This research proposes that the explicit incorporation of spatial thinking into teacher preparation programs is an effective and efficient way to foster and develop a spatially literate populace. The major objective of this study was to examine the effect of explicit instruction in spatial thinking on the development of preservice teachers' knowledge, skills, and dispositions toward teaching it. A one-day workshop - Teaching Spatial Thinking with Geography - for preservice geography teachers was developed as the intervention of this study. The primary focus of the workshop was to provide an explicit opportunity to learn about spatial thinking and to practice skills required to incorporate spatial thinking into participants' classrooms. Three assessments were used to examine changes in participants' knowledge, skills, and dispositions, before and after the workshop: the spatial concepts test, the teaching spatial thinking disposition survey, and participant-produced lesson plans. Individual interviews were conducted to obtain a deeper understanding of participants' learning experiences during the workshop. A mixed-method research design was adopted in which both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to offset the weaknesses inherent within one method with the strengths of the other. The major findings of this study include: 1) explicit instruction about spatial concepts is necessary to the development of preservice teachers' knowledge required for teaching spatial thinking through geography; 2) the skills development required to teach spatial thinking should be approached as the development of pedagogical content knowledge; 3) dispositions toward teaching spatial thinking should be differentiated from dispositions toward teaching general thinking skills; 4) although explicit instruction about teaching spatial thinking contributed substantially to the preservice teachers' acquisition of knowledge and skills and the development of positive dispositions toward teaching spatial, each of these components develops at a different rate but affect each other; and 5) a promising approach to the development of preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge would be to offer geography education courses, not general geography or methods courses, in which the focus is explicitly on teaching geography with an emphasis on spatial thinking.

This qualitative multiple case study explored the identity development of three preservice teachers of literacy. The study focused on the prior knowledge of the preservice teachers of literacy and how their knowledge related to their identity development while in field experiences. The primary question that guided this study was: What is the nature of the construction of identity during field experiences for preservice teachers of literacy? Sub questions explored identity in field experiences and the role of prior pedagogical content knowledge to identity development. Findings indicated that an evolving habitus central to their identity as literacy teachers could be deduced that guided the preservice teachers as they interacted in the figured worlds of their field experiences related to literacy teaching. Also, prior knowledge as a component of identity served to help the preservice teachers author themselves in regard to their interactions with their cooperating teachers, students, and with the classroom and school environment. Findings further indicated that the preservice teachers of literacy relied on their prior knowledge to notice, critique, and anticipate. Noticing, critiquing, and anticipating led to further development of their identity as teachers of literacy in a circular manner. A recommendation for practice includes the use of the NCA/WR Identity Guide to help preservice teachers of literacy become aware of their identity during field experiences. Further, providing an opportunity for reflection when standardized tests are administered could lead to metacognition, which is helpful for the identity development of preservice teachers. Recommendations for future research include examining different populations of preservice teachers and further exploring standardized testing related to identity. This study showed that preservice teachers of literacy navigate a path of diverse experiences as they learn to author themselves in the figured worlds of the field experiences. These experiences serve to shape them as future teachers and continued exploration of the specifics of their identity development will assist in creating strong teachers who are equipped to face the challenges of providing quality literacy instruction.

This thesis aims to take a step or two towards a theoretical model of where teacher education ‘stands’ as a social practice, a career, a discipline, and a profession. It does this through the specific lens of ‘professional identity’, a concept often referred to in the teaching and teacher education literature but one that is also often ill-defined and seldom made the empirical focus of the studies reported. Taking as its starting point a definition of professional identity as ‘the valued professional self’, the thesis recounts the findings of a phenomenological study of the professional self-image and identities of nine preservice teacher educators from six different institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand. The research involved a grounded analysis of the transcripts of some 39 extended interviews with the teacher educators, conducted over a five-year period. The period during which the thesis was written has been one of considerable educational change in New Zealand, and one little short of an upheaval in relation to the institutional structuring of teacher education nation-wide. During the period of the study colleges of education with a century and a half of history as independent, stand-alone and specialist institutions, have gone through a complex process of merging with their local universities, while neo-liberal reforms of all tertiary institutions have placed particular strains and constraints on the pedagogical structures and processes that are typically implemented in teacher education programmes. Being on the brink of a new era in teacher education has thus brought teacher educators’ identity - their place in the educational world and what it is that they and their field fundamentally ‘stand for’ - both into relief, and for some, into question. The teacher educators in the study followed a path into teacher education typical in New Zealand but perhaps increasingly untypical in many other countries - from practitioner to academic - and in one sense it is an account of how they severally and collectively have come to terms with their own identities as professionals during that journey and at a time of considerable institutional turmoil. But the research also attempts to get beyond their individual stories to address broader issues of how one might best ‘get at’ a professional identity in the first place, as a matter of interview analysis and method, whether or not there are some distinctive but common elements that might distinguish the professional identity of the particular group we call teacher educators, and if there are, then what those distinctive characteristics might be. The research studied the teacher educators’ professional identities through several related lenses or perspectives that taken together might be seen as constituting or covering the key facets of the phenomenon we call a professional identity. It interrogates their storied accounts of how and why they became teacher educators: their professional motivations, goals and career histories. It also examines through a snapshot in time what they saw as the occupational scope of their jobs and the various roles they undertook, and the relative emphasis or value priority given by individuals to each job or role. Through a third lens, it describes and theorises the particular knowledge base(s), pedagogies and professional expertise they felt they needed to do the job effectively, and what they saw as teacher educators’ distinctive ‘expertise’. Using metaphor analysis, it also explores the emotionalities associated with the various personae they found themselves ‘being’ as teacher educators - the highs and things that gave them ‘heart’, along with the tensions, incongruities and dilemmas associated with ‘being’ teacher educators. A final perspective explores their sense of collective identity as a professional community and the various other professional groups with whom they felt more, or less, collective affinity. The thesis concludes by proposing a conceptual model of teacher educators’ professional identity as an identity that overlaps with that of teachers in schools as well as with that of academics in other fields, but which is nevertheless distinguishable from both these. In particular, it is simultaneously more multifaceted in scope than the former and more performative in nature than the latter. The study suggests that teacher educators’ professional identity may be particularly characterised by the comprehensiveness of its specialist expertise, by a strong sense of ethical commitment and other-centredness, by a conception of teacher education as the embodied enactment of its own knowledge-base and expertise, and, ultimately, by an abiding ambivalence about teacher educators’ and teacher education’s place in the world - the professional discomfort that characterises working across ‘the spaces in between’.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are common in schools worldwide in the 21st century, in both developed and developing countries. A number of initiatives have been made in the development of ICT related training in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. These initiatives aim to develop future teachers’ ability to teach and deliver the school curriculum, including using ICT in the classroom. Sufficient field experience is essential since the process of undergoing such placements would prepare them in creating new ideas and implementing strategic ways as to how they can effectively incorporate the use of ICT in their lesson plan, class management, and in teaching. The key research question in this study is “Do pre-service teachers in a New Zealand and a Malaysian ITE programme use their field experience to develop their potential to integrate ICT in schools and, what are the similarities and differences between these case studies?” Effective use of ICT in teaching and learning requires the teacher to understand how ICT weaves with pedagogy and content. The Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) theoretical framework introduced by Mishra and Koehler (2006) clarifies the need to understand and develop TPACK to inform integration of ICT in teaching. This research provides two case studies of ICT in ITE in the Asia Pacific region, one in a developed country, New Zealand, and the other in a developing country, namely Malaysia. Both case studies are of ICT in an ITE programme with a particular focus on field experience in secondary schools, within which there are embedded cases of ITE students. This study illustrates how pre-service teachers’ experience and development of ICT knowledge and skill and their understanding of TPACK can support an increase in their teaching competencies. This research provides evidence that field experience is important to support pre-service teachers to develop their teaching competencies with ICT and understanding of TPACK in ways that are transferable into their own practice. This study has also contributed to increased reliability and validity of TPACK instrumentation. The comparative findings of the New Zealand and Malaysian case studies indicate the importance of a range of contextual factors, which suggest that the Initial Teacher Education programme, school curriculum and ICT availability as well as student maturity contribute to the development of TPACK.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of cooperative learning on preservice elementary teachers’ interest in, and the application of music into, core academic subject lesson plans. Participants (N = 59) were preservice elementary teachers enrolled in four class sections of a music method course designed for elementary education majors at a large southern university. All members participating in the study were placed by section for eight weeks in one of two groups-an individualistic learning group or cooperative learning group. During the first 6 weeks of the study, participants worked on the Music Integration Project. The purpose of the project was to develop academic lesson plans with the integration of music. Each Music Integration Project consisted of a: (a) title page, (b) table of contents, (c) a rationale citing 2 primary sources, and (d) 10 lesson plans integrating music into core subject lesson plans. At the conclusion of the 6 weeks, participants turned in their projects, which were scored by the primary investigator using the Music Integration Project Rubrics developed by the researcher. The Integrated Music Project Rubrics consisted of three sub-rubrics: (a) Organization Rubric, (b) Rationale Rubric, and (c) Lesson Plan Rubric. During the last two weeks of the study, all of the participants were videotaped teaching an integrated music lesson. Tapes were analyzed post-hoc and the participants’ scores were recorded by using the Integration of Music Observation Map. This Map assessed each of the participant’s microteaching on ten different criteria: (a) teacher, (b) pupils, (c) process, (d) element, (e) atmosphere, (f) purpose, (g) authenticity, (h) expression, (i) degree, and (j) range. Participants also completed a pre and post-Integrated Music Project Interest Survey. The independent variable used in this study was learning environment, cooperative learning and individualistic learning. The dependent variables were the participants’ scores on the Integrated Music Project Rubrics (organization, rationale, and lesson plan), scores from the Integration Music Observation Map, and scores from the pre/post interest survey. Interjudge reliability consisted of 20% of the scores from each learning groups’ Integrated Music Project and microteaching. Interjudge reliability was calculated as a Pearson product-moment correlation and found to be high with a range of r= .82 to .96. An alpha level of .05 was set for all tests of significance. Results from the Music Integration Project showed cooperative learning participants scoring statistically significantly higher on the organization rubric, lesson plan rubric, and total scores than participants in the individualistic learning group. For the microteaching component, participants in the cooperative learning environment scored statistically significantly higher on the Integration Music Observation Map in the areas of: (a) pupils, (b) atmosphere, (c) purpose, (d) authenticity, and (e) degree. On the pre and post Integrated Music Project Interest Survey, participants in the cooperative learning group rated all areas (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) statistically significantly higher than participants in the individualistic learning environment.

Recent trends in immigration in Manitoba and across Canada mean increasing classroom cultural diversity in all levels of the education system. In response to these trends, faculties of Education have tried a variety of ways to better prepare preservice teachers for this increasing classroom cultural diversity. An opportunity provided for preservice teachers in many teacher preparation programs is the chance to participate in international student-teaching practicums. This qualitative case study research explored the potential influence of the Elmwood international student-teaching practicum located in South-east Asia. The results shed light on the influence that personal dispositions have in the overall experiences and perceptions of the practicum participants. The study showed that international student-teaching practicums provide a variety of potentially challenging and valuable experiences. The study concludes with the claim that critically oriented parallel programming and supervision is necessary in the attempt to ensure that these experiences result in the positive personal and professional identity development in those involved.

The aim of this study is to investigate the views of preservice science teachers on science-technology-society, STS, issue. A total of 176 preservice science teachers participated in the study. A 26-item &ldquo / Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS)&rdquo / instrument, translated and adapted into Turkish, were utilized to assess participants&rsquo / views on STS. The VOSTS (Aikenhead, Ryan and Fleming, 1989) is a pool of 114 empirically developed multiple-choice items with nine categories. In order to understand participants&rsquo / views on STS in depth, semi-structured interviews were also conducted by 9 volunteer preservice science teachers. The results gave a colorful picture of the views of preservice science teachers on science-technology-society issue. The analysis revealed that preservice science teachers often confuse the definitions of technology with science. Most of the participants of the study had specific views about the reasons of doing scientific researches in their country, for example, to be independent from other countries, to get financial profit. Results displayed a consensus on the possible positive effects of upbringing and the importance of education given to high school students. According to the data obtained from the present study, respondents possess varied views about the influences of society on science and technology. While preservice science teachers claiming that scientists could break the rules of science, they also claimed scientists as objective in their study. On the other hand, participants supported the view that scientists&rsquo / concern on all the effects of their experiments. Preservice science teachers advocated also that technological developments can be controlled by citizens.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting preservice mathematics teachers&rsquo / decisions on probability teaching. The sample of the study was 248 preservice mathematics teachers from Gazi University, Hacettepe University, and Middle East Technical University. According to the gender the number of females and males were 170 and 78 respectively. To obtain necessary data for the study, the following measuring instruments were used: (1) Probability Achievement Test (PAT) / (2) Probability Misconception Test (PMT) / (3) Attitude toward Probability Teaching Scale (APTS) / (4) Attitude toward Probability Scale (APS). Only the third measuring instrument was developed and its reliability and validity was tested by the researcher. An interview was done with 12 preservice mathematics teachers from Gazi University, Hacettepe University, and Middle East Technical University. The data of the study were analyzed by using SPSS and with qualitative techniques. The results of the study demonstrated that there are some factors affecting preservice mathematics teachers&rsquo / decisions on probability teaching. These factors were their attitude toward probability, probability achievement and misconceptions. Subjects thought that gender would have no affect on their decision on probability teaching.

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors affecting a preservice teacher&rsquo / s perception of technology in relation to subject areas. Study focused on six hundred and ninety six senior preservice teachers (405 female, 288 male, and 3 not stated) from eight different subject areas of Burdur Faculty of Education, S&uuml / leyman Demirel University in Turkey in 2003-2004 Spring semester. A none-experimental survey research design was employed by administrating a Technology Perception Scale (TPS) and a Computer Competency Scale (CCS). Study included four independent variables (gender, subject area, existence of a home computer and perceived computer competency level) and one dependent variable (perception). The study showed that preservice teachers perceive technology in education favorably, but not very favorably. The mean scores of subscales showed the positive effects of technology in education valued more than the effects of teacher training program by preservice teachers. The highest mean score for TPS was observed in classroom teaching preservice teachers and the lowest score was observed in science education. It was also demonstrated that preservice teachers were graduated with a less than moderate level of competency. Classroom teaching preservice teachers possessed the highest mean score, and Turkish education preservice teachers held the lowest mean score. It was also found that males had higher mean scores than females for all scales. Preservice teachers possessing a home computer with Internet access had highest mean scores for all scales. Univariate ANOVA results showed that gender and the perceived computer competency level are the major factors affecting a preservice teacher&rsquo / s perception. It was also revealed that possession of a home computer correlated with perceived computer competency level. Even though there obtained differences among subject areas, subject area was not determined as a significant factor. Under the light of the study results recommendations are suggested for both implication and further studies.

This study indented to explore preservice elementary and secondary science teacher&rsquo / s perception of their professional roles and investigate their reasons of choosing teaching as a profession. To explore the perception of professional roles, metaphorical images were also used as a tool. The present study was conducted during the spring semester of 2004-2005 academic year with a total number of 441 (n=287 females / n=153 males and n=1 gender not provided) senior preservice elementary and secondary science teachers who enrolled in the elementary science and secondary science (biology, physics and chemistry) teacher education programs of three different universities in Ankara. Data were collected utilizing a questionnaire developed by Saban (2003) composed of five basic sections which investigates the participant&rsquo / s perception of teaching as a profession and their roles in instruction process and reasons of choosing teaching as a profession. Data of the present study were analyzed utilizing descriptive and inferential statistics. Analysis of the data showed that preservice teachers perceive their roles mostly with student-centered metaphors and define their selves as pedagogical expert who fosters student&rsquo / s social, emotional, and moral growth. Besides, most of the preservice teachers have altruistic reasons to choose teaching as a profession.