the Tentative and Durable Nature of Scientific Knowledge

With regard to current controversial public discussions about the credibility of scientific knowledge, it seems particularly important that students possess adequate ideas about the tentativeness of scientific knowledge, which is a key aspect of nature of science. However, international studies show that many pre-service science teachers tend to have naïve conceptions about the tentativeness and these conceptions turn out to be resistant to change. So far, no research was done, on the conceptions of German pre-service chemistry teachers about tentativeness. Therefore, two empirical, qualitative research studies were conducted. The first study with 50 participants was to investigate, which conceptions about tentativeness German pre-service chemistry teachers possess, what the origins of these conceptions are and if they are resistant to change. In a second study with 56 participants, it was examined how a more adequate and functional understanding could be promoted. Data were collected by using different methods, such as open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The participants’ views about tentativeness were assigned to different categories. Results show that most participants held inconsistent or only partially informed views on tentativeness. The views turn out to be resistant to change, and many participants are not able to explain their ideas. And if so, their explanations are mostly restricted to scientific theories. Additionally, dealing with tentativeness unsettles some participants. To promote an adequate understanding, new approaches were developed, like the BlackTube activity. Additionally, instructions should focus on the durability of scientific knowledge. Furthermore, a differentiated reflection on different types of scientific knowledge seems necessary.

“Good Foreign Language Teachers Pay Attention to Heterogeneity”: Conceptualizations of Differentiation and Effective Teaching Practice in Inclusive EFL Classrooms by German Pre-Service Teachers

This paper explores how pre-service EFL teachers perceive the variety of methodic-didactic and pedagogical forms of differentiation that they consider as acceptable in their teaching practice and which shed light on knowledge areas related to adaptivity competence. Our investigation looks into (a) qualitative questionnaire data that depict pre-service FL teachers’ conceptualizations of what it means to be a “good” and “bad” foreign language teacher; and (b) pre-service FL teachers’ quantitative evaluations of existing differentiation approaches designed for accommodating learners, especially ones experiencing specific learning differences such as difficulties with memorization, classroom communication, anxiety, or lexical and grammar confusion. Our results show that, despite expressing general agreement towards supporting individual learners’ needs, participants’ knowledge regarding how to respond to the needs of all FL learners appropriately is incomplete.

The relationship between German pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards teaching profession and their motivation on profession choice

Bu araştırmada yabancı dil Almanca öğretmen adaylarının “Öğretmenlik Mesleğine Yönelik Tutumları” ile “Meslek Alan Seçimindeki Motivasyonları” arasındaki ilişkinin araştırılması hedeflenmiştir. Araştırma ilişkisel tarama modelinde tasarlanmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemi Anadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Yabancı Diller Eğitimi Bölümü Almanca Öğretmenliği Programında çalışmaya gönüllü olarak katılan toplam 113 birinci, ikinci, üçüncü ve dördüncü sınıf öğretmen adayıdır. Araştırmanın verileri; Üstüner (2006) tarafından geliştirilen “Öğretmenlik Mesleğine Yönelik Tutum Ölçeği” ve Mayr (1998) tarafından geliştirilen Türkçeye Atav ve Altunoğlu (2013) tarafından uyarlanan “Meslek ve Alan Seçiminde Motivasyon Ölçeği” aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Araştırmanın bağımlı değişkenleri, meslek alan seçme motivasyon ölçeğinin iki alt boyutu (içsel ve dışsal), bağımsız değişkeni de öğretmenlik mesleğine yönelik tutumlarıdır. Veriler SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) programı ile çözümlenmiş ve verilerin analizinde betimsel istatistik yöntemlerinden aritmetik ortalama, standart sapma, Pearson korelasyon katsayısı kullanılarak iki yönlü varyans analizi (ANOVA) yapılmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen sonuçlar incelendiğinde araştırmaya katılan öğretmen adaylarının öğretmenlik mesleğine yönelik tutumları ile meslek ve alan seçimi motivasyonları arasında pozitif yönlü ilişki sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen bir diğer sonuç ise öğretmen adaylarının içsel ve dışsal meslek alan seçimleri arasında cinsiyete ve sınıf düzeyinde anlamlı bir farklılığın olmamasıdır. Öğretmen adaylarının daha başarılı bir meslek yaşamı için mesleğe yönelik olumlu tutum sergilemeleri sağlanmalıdır.

Confidence in and Valuing of Psychological Findings Among Preservice Teachers

Background Teachers’ perception of psychology is of importance because they get in contact with psychology as a scientific discipline and should apply (educational) psychological findings. This requires a generally positive attitude toward corresponding findings, which should be fostered during teacher education. Objective The goal of this study was to examine preservice teachers’ perception of findings from psychology in general and educational psychology in particular, thereby differentiating between confidence in and valuing of the same. Method Two subsamples of n = 937 German preservice teachers and n = 310 psychology majors participated in an online survey. Results Compared with natural science disciplines or another “harder” psychological subdiscipline, preservice teachers perceived psychology as less scientific, and judged findings from psychology and educational psychology to be less credible but more valuable. While both confidence in and valuing of findings from psychology were higher among psychology majors than among preservice teachers, the opposite was true for educational psychology. However, all differences were rather small. Conclusion We conclude that preservice teachers’ perception of (educational) psychology is not alarmingly poor. Teaching Implications The high valuing of scientific findings from (educational) psychology could be used to also foster a broader reliance on scientific findings (examples are discussed).

Assessing Pre-Service Teachers’ Person-Centered Attitudes: Validity Evidence for the APBS Instrument Based on Internal Structure

Abstract Person-centered teacher behavior is positively related to cognitive and affective-motivational student outcomes. Although underlying teacher attitudes are thought to be of great importance for person-centered teacher-student relationships, this aspect has not been considered in empirical studies to date. This study examined the internal structure and reliability of a new self-report measure assessing attitudes on person-centered behavior toward students (APBS) in a sample of 363 German pre-service teachers aged 18-40 years (M = 22.28, SD = 3.48; 72.7% female). Exploratory factor analyses and internal consistency analyses based on polychoric correlations provided evidence for a theoretically grounded four-factor model with “unconditionality” (α = .91), “empathic understanding” (α = .92), “trust” (α =.89) and “genuineness” (α = .83) explaining 46% of the total variance. Interfactor correlations ranged between .53 and .72. There is thus preliminary evidence that the APBS test scores can be interpreted as intended. However, further validation studies are required to replicate the internal structure using confirmatory factor analyses and to examine the relations between APBS test scores and external variables. The instrument can be used in research in the field of teacher-student relationships as well as in teacher education courses addressing participants’ educational attitudes.