Section archive - Instruction in Teacher Training

The purpose of this study was to explore conceptions held by student teachers of creativity and to examine conceptual changes they experience during a series of workshops informed by the Conceptual Change Model. The findings reveal that during the course of the workshops, the participants changed their vision of their role as teachers from managers who deliver the curriculum and assess it, to observers and facilitators of learning who are interested in creatively engaging children. Furthermore, by the end of the workshops, participants reported being comfortable working with creativity and felt they could benefit the school by bridging a perceived gap in readiness to teach for creativity.

The article explores the theoretical underpinnings surrounding quality teaching in online settings as well as practical considerations for what teachers should know and be able to do in online environments. The authors examine state level policy from across the nation aimed toward establishing mechanisms to ensure online teacher quality.

This article reports on an interprofessional pilot project. This pilot study engaged 2nd-year, preservice, graduate early childhood education and social work students in an interprofessional training and collaborative activity as part of their graduate coursework. This study suggests that graduate early childhood education and social work students recognize the benefits of preservice interprofessional education, but the experience of working across disciplines can be very challenging. The challenges include a lack of clarity around professional roles and responsibilities, differences in understandings of children’s behavior, and a perception that there will be little opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration in early childhood settings. Despite these challenges, participants expressed how important it was for them to experience firsthand some of the potential benefits and challenges to interdisciplinary collaboration as preservice students.

The aim of this study was to investigate the views and actual practices related to inquiry and nature of science (NOS) of a group of highly motivated and well-qualified teachers from classrooms across the United States. The findings indicated that most of these teachers held fairly limited views and misconceptions on inquiry and NOS. Data analyses indicated an association between teachers’ views and classroom practice. That is, teachers with more robust views were more likely to teach science as inquiry, whereas teachers who held more limited views were less likely to teach science in this way. This study provides empirical evidence for the claim that although reform documents in the United States highlight the importance of inquiry and NOS and refer to inquiry as a central teaching strategy, some of the best teachers currently struggle to enact reformed-based teaching.