Education Commons^™

Preservice And Early Career Teachers’ Preconceptions And Misconceptions About Making In Education, Jonathan Cohen, W. Monty Jones, Shaunna Smith

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This qualitative study examined preservice and early career teachers’ preconceptions and misconceptions about making in education. Eighty-two preservice and early career teachers participated in brief, one-time maker workshops, then wrote reflections on their experiences. Using constant comparative analysis, researchers uncovered two common misconceptions held by the participants. The first was that making in education consisted of hands-on activities designed to achieve specific content learning objectives. The second was that making was largely dependent on the use of advanced manufacturing tools, such as 3D printers. Such misconceptions could negatively impact the potential of making in education. Recommendations for resolving these misconceptions …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Using Maker Activities In Formal K-12 Educational Settings: A Multi-Institutional Study, W. Monty Jones, Shaunna Smith, Jonathan Cohen

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This qualitative study examined preservice teachers' beliefs about using maker activities in formal educational settings. Eighty-two preservice and early-career teachers at three different universities in the United States took part in one-time workshops designed to introduce them to various maker tools and activities applicable to K–12 educational environments. Data were collected from 16 focus groups conducted during the workshops in spring 2016. Researchers analyzed the data using the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985, 1991) to better understand the teachers' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control related to making activities, with the ultimate goal of using this information to …

Ethical And Political Implications Of Reflective Practice Among Preservice Teachers, Jeffrey Labelle

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

This study investigates the ethical and political implications of reflective practice among preservice teachers. The author reviewed previous research which suggests the need for a more critical analysis of teacher education programs to implement more intensive reflective methodologies that foster authentic, caring, dispositional development as a moral obligation toward socially just practice rather than mere audited compliance with standards-based technical training. This position paper then analyzes preservice teacher education as an interdependent process of methodological development, perceptive development, and cognitive/affective development. Finally, the author makes recommendations for program modification to better prepare preservice teachers to conceptualize their transformative role in …

The Impact Of Experiential Learning In Literacy And Teacher Efficacy: A Study Of Sa Reads, Theresa Garfield, Ramona T. Pittman

Reading Faculty Publications

This study examines the impact of an experiential learning course work component on teacher candidates’ perception of literacy knowledge, their perspective of a community-based literacy partnership, and their self-reported sense of general and personal teaching efficacy. Initial findings reveal there is growth in all areas of perception of literacy knowledge, with knowing how to assist a struggling reader with fluency and vocabulary skills being the greatest areas of gain. Findings indicate there is minimal change in the participants’ perspectives of the community-based literacy partnership. Finally, participants gained in the areas of general and teaching efficacy. Extant literature will be reviewed …

Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Attitudes And Pedagogical Strategies Toward Hypothetical Shy, Exuberant, And Average Children, Qizhen Deng, Guy Trainin, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Irina Kalutskaya, Stephanie Wessels, Julia C. Torquati, Robert J. Coplan

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Children’s learning and development are directly and indirectly influenced by teachers’ beliefs and pedagogical strategies toward child behaviors. This cross-sectional study explored elementary preservice teachers’ attitudes and pedagogical strategies for working with hypothetical children demonstrating temperament-based shy, exuberant, and average behaviors in the classroom. A secondary goal was to compare attitudes and pedagogical strategies at the beginning and end of teacher training program. A total of 354 participants responded to three vignettes describing children frequently displaying these behaviors. Results indicated preservice teachers were more likely to use social-learning strategies with shy children and high-powered strategies with exuberant children. Participants were …

Teac 308: Teaching Mathematics In The Elementary School–A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Amanda Thomas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio outlines four aspects of the peer review of teaching project, which focused on TEAC 308: Teaching Mathematics in the Elementary School. The first aspect was the explicit articulation of student learning objectives drawn from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All (2014). During this project, the nine objectives were aligned with instructional opportunities and assignments with those objectives. In addition to defining these objectives, the portfolio describes analysis of three components: student progress toward developing and demonstrating productive beliefs about aspects of teaching and learning mathematics, student progress across three …

Investigating The Relationship Between Professional Noticing And Specialized Content Knowledge, Lara Dick

Faculty Contributions to Books

Professional noticing of children's mathematical thinking as conceptu­alized by Jacobs et al. (J Res Math Educ 41(2):169-202, 2010) includes attention to and interpretation of children's mathematical thinking, and deciding how to respond instructionally. In order to interpret a child's mathematical thinking, a teacher draws on her or his mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) (Ball et al. in J Teach Educ 59(5):389-407, 2008). This research study focuses on the relationship between elementary preservice interns' development of MKT and their engagement with professionally noticing their students' mathematical thinking through analysis of their students' work samples. An integrated professional noticing and MKT framework …

Preparing Teacher Candidates For Virtual Field Placements Via An Exposure To K-12 Online Teaching, Tian Luo, Laura Hibbard, Teresa Franklin, David R. Moore

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose The goal of this project was to determine what effects exposure to online K-12 teaching and learning activities had on teacher candidates’ perceptions of K-12 online learning, how the exposure allowed teacher candidates to reach greater understanding of online pedagogy, and what effect such exposure had on teacher candidates’ aspirations to complete virtual field experiences.

Background With an increasing number of K-12 students learning online within full-time online schools and in blended learning environments, universities must prepare future educators to teach in virtual environments including clinical practice. Before engaging in online field placement, preservice teachers must be oriented to …