Early childhood education is a demanding profession, and teachers' stress is inversely associated with the quality of their interactions with young children. In order to provide stress management tools to preservice teachers prior to entry into the field, there has been growing interest in the use of reflective practices as part of higher…

The early years of a child's life are critical in supporting their physical development. As a result, early childhood teachers have a profound responsibility and influence on the development of young children's physical skills. However, up to this point, little attention has been placed on the development of early childhood teachers' pedagogical…

Teachers' positive relationships with families contribute to the social, emotional, and intellectual development of children in early childhood education programs. Effectively involving, communicating, and partnering with families requires a unique set of professional abilities. Teachers must hold a deep understanding of the cultural and…

Service learning (SL) is both a pedagogy and philosophy adopted by many early childhood teacher educators. Extant research suggests the incorporation of service-learning can be effective for facilitating preservice teacher learning of curriculum, pedagogy, approaches to diverse learners and families as well as establishing a professional identity.…

Space is not separable from the learning and teaching that take place in and through teacher education programs. In this paper, we attempt to illustrate how the use of a spatial lens in preservice teachers field placement can provide them with opportunities to raise questions and understand more about the relationships between self, the discursive…

This Reflection on Practice is based upon a change in the undergraduate course "Family and Community Relations." Historically, this course has been taught on campus in a lecture format, as well as small and large group activities. However, during a spring semester at a midsized Midwestern University, it was altered to provide more direct…

Early childhood and elementary preservice teachers often fear mathematics, find it irrelevant, have mathematics anxiety, hold negative self-perceptions, and have low mathematics achievement. This study investigates the influence of an identity exploration intervention on preservice teachers' mathematics identities during a college Algebra course…

This study includes an in-depth examination of 9 students' weekly reflections and reactions to a hybrid (synchronous and asynchronous) course for preservice teachers focused on diversity and equity topics in early childhood. Through online learning modules and readings organized into six units and 14 lessons, students covered a variety of topics…

Given urgent need for culturally competent early childhood educators and the strategic encouragement by colleges for students to travel internationally, this analysis focuses on the question: What is the relationship between international experiences and preservice early childhood educators' cultural competence? More specifically, three questions…

Research calls for teacher education to prepare early childhood educators for the needs of diverse and marginalized young children and their families in the U.S. With an increasing cultural divide between teachers and students, some early childhood educators may demonstrate limited understanding for how diverse cultural, linguistic, racial, and…

This reflection on practice describes a case study integrating 3D printing into a creativity course for preservice teachers. The theoretical rationale is discussed, and the steps for integration are outlined. Student responses and reflections on the experience provide the basis for our analysis. Examples and resources are provided, as well as a…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of integrating self-reflection, focused instruction, and field practice in a semester-long language arts course in order to shift early childhood preservice teachers' (PSTs) beliefs and attitudes about writing instruction, as well as their development and planned use of tools for…

This qualitative study considered values, beliefs, perspectives, and meanings of 7 parents and 3 teachers within the context of daily home-to-child care transitions in one infant-toddler center in an early childhood laboratory school. Sociocultural and attachment theories anchored the study and the developmental niche framework informed…

Contemporary teacher preparation programs are challenged to provide transformational learning experiences that enhance the development of highly effective teachers. This mixed-methods case study explored the influence of inquiry-based field experiences as a pedagogical approach to teacher preparation. Four teacher candidates participated in a…

Research exploring preservice postsecondary students' experiences participating in an international field placement is a relatively new area of study in the domains of Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Early Childhood Leadership (ECL). While there is a growing body of literature offering merit to the profound transformations that can occur for…