Search results for: Methods courses

The purpose of this study is to examine whether using Lesson Study with preservice secondary mathematics teachers might better prepare students to be teachers. The main finding of this action research is that Lesson Study can have a strong influence on the efficacy of preservice mathematics teachers. In addition, it was found that a key factor in establishing the confidence of the preservice teachers was the direct connection from the field-experience school to the methods classroom.

This study examined how prospective teachers engaged in class discussions within a synchronous, online environment. The findings reveal that the prospective teachers used variety of ways to participate in the online discourse. The participants also responded to the instructor with quick affirmations. The authors found that many of the participants commented on how they appreciated viewing live technology demonstrations and the opportunities to discuss issues related to content, technology, and pedagogy with one another.

Using a qualitative approach, the authors documented experiences of teacher educators who were content experts and were asked to teach a tech-infused course. The authors found evidence that small changes in their practice were creating larger consequences within their college; it appears the author's professional development model is creating a positive cultural shift.

The purpose of this study was to examine how opportunities to learn to teach writing in preservice preparation mediated candidates’ appropriation of tools for teaching writing. In this study, the author compared between tools and processes across two university preparation programs in United States. The author found that while the candidates in the Madrona program demonstrated a fairly sophisticated appropriation of writing workshop tools, the Altavista candidates appropriated a wide array of tools at a surface level. This permeable setting in Madrona program supported candidates to develop habits of thinking about pedagogical tools, habits that facilitated uptake of integrated instructional frameworks. However, methods activity in Altavista program focused almost exclusively on the tools and tasks presented in that setting.