Section archive - Preservice Teachers

The authors examined shifts in secondary preservice teachers’ belief orientations as they progressed through a science methods course. The authors found that overall many of the preservice teachers progressed in their orientation beliefs from a teacher-centered orientation to more student-centered orientation. The authors characterized four trajectories of change or clusters that describe how preservice teachers’ beliefs changed over the course of the semester. The authors also describe the different ways in which preservice teachers reacted to specific instructional activities, and how those activities influenced their belief orientation.

The paper describes how field studies can be useful in teacher education. Students teachers participated in a specialty area called Play, learning and development. During this activity, the student teachers collected data about their own and young children's experience and perception of the outdoor environment. The results showed that the student teachers were positive about the involvement of children, teachers, and parents in the data collection process. They also perceived that their knowledge had increased about children's ways of using the outdoor space.

The authors empirically examine the impact that students’ backgrounds, academic experiences, and attitudes have on their likelihood of selecting a STEM major in college. The findings revealed significant effects in relation to race, academic preparation, attitudes and dispositions toward math and science, college choice considerations, and postsecondary experiences.

This study examined preservice teachers’ views of their own cultural values, the cultural values they believed scientists hold, and the relationships of these views to their conceptions of nature of science (NOS). The authors found that from the beginning to the end of the semester, preservice teachers perceived fewer differences between their own cultural values and those they perceived scientists held, though they did not change their own cultural values.