This study examines the development of a specific sub-skill for studying and improving teaching--the generation of hypotheses about the effects of teaching on student learning. Two groups of elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) were compared: one group that attended a typical mathematics-methods course and one that attended a course integrating…

As aspiring professionals, pre-service teachers must become good consumers of educational research as well as competent researchers who can use tools of inquiry to improve their practice and conduct their own educational research. Many, however, resist learning research skills or find difficulties in doing so. This article presents ways in which…

The purpose of this case study was to examine a beginning elementary teacher's development of identity for science teaching from her first year at university, her field experience, and through her first year of teaching. Several kinds of data were collected over a period of 5 years through different sources: interviews, journal entries,…

Prior studies indicate that teachers differ in how they respond to different kinds of traditional bullying, and that their beliefs predict their intervention intentions. The current study provided the first extension of this work into the realm of cyber bullying. Preservice teachers in the United Kingdom ("N" = 222) were presented with…

An understanding of one's intention to pursue a career related to special education is crucial yet there is limited research in this area. This study examined factors that influence teacher candidates' intention to pursue a career in special education by surveying 214 preservice teachers. Data were analyzed using path analysis to capture…

Teacher preparation programs commonly use observational instruments to assess the progress and the exit performances of teacher candidates. However, while these instruments have been described and several have been studied for effectiveness, the field lacks a close examination of how they position participants: teacher candidates, K-12 pupils, and…

Interpretations for licensure tests involve a series of inferences or a validity argument, leading from the test score to decisions about who is accepted or denied entry into a profession. Utilizing an argument-based framework for validation based on the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, we explore the evidence for the ongoing…

This research paper is framed by concerns about recent UK Government policy regarding the training of mathematics and science teachers in England and discusses how two cohorts of pre-service teachers negotiated the development of a professional identity while undertaking subject-specific training. The data reported upon were garnered in two ways;…

We examine pre-service teachers' theoretical learning during one five-week training module, and their educators' learning about better lecture design to foster student learning. The study is iterative: interventions (one per group) were implemented sequentially in student groups A-C, the results of the previous intervention serving as…

It is now well accepted that graduating teachers need the capacity to integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in ways which harness their learning affordances and develop students' digital literacies. However, effective ICT integration in the classroom is challenging because it requires complex application of…

The focus of this study is to investigate early childhood students' discourses of play-based curriculum. In this paper we focus on how students made implicit and explicit links to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). Twenty-six early childhood students had volunteered their de-identified play and pedagogy…

While there has been an increasing number of graduate students who enter teacher education after obtaining a higher research degree (e.g., PhD or EdD), scant attention has been paid to their professional learning as prospective teacher educators in higher education. To fill this gap, this study, informed by the social theory of learning,…

This study draws on insights from achievement goal theory and multicultural education to examine the interrelated nature of preservice teachers’ biases and beliefs regarding culturally diverse students and the kind of instructional practices they are likely to pursue. Cluster analysis of cross-sectional data ("n" = 784) suggests that approximately…

This study examines the ways prospective elementary teachers (PSTs) made connections to children's mathematical thinking and children's community funds of knowledge in mathematics lesson plans. We analyzed the work of 70 PSTs from across three university sites associated with an instructional module for elementary mathematics methods courses that…

We analyze a particular pedagogy for learning to interact productively with students and subject matter, which we call “rehearsal.” Our goal is to specify a way in which teacher educators (TEs) and novice teachers (NTs) can interact around teaching that is both embedded in practice and amenable to analysis. We address two main research questions:…