Section archive - Instruction in Teacher Training

This article reports on the course entitled Capstone Mathematics, Statistics, and Technology for Teachers at Utah State University (USU). This course combines the goals of a capstone mathematics experience and those of a technology course for future teachers. The students in this course learn to use technology as they examine secondary mathematics topics from an advanced standpoint. The author concludes that technology skills can be most effectively addressed in the context of collaborative mathematics learning experiences.

The authors examined the use of video editing technology as a tool to support candidates’ conceptual understanding and expression of science content knowledge, as well as the potential to support creative thinking. The participants were 121 elementary teacher candidates in both sections of an elementary science methods course. The candidates found that the process gave them an opportunity to explore, assemble, and communicate a story of their concept in a creative and engaging way that was meaningful for them. Furthermore, many teacher candidates reported that learning to use the software had distinct advantages that included increasing their confidence in using the software and having to figure out how the software could support their ideas.

The current study reports the experiences of science student teachers when introduced to the Communicative Approach to science education drawing on dialogic teacher-talk in addition to authoritative teacher-talk. The data indicate that the student teacher awareness of teacher-talk and alternative communicative options increased. Student teachers reported greater awareness of the different functions of teacher-talk as well as the challenges when trying to implement dialogic teaching.

This case study of a fifth-year elementary intern’s pathway in learning to teach science focused on her science methods course, placement science teaching, and reflections as a first-year teacher. The authors studied the sociocultural contexts within which the intern learned, their affordances and constraints, and participants’ perspectives on their roles and responsibilities, and her learning.