Improve Preservice Teachers Research Articles

IMPROVING PRESERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY ABOUT THE USE OF ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT: IMPLICATION FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE

In this study, a teaching program was designed to improve preservice teachers’ self-efficacy about the use of alternative assessment. The teaching program has three stages: workshop, observation, and teaching. Preservice teachers’ opinions about the contribution of the teaching program to their professional development and the effect of the program on their self-efficacy were determined. Data was collected through a survey, students’ reflective journal, and interview. Results show that preservice teachers had understanding about alternative assessment and positive opinions about the teaching program. Furthermore, their self-efficacy toward use of the alternative assessment improved. The teaching program had positive contributions to preservice teachers’ professional development. Key words: alternative assessment, preservice teacher education, self-efficacy.

Our Practice, Their Readiness: Teacher Educators Collaborate to Explore and Improve Preservice Teacher Readiness for Science and Math Instruction

Since many preservice teachers (PTs) display anxiety over teaching math and science, four PT educators collaborated to better understand the PTs’ background experiences and attitudes toward those subjects. The research project provided two avenues for professional learning: the data collected from the PTs and the opportunity for collaborative action research. The mixed method study focused on: the relationship between gender and undergraduate major (science versus non-science) with respect to previous and current engagement in science and math, understanding the processes of inquiry, and learning outside the classroom. A field trip to a science center provided the setting for the data collection. From a sample of 132 PTs, a multivariate analysis showed that the science major of PTs explained most of the gender differences with respect to the PTs’ attitudes toward science and mathematics. The process of inquiry is generally poorly interpreted by PTs, and non-science majors prefer a more social approach in their learning to teach science and math. The four educators/collaborators reflect on the impacts of the research on their individual practices, for example, the need to: include place-based learning, attend to the different learning strategies taken by non-science majors, emphasize social and environmental contexts for learning science and math, be more explicit regarding the processes of science inquiry, and provide out-of-classroom experiences for PTs. They conclude that the collaboration, though difficult at times, provided powerful opportunities for examining individual praxis.

A Longitudinal Look at Attitudes and Perceptions Related to the Integration of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education

The purpose of this study is to provide an in‐depth analysis of attitudes and perceptions related to the integration of mathematics, science, and technology education of preservice teachers preparing to teach STEM disciplines. Longitudinal data by individual cohort and across 7 years of the Integrated Mathematics, Science, and Technology (MSAT) Program are reported, analyzed, and interpreted to help design and improve preservice teacher education programs and improve teaching and learning in STEM classrooms. Results of quantitative analyses indicate that there was generally no change in preservice teacher attitudes and perceptions related to the value of the integration of mathematics, science, and technology education—they clearly valued integration at the onset and at the completion of the program. However, there was a significant change in preservice teacher attitudes and perceptions related to integration feasibility in terms of inefficiency and difficulty.Implications for teacher education programs include: (a) more exposure to concepts, processes, and skills in STEM that are similar, analogous, complementary, or synergistic; (b) familiarity with instructional strategies and access to resources; (c) deeper understanding of content across STEM; and (d) strategies for collaboration and team work to make integrated instruction time more efficient and less difficult to manage.

Productive Pedagogies as Framework to Improve Preservice Teachers’ Practices

Productive Pedagogies as Framework to Improve Preservice Teachers’ Practices

Improving Preservice Teachers’ Perspectives on Family Involvement in Teaching Children With Special Needs

This study examines preservice teachers’ perspectives on family involvement in special education and effective teaching methods for delivering family-involvement content. Eighty-three preservice teachers provided data on pre- and postadministrations of a questionnaire. The effectiveness of two methods, a video and a guest speaker, in delivering curriculum concerning family involvement was compared. The results indicated that the participants perceived family involvement as relatively important as measured by the preadministration survey. The overall response mean values measured by two postadministrations increased after students were exposed to the course content on family involvement. Results also indicate that the two teaching methods equally contributed to improving preservice teacher knowledge. Implications for teacher education on the importance of family involvement are presented.

PERCEPTIONS OF THE PRESERVICE TEACHERS TOWARD ASSESSMENT

Extended Abstract Introduction: Assessment, which is the process for the determination of what the students know, can do and are interested in, is also an inseparable part of learning and teaching. In addition to having a powerful effect on the learning pattern of the individuals, it has an important role in the learning process and therefore in teaching methods. Assesment may be diagnostic, formative and summative. All these have different purposes. Metaphor can be defined as describing a phenomenon or a concept by the terms which are more familiar. Metaphors can be used to determine the perceptions. The aim of this research is to determine the perceptions of the preservice teachers toward assessment. Method: Phenomenology pattern is used for the research. The sample consists of 72 preservice teachers who are studying math, science, primary school and preschool teaching programmes in Cumhuriyet University. Perception of the preservice teachers toward assessment is determined by metaphors. Data are obtained by participants by completing the “Assessment is like ........, because ......... â€? sentence. Content analysis is used for analyzing the data. Perceptions of preservice teachers are categorized under three groups, which are diagnostic, formative and summative by analyzing the metaphors and reasons. Results: Metaphors of the preservice teachers are also examined according to their program and class level. It is identified that the preservice teachers have formed 14 metaphors related to the assessment. It is emerged that the perceptions of the assessment of preservice teachers are concentrated on the diagnostic assessment. The numbers of the preservice teachers, who have the perceptions toward formative and summative assessment, are equal. When it is analyzed according to the program it is seen that; math, primary school and preschool preservice teachers have more the diagnostic assessment's metaphors, science preservice teachers the formative assessment's metaphors. The perceptions of the preservice teachers toward assessment vary according to the level of the class. It is seen that the preservice teachers of first class are more intense in “summativeâ€?, second class are more intense in “summativeâ€? and “diagnosticâ€?, third class are more intense in “diagnosticâ€? and fourth class are more intense in “formativeâ€? perception toward assessment. Recommendations: According to the findings, some recommendations were developed. Preservice teachers must be provided with professional development opportunities which are based upon assessment techniques. To improve preservice teachers acquisitions teacher educators, teachers and preservice teachers should work collaboratively. This collaboration helps to improve preservice teachers' view points about assessment process. Keywords: Assessment, perception, metaphor, preservice teacher education.

Improving Preservice Teacher Preparation through the Teacher Work Sample: Exploring Assessment and Analysis of Student Learning

This study focuses on the Renaissance Teacher Work Sample's critical sections Assessment Plan and Analysis of Student Learning. Preliminary review of scoring data based on the sample revealed that preservice teachers at a large comprehensive institution teacher program appeared to be most challenged with designing assessments and analyzing student learning, compared to other sections. Further analysis of multiple sources of data related to these skills—including deeper study of the student teacher performance on the sample, student-teaching evaluation proficiency rates, self-reported scores on teacher standards, and Praxis scores—indicated that all intersected with the same theme: Relatively low areas for this institution's preservice teachers in assessment and analysis. Based on these results, institutional efforts to improve student performance in this area are addressed.

Teachers and Technology

In addition to possessing content knowledge required to teach students, today’s teachers must be well equipped with appropriate technology skills and tools to guide and support student learning. The identification of this need has led teacher education programs to mandate all preservice teachers to enroll in technology courses as part of their teacher preparatory curriculum. Similarly, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has established the National Education Technology Standards for teachers (NETS- T) to help promote teacher technology competencies. The purpose of the study was to evaluate preservice teachers’ self-assessed technology competency to determine whether preservice teachers perceived that their technology class enabled them to meet ISTE’s required standards. Specifically, this paper explores the extent to which an educational technology course at a participating midwest college helped to improve preservice teachers’ technology skills as well as to prepare them attain ISTE NETS- T.

Communication in Mathematics: Preparing Preservice Teachers to Include Writing in Mathematics Teaching and Learning

“Math was strictly math, from what I remember.” This is a comment about using writing in mathematics from a preservice elementary teacher enrolled in a methods course. Comments such as these concern teacher educators who wish to prepare elementary teachers to include writing in mathematics instruction. A teacher development experiment was completed to discover how to improve preservice teachers’ abilities and attitudes toward using writing in mathematics. The preservice teachers made use of a graphic organizer to facilitate writing in the college math methods class, then practiced teaching writing with the same graphic organizer and in the math classes in an elementary classroom. Reflections of the preservice teachers illustrated this was a positive practice. The preservice teachers also concluded that writing in mathematics is valuable to instruction and would include it in their teaching.

Improving Preservice Elementary Teachers' Views of the Nature of Science Using Explicit-Reflective Teaching in a Science, Technology and Society Course

This study examined twelve preservice elementary teachers’ views on the nature of science (NOS). The student teachers participated in a cohort group as they took a science, technology and society course during which the target NOS aspects were taught through an explicit/reflective approach. The main goals were to that (1) improve preservice teachers’ understanding of NOS and (2) encourage them to teach NOS in their classrooms. Data were collected through Views of the Nature of Scienceform C (VNOS-C) survey and followed semi-structured interviews. Both survey and interviews were administered at the beginning and end of the intervention. It was concluded that preservice teachers hold an inadequate understanding of NOS. However after teaching the NOS in an explicit-reflective way, the majority of them improved their understandings of all the NOS aspects except for relationship and distinction between theories and laws. The main result of the study is that for student teachers to really teach NOS to their students, first of all, they need to have intentions about teaching it. This was achieved in the current study by encouraging and supporting student teachers to develop and implement their own NOS activities in real educational contexts to elementary students.

ETIPS

Field experiences are identified as an important component in the preparation of new teachers. As such, methods to supplement field experiences with pre and post activities that ready preservice teachers to effectively learn from them warrant further examination. This paper presents one tool that has been used successfully to improve preservice teachers' instructional decision-making knowledge about technology integration, with the unintended outcome of readying them for field experiences in general.

Effects of Interactive Computing Experiences on Preservice Teachers' Assessment Practices of Pupil Achievement

This article investigated how a component of a computerized simulation (Criteria and issues related to pupil assessment) could influence the evaluative practices of early childhood preservice teachers before they encountered field experience for four weeks, and the resulting impressions of assessment subsequent to the four weeks. Chi-square, Somers' d, Gamma, Correlation, and Regression were employed with “after field experience” as the dependent variable. Statistically significant differences were revealed: Somers' d ( d = .481, p < .002); Gamma (.654, p < .002); Pearson's R (.607, p < .003); Spearman (.559, p < .007); and regression analysis (b = .520, p < .003). Also, the regression model explains 36.9% of overall variation in the dependent variable ( R2 = .369). This study illustrates that interactive contact with a pupil assessment component of a computerized simulation can improve preservice teacher's perceptions and choice of pupil assessments during four weeks of field experience. Qualitative analysis also revealed emergent themes related to subjects' response and extended narratives for each theme.

Nurturing reflective teaching during critical-thinking instruction in a computer simulation program

Nurturing reflective teaching and improving critical-thinking instruction are two important goals in teacher education, but these are only achievable when teachers-in-training are provided with opportunities for building professional knowledge and for exhibiting reflective teaching practices. A computer simulation program (CS-TGCTS) was therefore developed here, and its effectiveness is explained in this study. From 149 preservice teachers participating in this study, a pretest–posttest control group design was defined by four student groups and two treatments. The central hypothesis was that increasing participants' self-awareness of teacher behaviors and enhancing mindful learning in professional knowledge would provoke reflective teaching and further bring about improvements in teacher behaviors. The findings support the hypothesis and suggest that the CS-TGCTS simulation is an effective vehicle for improving preservice teachers' reflective teaching in critical-thinking instruction.

Why Improving Preservice Teacher Educational Technology Preparation Must go beyond the College's Walls

To prepare new teachers to use technology within their programs of preparation, schools, colleges, and departments of education (SCDEs) can develop and require coursework in which students learn how to operate and teach with technology and set expectations that students demonstrate their integration abilities during student teaching. This survey of student teachers found that setting these expectations for designing and delivering instruction using technology was effective in getting student teachers to use technology during clinical experiences. However, additional factors beyond the control of SCDEs were equally important, such as the level of access to technology and the support of and feedback from cooperating teachers at the student teaching site. The authors discuss the implications these factors hold for SCDE's extending efforts “beyond their walls” to prepare new teachers to use technology.

A Biology Laboratory Internship Program: Improving Preservice Teacher Education

A Biology Laboratory Internship Program: Improving Preservice Teacher Education

Support for Teacher Quality: An AFT Priority

Public attention to the issue of teacher quality has never been higher in the United States. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) continues to play a leading role in all areas related to teacher quality-from recruitment, preparation, licensure, induction, and professional development, to evaluation and teacher compensation. This article highlights some of the major efforts the union has undertaken to ensure that a qualified teacher is in every classroom throughout the nation. In 1996, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future issued a report declaring that if the United States is to reach its goal of preparing all students to meet world-class achievement standards, excellent teaching must be education's number-one priority. The report rested on three unassailable premises: (1) What teachers know and can do is the most important influence on what students learn; (2) Recruiting, preparing, and retaining good teachers is the central strategy for improving schools; and (3) School reform cannot succeed unless it focuses on creating the conditions in which teachers can teach and teach well. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) believes that teachers' unions have an important role to play in assuring teacher quality at all of the stages along the teacher development continuum. They must be involved in developing and implementing quality preservice education programs as well as licensure standards and recruitment and hiring practices that assure the perpetuation of an excellent, diverse teacher work force. They must also participate in the creation and support of strong induction and mentoring programs, high-quality professional development efforts, meaningful evaluation processes, and, when necessary, fair and timely intervention and dismissal procedures for those teachers already in the classroom. Many AFT affiliates around the country have already adopted these roles and are busy trying to fulfill them. This article describes several local and nationwide AFT initiatives and partnerships aimed at assuring 21st-century teacher quality along a developmental continuum. ASSURING QUALITY ALONG THE TEAcHER DEVELOPMENT CONTINUUM Preservice Education In 1998, Sandra Feldman, president of the AFT, appointed a special task force to consider how elementary and secondary (K-12) AFT leaders might better work with each other and with those in the higher education community to improve preservice teacher education. That task force looked into issues related to raising the standards for entry into teacher education, defining the core pedagogy curriculum for teacher candidates, and identifying the features of excellent clinical preparation for the classroom. AFT affiliates work with policymakers and the higher education community to strengthen teacher education. Not only do AFT leaders advocate at the state and local levels for specific policies and programs related to teacher education, licensure, and continuing professional development, but many of the union's K-12 affiliates have created partnerships with local colleges and universities. One of the goals of these partnerships is to strengthen the preservice clinical program through the creation of professional development schools and through linking practicing teachers to the university academic setting. In collaboration with the University of Cincinnati (UC) and the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers (CFT) has formed a partnership committed to enhancing teacher preparation, classroom performance, and professional development as a means of raising student achievement in the Cincinnati public schools, As a result of this partnership, the University of Cincinnati has redesigned its teacher preparation program to emphasize content-area study. UC students can now earn dual degrees in education and in the arts and sciences after completing a fifth full-year of clinical training in a Professional Practice School (PPS). …

Effects of Mathematics Methods Courses on the Mathematical Attitudes and Content Knowledge of Preservice Teachers

Teachers who have inadequate meaningful mathematical content knowledge and/or poor attitudes toward the subject often exacerbate the problems that students experience in learning mathematics. In the present study, the effects of mathematics methods courses that use manipulatives, technology, and cooperative learning on meaningful mathematical content knowledge and attitude toward mathematics for preservice elementary teachers and preservice secondary mathematics teachers were investigated. Initial differences regarding content knowledge between these groups was also considered. Following the completion of a mathematics methods course, the preservice elementary teachers' attitudes improved significantly and their content knowledge increased significantly. These measures increased, but not significantly, for the preservice secondary mathematics teachers. Initially, the preservice secondary mathematics teachers had more content knowledge than the preservice elementary teachers did. An item analysis of the content test identified areas of particular concern. Suggestions for improving preservice teacher education and questions worthy of further study are provided.

When it comes to teaching about floating and sinking, preservice elementary teachers do not have to feel as though they are drowning!

Preservice elementary teachers often lack science content knowledge and consequently the confidence to teach science. A three-phase constructivist teaching sequence was used in a graduate level elementary science methods course to improve preservice teachers’ knowledge of density and to provide a model for approaching the teaching of science. Preservice teachers (N=23) showed gains in content knowledge between the pretest and a posttest administered fifteen weeks apart. Additionally, their self-reported confidence levels increased as did their recognition of the need to approach science teaching by probing students’ prior knowledge and exploring students’ ideas in non-threatening learning environments.

Improving preservice teacher assessment through on‐campus laboratory experiences

A UNDENIABLE assumption underlying the educational reform movement of the past 10 years is that the school achievement of American children can be enhanced through better teaching. A related assumption, not so undeniable, is that improved teaching will follow from increased and more rigorous testing of practicing teachers and teachers in preparation. Most states have accepted the second assumption and have initiated teacher testing. So have colleges of education (“Survey Shows Rise,” 1990). While giving preservice or inservice teachers more or tougher tests may seem to be a logical idea, a more promising one may be to devise and use different kinds of tests. Our thesis here is that while formal testing of preservice teachers has such a high profile, we would be well advised to provide them with multiple forms of on-campus laboratory experiences whereby they would be engaged in job-related tasks. Performance on these tasks could be assessed at multiple points and for various uses, including admission, retention, and graduation.

Selecting a Measure of Oral Communication as a Predictor of Teaching Performance

Effective communication skills are imperative given the interac tive nature of teaching. In this study two measures of preservice teacher communication ability were tested to determine their predictive validity with respect to instructional performance. Both instruments used, the Communication Competency As sessment Instrument and The Snyder Speech Scale, appear to be excellent measures for predicting the clarity with which pros pective teachers will be able to present concepts and ideas to students. Recommendations are offered for relating teacher per formance to teaching effectiveness and for improving preservice teachers' speech competencies.