Section archive - Instruction in Teacher Training

The current article presents a study of an experimental training methodology for promoting lesson analysis skills in student teachers. This methodology is based on the idea that the quality of lesson analysis skills depends mainly on teachers' perception of relevant instructional events and on their understanding of these events. The experimental intervention consists of student teachers' participation in sessions on guided analysis of videotaped lessons and writing lesson analysis reports. Gagn's model of an instructional unit is used as a theoretical framework for defining a lesson and identifying its critical events.

The authors investigated the impact of an open inquiry experience on elementary science methods students‘ understanding of celestial motion. The authors have also examined the tools, resources, and ideas that preservice teachers used to develop their own inquiry investigations to understand their resourcefulness in pursuit of a scientific question. A comparison of participants‘ inquiry projects with the change in their understanding revealed that while most participants improved in both their area of inquiry and beyond, elementary science methods students may need more guidance to reach a full scientific understanding across all aspects of celestial motion.

This article focuses on the relationship of the higher education (HE) (theoretical) component of the teaching qualification to the (practical) placement experience that student teachers undertake. This study approaches the data through the concept of 'community of practice' aiming to interrogate its usefulness as a theoretical idea that can illuminate the experience of student teachers. The participants are student teachers studying on a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, Post-Compulsory Education (PGCE PCE) for teachers of adult literacy course in the UK.

The purpose of this article is to synthesize findings from three studies that have addressed the conceptualization and application of the metaphor construct to the study of teachers and teaching. The particular interest of the authors has been to identify the dominant metaphorical views of preservice teachers, to understand how these images are reflected in their respective views of schooling, life, childhood and teaching and how these images come to influence their work in the classroom. The article provides implications for linking the research reported with contemporary ideas for teaching and teacher preparation.