Browsing by Subject "Preservice teachers"
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Item Exploring the effectiveness of interventions designed to deepen preservice teachers’ conceptual understanding of linear function and slope: A mixed methods study(2011-08) She, Xiaobo, Ms.; Matteson, Shirley; Siwatu, Kamau O.; Wilhelm, Jennifer A.; Ortiz, Rebecca P.A multitude of studies have revealed that considerable numbers of preservice teachers have impoverished understanding of many mathematics concepts and processes they need for teaching (Ball, 1988, 1990; Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008; Zaslavsky, Sela, & Leron, 2002). Ball, Lubienski, and Mewborn (2001) asserted, “Our insufficient understanding of the mathematical knowledge has meant inadequate opportunities for teachers to develop the requisite mathematical knowledge and the ability to use it in practice” (p. 433). A promising way to change teachers’ ingrained preconceptions in relation to mathematics is to improve their content knowledge level, which in turn impacts their practice actions. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of hands-on or virtual manipulatives in advancing preservice teachers’ understanding of the algebraic concepts of linear function and slope. A mixed methods design was used to investigate and analyze the data. This study not only sought to examine the extent to which preservice teachers understood targeted mathematical concepts under the conditions with varied manipulatives, but also tried to provide reasonable explanations and insights as to their understandings. This study served as a facilitator to improve the quality of teacher preparation programs. Initial quantitative data reported that the participating middle school preservice teachers possessed a poor understanding of mathematical knoweldge in relation to linear function and slope, experiencing difficulties in four specific domains: identify points on the linear function, identify linear function (perpendicular), identify linear function (parallel), and properties of linear function and slope. A further qualitative analysis suggested that participants embraced varied misconceptions and knowledge deficiencies, which may account for their poor knowledge performance. Another set of quantitative data suggested that participants benefited from the virtual and hands-on manipulative interventions as to their understanding of linear function and slope. A further qualitative analysis engendered a surprising conclusion: the interventions had nothing to do with preservice teachers’ learning, but provided a context for peer discussion. Based on data from the after-intervention interviews and follow-up questionnaires, the results suggest that peer discourse maybe a more effective strategy in advancing preservice teachers’ grasp of specific points in mathematics.Item Fostering a Spatially Literate Generation: Explicit Instruction in Spatial Thinking for Preservice Teachers(2012-02-14) Jo, InjeongThis research proposes that the explicit incorporation of spatial thinking into teacher preparation programs is an effective and efficient way to foster and develop a spatially literate populace. The major objective of this study was to examine the effect of explicit instruction in spatial thinking on the development of preservice teachers' knowledge, skills, and dispositions toward teaching it. A one-day workshop - Teaching Spatial Thinking with Geography - for preservice geography teachers was developed as the intervention of this study. The primary focus of the workshop was to provide an explicit opportunity to learn about spatial thinking and to practice skills required to incorporate spatial thinking into participants' classrooms. Three assessments were used to examine changes in participants' knowledge, skills, and dispositions, before and after the workshop: the spatial concepts test, the teaching spatial thinking disposition survey, and participant-produced lesson plans. Individual interviews were conducted to obtain a deeper understanding of participants' learning experiences during the workshop. A mixed-method research design was adopted in which both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to offset the weaknesses inherent within one method with the strengths of the other. The major findings of this study include: 1) explicit instruction about spatial concepts is necessary to the development of preservice teachers' knowledge required for teaching spatial thinking through geography; 2) the skills development required to teach spatial thinking should be approached as the development of pedagogical content knowledge; 3) dispositions toward teaching spatial thinking should be differentiated from dispositions toward teaching general thinking skills; 4) although explicit instruction about teaching spatial thinking contributed substantially to the preservice teachers' acquisition of knowledge and skills and the development of positive dispositions toward teaching spatial, each of these components develops at a different rate but affect each other; and 5) a promising approach to the development of preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge would be to offer geography education courses, not general geography or methods courses, in which the focus is explicitly on teaching geography with an emphasis on spatial thinking.Item Power and caring embodied through bilingual preservice teachers' choice of participant structures(2016-05) Wall, Dorothy Jeanne; Palmer, Deborah K.; Rodríguez, Haydeé M; Callahan, Rebecca M; Martínez, Ramón A; Menchaca, MarthaPower and Caring Embodied through Bilingual Preservice Teachers’ Choice of Participant Structures is a qualitative multicase study about the ways in which three Mexican-origin preservice teachers drew from their pedagogical philosophies of authentic cariño to make sense of their choice of participant structures in bilingual student teaching contexts. This dissertation project drew from a larger study investigating seven Latin@ preservice teachers’ choice of participant structures in one-way and two-way dual language pre-kinder and kindergarten classrooms from the same bilingual education cohort at a large public Texas university in a medium-sized city. Guided by a critical framework that weaves together sociocultural literature on multilingual learning environments, LatCrit theory, and pedagogy as authentic cariño viewed through a lens of power as caring relations, the goals of this project were two-fold: 1) to explore the types of participant structures that bilingual preservice teachers were implementing during their student teaching semester and 2) to investigate their sensemaking process around those decisions of which participant structures to implement. Findings revealed that the three maestr@s implemented a variety of participant structures in their one-way dual language student teaching placements, and that they made sense of these choices guided by their pedagogical philosophies of authentic cariño that they had constructed through their life experiences. Additionally, their mentor teachers’ choice of participant structures and degree of alignment with the maestr@s’ philosophies, the supportive space of the post-observation conference, and the maestr@s’ perceived competencies with classroom management intersected with the participant structures that they chose. These findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of factors that bilingual preservice teachers consider when selecting the ways that their students may actively participate during a lesson, but also that their identities, past experiences, and pedagogical philosophies really do matter. This work has important implications for teacher preparation in bilingual and ESL contexts, teaching, and policy in supporting the use of empowering participant structures for emergent bilingual students.Item Preservice teacher preparation for managing problem behaviors : an interpretive qualitative analysis of the classroom management course(2009-12) Dunn, Sandra Hall; Field, Sherry L.This dissertation examines the content of a required classroom management course to determine how preservice teachers are prepared for managing problem behaviors. Qualitative content analysis of interviews with four adjunct classroom management course instructors, their course syllabi, textbooks, assignments and projects, ancillary course materials, fieldwork, and formative assessment revealed how the topic of problem behaviors is incorporated and implemented in the design of the course and how the topic is addressed in the textbooks and other course materials selected for the course. The complexities of scholarly research, individual course instructors’ personal beliefs about classroom and behavior management and problem behaviors, and the implications of those personal beliefs upon text selection and course content that guide the preservice teacher’s developing philosophies to meet the challenges of today’s diverse educational settings provide the foundation for this interpretive analysis. Findings suggest that, regardless of the documented need for additional preservice teacher preparation in managing student behavior in general and problem behavior specifically, course content on problem behaviors in the classroom management course depends upon the course instructors’ personal beliefs about classroom and behavior management that developed through their personal knowledge, experience, and preferences. Academic freedom serves as a centerpiece of university professor and student rights. Academic freedom must support academic responsibility in the design, implementation, and evaluation of curriculum, preparation of course materials, complementary course offerings, and a competent and judicious treatment of the subject. Findings of this study reveal that the university’s academic responsibility for providing a “competent and judicious treatment of the subject” relies upon the personal beliefs of the individual course instructor.Item Promoting critical multicultural citizenship : a case study of preparing social studies teachers(2009-05) Castro, Antonio Jamie; Salinas, Cinthia; Brown, Anthony L. (Associate professor)Given the growing cultural and economic diversity of today’s students, this qualitative case study investigates how 4 social studies preservice teachers taught for critical multicultural citizenship during their student teaching semester. The tenets of critical citizenship emerge out of the intersection of critical pedagogy and multicultural education. These tenets for critical multicultural citizenship education include seeking out and challenging gaps in democracy, promoting critical reflection and consciousness, and advocating for collective action to transform institutional injustices. This case study traced perspectives held by participants about the nature of democracy and citizenship and explored how these preservice teachers enacted these views in their classroom teaching. Data collection measures included five observations, reflective journals, three interviews, and other assignments related to the participant’s student teaching coursework. Findings suggest that these participants, all preservice teachers of color, adopted views and teaching practices that aligned with critical multicultural citizenship; however, participants struggled to overcome constraints in their student teaching contexts in order to teach for this kind of citizenship.Item Situating Korean EFL teacher education in a CMC environment : online exchanges between preservice English teachers and elementary school students(2011-12) Chun, Sun Young, 1976-; Schallert, Diane L.; Horwitz, Elaine K.; Palmer, Deborah K.; Wilson, Jennifer C.; Svinicki, Marilla D.; French, Karen D.The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the characteristics of student-teacher interactions between Korean EFL preservice teachers and elementary school students during online exchanges and of the preservice teachers’ overall impressions and perceptions of teaching English to elementary school students and interacting with them online. The participants in this study were 31 Korean preservice elementary school teachers and 10 Korean elementary school students who were learning English as a foreign language. Ten groups with an average of three preservice teachers were paired with one child partner per group and engaged in one-on-one email exchanges, mostly using English, in discussing English books. Data came from multiple sources, including transcripts of the online exchanges between the preservice teachers and the child partner, preservice teachers’ collaborative dialogue scripts, their responses to questionnaires, their group reflection journals, individual final reflection papers, and researcher field notes. These data were analyzed using a combination of inductive and deductive data analysis methods. Through inductive analysis using the constant comparative analysis method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lincoln & Guba, 1985), I derived themes that captured the experience of online interactions and the strategies that the preservice teachers used to maintain the exchange. Through deductive analysis, I identified groups that were more and less successful and described their experiences. Results indicated that the online exchanges with elementary students provided Korean EFL preservice teachers opportunities to practice teaching skills, as well as to develop close personal and social relationships with their child partners. Also, how the preservice teachers approached the exchanges and their specific online “actions” seemed to make a difference in their child partners’ responses, thereby yielding results in which some groups were more successful and others less successful. The preservice teachers reported that their participation in the project was beneficial for them as future elementary teachers of English and that they enjoyed interacting with their child partners online. Finally, the participation in the project appeared to have many benefits for the preservice teachers’ professional development, including newly-gained insights into the benefits of using technology as a valuable instructional tool in their future teaching practices as well as an increase in their confidence in using English to teach English to elementary students.Item Special education preservice teachers' changes in self-efficacy to serve culturally and linguistically diverse students while completing their first field experience(2015-05) Ostendorf, Raymond Joseph; Sorrells, Audrey McCray; Bryant, Brian R; Linan-Thompson, Sylvia; Salinas, Cinthia S; Tackett, Kathryn KIn this non-experimental, mixed methods dissertation study, a cohort of special education preservice teachers (N = 24) from a university-based teacher preparation program in Central Texas completed a modified version of the Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy scale (Siwatu, 2007) before and after they had completed their first field experiences. The researcher who conducted this dissertation sought to find whether the respondents had experienced any changes in their self-efficacy beliefs to capably meet the learning needs of their students with and without disabilities, from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. The researcher also collected qualitative data (e.g., lesson plans) and conducted individual interviews with a stratified random sample from the cohort (n = 5) to gather background information about the participants' prior engagements with members of CLD communities and to discover how they explained their changes in self-efficacy to capably serve CLD students with and without disabilities. Results indicated that the first field experience likely impacted the special education preservice teachers' self-efficacy beliefs to capably serve students with and without disabilities from CLD backgrounds. The majority of the participants (n = 13) expressed individual cumulative increases in their self-efficacy scores at the end of their first internship, and also expressed the higher levels of confidence to serve diverse students without disabilities than to serve diverse students with disabilities. Members of the stratified random sample who reported a decrease in their individual cumulative selfefficacy scores (n = 2), tended to express a more thorough understanding of the complex responsibilities, demands, and expectations that are placed on teachers.