Browsing by Subject "Student teachers--Texas--Attitudes--Case studies"
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Item Engaging with socioconstructivist pedagogy : four social studies preservice teachers' understandings and experiences in contemporary classrooms(2007-05) Sullivan, Caroline Cecelia, 1970-; Salinas, CinthiaItem Engaging with socioconstructivist pedagogy: four social studies preservice teachers' understandings and experiences in contemporary classrooms(2007) Sullivan, Caroline Cecelia; Salinas, CinthiaThis dissertation, a qualitative case study conducted from an interpretive epistemological stance, focuses on the understanding and implementation of socioconstructivist pedagogy by two middle school and two high school social studies preservice teachers during their apprentice (student) teaching semester. The means by which the participants facilitate socioconstructivist instructional design, and within it, historical thinking, is of primary interest in this study in which the intricate circumstances of diverse classrooms and beginning teachers provide a rich context. The resulting successes and negotiations derived by data analysis include four themes. The first entails the classroom context and resulting logistics of student teaching during the preservice teachers’ apprentice teaching semester; the second explores the participants’ thinking as they adopt these new pedagogical approaches; the third involves the selection of course materials, navigation of the standardized curriculum as well as efforts with lesson planning; the fourth and final theme investigates the actual classroom praxis of socioconstructivist pedagogy and historical thinking by the study participants. Findings focus on three areas of interest. First, that epistemological stance plays a significant role in the preservice teachers’ adoption and development of socioconstructivist pedagogy; second, the classroom community is essential to the creation of a student-centered learning environment; and finally, that the preservice teachers’ partial appropriation of both socioconstructivist pedagogy and historical thinking is an area needing improvement to achieve ultimate success with these pedagogical approaches. Implications indicate that first, preservice teacher education programs should be built upon the examination of foundational epistemology. The second implication has direct impact on the university and practice teaching classroom in that preservice teachers need more opportunities to participate and observe socioconstructivist lessons as exemplary models. The third and final implication demands structural consideration of the comprehensive implementation of socioconstructivist pedagogy.Item Play : a study of preservice teachers' beliefs about a complex element of early childhood education(2009-05) Sherwood, Sara Anne Sauer, 1973-; Reifel, Robert StuartUsing one-on-one interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis, this basic qualitative study (see Merriam 1998) examined preservice teachers' beliefs about play and the influences on those beliefs. Research for this study focused on seven preservice teachers enrolled in an early childhood through grade four practicum course at a small private university in south central Texas. Using Nespor (1987) and Vygotsky (1986) as frameworks for transforming the collected data (see Wolcott, 1994), the findings of this study indicated that multiple influences--such as experiences before and during teacher education, feelings, ideals, and universal assumptions--worked in concert to shape the preservice teachers' beliefs about play. And, these influences set the foundation for the content of the preservice teachers' beliefs. Specifically, for the preservice teachers, play seemed to have multiple meanings that fluctuated and were at times contradictory. These defining qualities suggested that the preservice teachers had not fully synthesized their beliefs about play. This study's findings came about because two frameworks instead of one were used to describe, to analyze, and to interpret the preservice teachers' beliefs about play. Together these frameworks provided insights into the preservice teachers' beliefs about play and the influences on those beliefs that neither framework could have provided alone. Specifically, the findings of this study reveal challenges and opportunities for early childhood teacher educators. On the one hand, the multiple meanings, fluctuations, and contradictions present within the preservice teachers' beliefs about play highlight the challenge of defining and conceptualizing play within teacher education. On the other hand, the broad set of influences that shaped the preservice teachers' beliefs about play and their complex interrelationship suggest that by using multiple frameworks to explore preservice teachers' beliefs about play, by viewing preservice teachers' beliefs as an asset to their learning about it, by identifying the sources of preservice teachers' beliefs about play, and by engaging in one-on-one discussions with preservice teachers about their beliefs, teacher educators have the opportunity to address this complex element of early childhood education in their programs with the hopes of ultimately influencing their preservice teachers' practice.