Undergraduate Teacher Education Program Research Articles

The Role of the Educational Conversation in Succeeding in Undergraduate Kindergarten Teacher Education

This paper investigates an institutional practice of the educational conversation that is a part of the undergraduate kindergarten teacher education program at a Norwegian university. The formal goal connected to this practice is to facilitate students coping with their courses of study. Thus, this paper reconstructs the perspectives of the teacher educators and the students regarding this practice and reconstructs its various supportive qualities. The core of the support derived from the educational conversation stems from transforming the formal, professional, and institutional expectations of the kindergarten teacher education program into the personal motivation of the students. Reflecting on better conditions for the educational conversation is connected to ethical reflections on the power relations and influence that face-to-face meetings with experienced teachers who listen can have on students particularly in the era of mass education.

The use of video laboratory report to develop presentation skills in science teacher education students

As the information technology growing so fast, the students in today science classroom is a digital natives student. Science Teacher Education Program in the university is facing the challenges to adapt the situation in order to prepare future science teachers that having the skills to teach those students. The skills for future science teacher are acquired through the pre-service science teacher education program at the university. One of the most important for science teacher’s skills is presentation skills using information technology. This study tried to explore the use of video laboratory report to develop pre-service science teacher presentation skills using information technology in Science in Daily Life Course provided by one of the undergraduate teacher education programs. From this study, pre-service science teachers indicated that the use of video in reporting laboratory activity, supported by feedback from the lecturers and YouTube as the media to upload and share their video had enhanced their skills to do laboratory activity presentation in the form of video.

Preparing Future Teachers in Indonesia: Motives of Science and Non-Science Student Teachers for Entering into Teacher Education Programs

The purpose of this current study was to examine the undocumented motives of the first-year science and nonscience student teachers from seven different undergraduate teacher education programs in one public university, Jambi, Indonesia. Data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. A total of 593 completed questionnaires received from participants who enrolled in seven different undergraduate teacher education programs (biology, chemistry, economics English, history, mathematics, and physics education programs). Interview data were obtained from eighteen participants who were willing to be interviewed. The frequency of each statement was computed and expressed as percentage of its total score while interview data were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and carefully analysed. Our findings indicated that the first-year student teachers‟ interpretations of their motives for entering teacher education programs were quantitatively and qualitatively interwoven among altruistic, intrinsic, and extrinsic motives across participants. Policy implications are also discussed. Keywords: Indonesian student teachers; Motives; Teacher education policy.

How do pre-service physical education teachers understand health education and their role as health educators?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine how pre-service physical education (PE) teacher education students understand health education and their role as health educators. The challenges that a cohort of pre-service teachers ( n = 20) majoring and minoring in PE face in engaging in a socially contextualised understanding of health are examined. Design: Study participants were in a semester length foundational health education course. Following ethics board approval, participants’ reflective journals were accessed for data. The data were coded for themes and then analysed using Windschitl’s framing of constructivism in practice. Setting: Undergraduate health education teacher education programme at an Australian university. Results: Findings reveal how PE teacher education students made meaning of socially contextualised and contested areas of health, and developed their own understanding of health education pedagogical practice. Common challenges were evidenced by the students when attempting to explain their expanding understanding of health education pedagogy and practice. Conclusion: The simple understandings and conceptual ambiguities evident in this group of students help to explain why health education taught in secondary schools by PE teachers more often takes the form of ‘PE theory’ than health education.

Vozes em confronto no Núcleo Docente Estruturante de cursos de Letras: entre o prescrito e a prática institucionalizada

RESUMO O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar as reações-respostas de professores do Núcleo Docente Estruturante (NDE) de Cursos de Letras de uma universidade pública aos discursos consignados nos documentos oficiais da educação que dispõem sobre o Núcleo nas instituições de ensino, focalizando as relações de tensão existentes entre os discursos envolvidos na interação verbal. Os fundamentos da Teoria Dialógica do Discurso, de viés bakhtiniano, orientam o estudo, favorecendo o debate em torno das refrações e revalorizações dos discursos legais relacionados à criação do NDE no âmbito dos cursos de graduação. A análise dialógica revela que os enunciados dos sujeitos da pesquisa interagem com as vozes oficiais que determinam a criação do NDE e, de algum modo, são respostas a elas, tanto acolhendo-as, como também alterando-as, recusando-as, desprezando-as, num contexto em que os cursos de Letras seriam avaliados por comissões de avaliadores do Ministério da Educação.

Selecting Quality Picture Books for Mathematics Instruction: What Do Preservice Teachers Look For?

A quality picture book can enhance instruction and build positive and meaningful connections that enable students to visualize and engage in mathematics. To learn more about how preservice teachers analyze and select quality picture books in their mathematics lessons, a study was conducted over two semesters during a required field experience component of an undergraduate teacher education program. The preservice teachers were required to use a picture book to explore a mathematical concept in three mathematics-focused lesson plans. Data was collected through preservice teachers’ lesson plan reflections, summative reflections over the experience of integrating picture books and mathematics, and focus group interviews. The qualitative data analysis revealed that in planning mathematics lessons to incorporate quality picture books, preservice teachers most often selected a book based on the topic to be taught or based on previous use by their university instructor. The quality of the selected picture books did not appear to be a critical criterion for selection. As a result, it is important for teacher educators to model ways of assessing and selecting quality picture books and provide opportunities for preservice teachers to incorporate these techniques.

Survival in a Time of Crisis: the Professional Faculty in British Columbia

" Schools of Art , Education and Natural Resources to be reviewed! " read the headlines in Michigan Daily, soon to be followed by smaller but equally as serious headlines in the Ann Arbor News, The Detroit Free Press and, yes, even the New York Times. What followed was two years of agonizing effort by the students, faculty and administration of a major, Big Ten University to grapple with the perceptions, hopes and reality of a review that would leave in its wake a demoralized faculty and reduced enrollment. The School of Education, rated number one in the United States by at least one outside reviewer, was being challenged by the spectra of closure. Closure of a school of education in a university noted for having the first permanent chair, in 1879, devoted exclusively to the training of secondary school teachers and administrators; closure of school noted for having John Dewey so involved in teaching and research that he forgot and left the perambulator containing his baby in front of the Ann Arbor post office one sunny day; closure of a School of Education rated in 1977 as having the best undergraduate teacher education program and in 1983 the best graduate teacher preparation program . The fact of review sank in slowly for the faculty and students and is still sinking in. With relief, we can say that the recent reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. The fact is not that the School of Education is headed for closure but that the School of Education at The University of Michigan will take a 40% budget cut over the next five years.

The Erosion of Professional Schools: The Right Blend in a Time of Decline

" Schools of Art , Education and Natural Resources to be reviewed! " read the headlines in Michigan Daily, soon to be followed by smaller but equally as serious headlines in the Ann Arbor News, The Detroit Free Press and, yes, even the New York Times. What followed was two years of agonizing effort by the students, faculty and administration of a major, Big Ten University to grapple with the perceptions, hopes and reality of a review that would leave in its wake a demoralized faculty and reduced enrollment. The School of Education, rated number one in the United States by at least one outside reviewer, was being challenged by the spectra of closure. Closure of a school of education in a university noted for having the first permanent chair, in 1879, devoted exclusively to the training of secondary school teachers and administrators; closure of school noted for having John Dewey so involved in teaching and research that he forgot and left the perambulator containing his baby in front of the Ann Arbor post office one sunny day; closure of a School of Education rated in 1977 as having the best undergraduate teacher education program and in 1983 the best graduate teacher preparation program . The fact of review sank in slowly for the faculty and students and is still sinking in. With relief, we can say that the recent reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. The fact is not that the School of Education is headed for closure but that the School of Education at The University of Michigan will take a 40% budget cut over the next five years.

Perceptions of Preservice Teachers about Adaptive Learning Programs in K-8 Mathematics Education

Adaptive learning programs are frequently used in the K-8 mathematics classroom. These programs provide instruction to students at the appropriate level of difficulty by presenting content, providing feedback, and allowing students to master skills before progressing. The purpose of the study was to seek to interpret how preservice teachers’ experiences influence their perceptions and plans to integrate adaptive learning programs in their future K-8 mathematics classroom. This was a qualitative study with 17 participants who were enrolled in an undergraduate teacher education program. Data was collected and analyzed from archived journals the participants completed as a part of their K-8 Math Methods course, a survey, and semi-structured interviews. The findings from this study indicate that the participating preservice teachers perceive adaptive learning programs to be beneficial for students, and they recognize they have many decisions to make regarding what adaptive learning programs are used and how they are integrated into the classroom. The study also found that the instruction the preservice teachers received in their K-8 Math Methods course played a critical role in making them aware of the features available and myriad of options available in adaptive learning programs.

English Language Teacher Educator Interactional Styles: Heterogeneity and Homogeneity in the ELTE Classroom

This article presents a research study on the interactional styles of teacher educators in the English language teacher education classroom. Two research methodologies, ethnomethodological conversation analysis and self-evaluation of teacher talk were applied to analyze 34 content- and language-based classes of nine English language teacher educators of three undergraduate English language teacher education programs in Bogotá, Colombia. Findings show that English language teacher educators’ interactional styles are a mixture of both individual (heterogeneous interactional styles) and common (homogeneous interactional styles) social acts, which are represented by the interactional forms and patterns that these teacher educators display in the classrooms.

Beyond censorship: politics, teens, and ELA teacher candidates

Purpose Grounded in the scholarship addressing teacher self-censorship around controversial topics, this paper aims to investigate a three-part research question: How do secondary English language arts (ELA) teacher–candidates (TCs) in the penultimate semester of their undergraduate teacher education program position political texts/speeches, interpret high school teens’ political standpoints and view the prospects of discussing political texts/speeches with students? The study findings provide insights to the ways some TCs might position themselves as novice ELA teachers relative to political texts/speeches, students, colleagues and families in their future school communities. Design/methodology/approach Audio-recorded data from whole-class and small-group discussions were coded for TCs’ positioning of political texts/speeches, interpretations of teens’ political standpoints and viewpoints on discussing with students President Obama’s speech, “A More Perfect Union” (“A.M.P.U.”) The coded data set was further analyzed to identify themes across the TCs’ perspectives. Findings The data set tells the story of a group of TCs whose positionalities, background knowledge and practical experiences in navigating divergent perspectives would influence both their daily selection and censorship of political texts/speeches like “A.M.P.U.” and their subsequent willingness to guide equitable yet critical conversations about controversial issues in the secondary ELA classroom. Originality/value In advance of the 2018 midterm elections, this paper considers how the common core state standards’ (CCSS) recommendations to include more nonfiction documents in ELA instruction positions ELA teachers to provide interdisciplinary support in helping students think critically about political issues. It expands on the body of scholarship that, thus far, has been primarily grounded in the research on social studies instruction.

Characterizing the motives and environmental literacy of undergraduate and graduate students who elect environmental programs – a comparison between teaching-oriented and other students

One aspect of the increasing position of sustainability in higher education is establishment of distinct interdisciplinary environment-oriented programs. The point-of-departure of this study is differentiation between teaching- and non-teaching-oriented students, in view of their different respective professional roles in society. The motives and environmental literacy (EL) of incoming students were investigated in three types of sustainability programs in Israel: undergraduate teacher-training, graduate teacher-education and graduate non-teacher programs. For all students acquiring knowledge was the major motive for studies. Undergraduate student-teachers demonstrated the least developed EL, although it is slightly higher than that found for incoming student-teachers a decade ago. Graduate teacher-students displayed strong identity as educational agents-of-change and role-models; however, their limited environmental-knowledge raises questions concerning providing knowledge foundations in undergraduate teacher-training programs, indicating the necessity to supplement this in graduate teacher-programs. Graduate non-teacher students perceive their continuing sustainability-oriented studies as a means for developing an environmental career and enter these programs relatively environmentally-literate. The implications focus on necessary components and characteristics of sustainability-programs directed to teaching- and non-teaching-oriented students. These include the necessity to strengthen the environmental-knowledge component in programs directed to teachers; and embed opportunities for professional internships within graduate programs for non-teachers seeking environmental careers.

Intersection of principles: How This We Believe and International Baccalaureate® align

Schools that teach within the context of the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Program approach learning through a global lens. They focus on how subjects relate to a larger, international context and connect topics together so that students can have a deeper understanding of knowledge. To further support and promote this approach to teaching, some undergraduate teacher education programs have integrated the IB model into their curriculum which results in their candidates being eligible for the IB teaching and learning certificate. For those programs interested in taking this path, the first step in this journey is to examine the Association for Middle Level Education’s essential characteristics of a middle school alongside IB’s principles and practices. This article examines the intersection of these two foundations and how they can be incorporated into an existing middle level teacher education program.

But What Does It Look Like? Illustrations of Disciplinary Literacy Teaching in Two Content Areas

AbstractIn this piece, the authors offer two illustrations of central features of disciplinary literacy teaching. One illustration describes an episode of history literacy teaching, and the other describes an episode of physics literacy teaching. Both examples show how teachers may support students’ development of disciplinary inquiry, disciplinary concepts, and extended use of texts in secondary classrooms. Illustrations were drawn from a long‐term study of the teaching practice of attending teachers and preservice teaching interns affiliated with Clinical Rounds, the secondary undergraduate teacher education program at the University of Michigan. Conclusions are relevant for teachers seeking to design and enact disciplinary literacy teaching in their classrooms and for all literacy practitioners seeking a common language for recognizing and naming aspects of disciplinary literacy teaching across disciplinary domains.

Evaluación formativa e interdisciplinariedad: Análisis de dos asignaturas con el mismo sistema de evaluación

Resumen: Este artículo presenta una experiencia basada en el diseño de un mismo sistema de evaluación formativa para dos asignaturas de la formación inicial del profesorado de educación física dentro del grado de Educación Primaria, que se desarrollan de forma conjunta a partir de un tratamiento interdisciplinar. Esto posibilita evaluar en los estudiantes el conocimiento didáctico y el conocimiento disciplinar recogido en ambas asignaturas. Para ello, recogemos y analizamos las ventajas e inconvenientes que señalan los estudiantes sobre (a) el desarrollo conjunto de esas asignaturas y (b) los criterios establecidos, de forma negociada y colaborativa, entre el profesor y los estudiantes para cada uno de los aspectos a ser evaluados. Formative assessment and interdisciplinary: Analysis of two subject matters with the same evaluation system Abstract: This article presents an experience based on the design of a single system of formative evaluation for two subject matters in an undergraduate teacher education program in physical education in Primary Education, both of which are developed jointly from an cross curricular point of view. This allows evaluating the students in both didactic knowledge and curricular knowledge on both subject matters. For this purpose, we have collected and analyzed the advantages and barriers pointed out by the students as regards to (a) the concurrent development of these subject matters and (b) the criteria established jointly by the professor and the students for each of the aspects to be evaluated.

English

In this study, general culture and general education courses within the scope of knowledge categories in undergraduate teacher education programs in Turkey and the USA are comparatively analyzed. The study is a comparative education study and uses a descriptive model. In the study, the general culture - general education courses taught in the elementary teacher education curriculum at the education faculties of Gazi, Ankara, Hacettepe, Anadolu and Marmara Universities in Turkey and Central Florida, Delaware, Utah State and Indiana Universities in the USA were examined. In the study, the document review method was used and the data were analyzed through the document analysis technique. The results of the study reveal that the general culture courses that are compulsory in Turkey were determined by The Council of Higher Education (YOK) and they are applied in all of the undergraduate programs at education faculties. Yet, there are no explanations about what criteria are taken into consideration while determining these nine compulsory general culture courses. While YOK puts emphasis on a teacher candidate being trained in a sophisticated manner, the results of the study ascertain that these compulsory courses within undergraduate teacher education programs are not diverse enough to serve the intended purposes. On the other hand, some universities suggest some elective general culture courses within knowledge categories; however, some of these are professional teaching knowledge and major courses. The compulsory courses within the category of general education in the USA are determined by the universities themselves whereas this is done centrally by The Council of Higher Education (YOK) in Turkey, and the compulsory courses of each university vary in terms of content and number. However, the elective courses are grouped under certain themes and these themes are related to certain disciplines. It is compulsory for students to elect certain amounts of courses within each theme. This blocks electing similar courses under the same themes and directs the students to elect different courses. Key words: Higher education, teacher education programs, elementary teacher education curriculum, general culture, general culture courses, general education, general education models.

Analysis of Discussion Board Interaction in an Online Peer-Mentoring Site

This study uses Critical Discourse Analysis and Social Network Analysis to examine an online peer mentoring site created to unite first-year and third-year preservice teachers enrolled in an undergraduate teacher education program. The peer mentoring site was developed to provide both first-year preservice teachers and more experienced peers the opportunity to discuss, share, and learn both from and with one another. The study demonstrated that the online peer mentoring site supported valuable interactions and professional communications among first-year and third-year students. In particular, the preservice teachers engaged with one another to share their experiences and learning as they prepared to be teachers. This study has implications for the field of undergraduate education in its demonstration that an online peer mentoring site can allow for the cultivation of learning, ideas and knowledge exchange, and support of students learning in informal environments. This research also has implications for future research to determine how different populations of students use an online peer mentoring site to interact with their peers and the outcomes that emerge. Such data could inform future development of peer mentoring sites and similar learning spaces.

Pedagogical language knowledge: preparing Australian pre-service teachers to support English language learners

ABSTRACTIn Australia all initial teacher education (ITE) programmes are required to address the needs of students learning in and through English as an additional language (EAL) as a national priority area, including “effective teaching and learning strategies for teaching second language learners in the context of the mainstream classroom and the range of key learning areas.” However, research into the complex language and literacy challenges faced by EAL learners suggests that many mainstream secondary school teachers feel inadequately prepared to meet their needs. To address this issue, Hammond (2014, p. 503) calls for “more wide-ranging, theoretically robust accounts of teacher learning” to support EAL/D learners in particular. This paper presents research conducted as part of a broader investigation into the various components of teacher learning made available to Australian pre-service teachers (PSTs) in an undergraduate teacher education programme, and the relative ways in which they contributed to PSTs’ developing knowledge of language and literacy pedagogy. In particular, it reports on the specific type of knowledge made available to a smaller group of PSTs who participated in a literacy tutoring programme conducted at a secondary school with a large EAL student population. The study yields a rich description of the PSTs’ developing pedagogical language knowledge as they engage in professional learning under the guidance of an academic mentor. It charts their emerging and developing knowledge as they are trained to analyse core curriculum content for opportunities to provide targeted language and literacy support, as well as their growing understanding of the diversity of language and literacy needs of EAL learners. Furthermore, the study describes PSTs’ evolving self-reflection as they become “apprenticed” into the role of professional teachers who assume responsibility for their students’ language and literacy development as a key way of facilitating their access to curriculum content knowledge.

“A Circular Council of People With Equal Ideas”

Mentoring in music education programs is such a ubiquitous part of the process; it is sometimes overlooked or subsumed under other categories. The purpose of this article is to highlight mentoring relationships within an undergraduate music teacher education program. Formal, informal, vertical, and horizontal mentoring are examined from the perspectives of undergraduate preservice music teachers working in a community-university partnership. The data are culled from a 14 month, intrinsic case study of the University of South Carolina String Project, designed to examine the participant experience for all member groups within the string project—the undergraduate preservice teachers, the community students, and the faculty. Mentoring relationships are explored as a critical component of experience for the preservice teachers. Their voices are presented here to illustrate the value they placed on mentoring, as well as the challenges that emerged in construction of a mentoring mosaic as part of their preservice teaching experience.

A Comparison of Professional Identity of Pre-service Mathematics Teachers in Pedagogical Formation Program and Undergraduate Teacher Education Program

The aim of this study is to compare professional identity of pre-service mathematics teachers in pedagogical formation certificate program and undergraduate teacher education program in the context of pre-service teachers’ stories of becoming a mathematics teacher. A total of 113 pre-service elementary mathematics teachers participated in the study. 58 of them were enrolled in undergraduate teacher education program and 55 of them were enrolled in pedagogical formation certificate program. Demographic questionnaire and reflective essays on pre-service teachers’ stories of becoming a teacher were used as data collection tools. Demographic questionnaires were analyzed descriptively and pre-service teachers’ writings were analyzed using content analysis. Data analysis indicated that two groups had similarities in reasons for why they chose teaching as a profession and mathematics as a subject for teaching. Their earlier teaching experiences in high school and their role model teachers were the most observed reasons for why they chose teaching as a profession. The main difference between the two groups was their determination for aiming to be a teacher. Participants in the undergraduate teacher education program decided to be a teacher in high school while some of the participants in the other group decided to have a teaching certificate just in case they might need it in the future. Interest and success in mathematics were the most important factors for choosing mathematics as a subject for teaching in both groups.