University officials have identified a problem among secondary preservice teachers (SPTs) who have expressed reluctance to teach in local urban schools. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of SPTs regarding their preparation for and experiences with teaching in urban school settings. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and Bruner's concept of scaffolding served as the conceptual frameworks that guided this study. Data were collected from 11 SPTs who completed the requirements of their field service experiences in urban schools. Data collection consisted of individual interviews, one focus group interview, and field observations. Findings showed that SPTs desire to make a difference in urban schools, lack confidence in managing culturally diverse classrooms, and desire more faculty guidance in working with diverse populations. SPTs asserted that they need more research-based teaching strategies and urban field experiences. Implications for social change include more collaboration among university faculty, urban school principals, mentor teachers, and community organizations. Findings may be used to prepare SPTs to serve culturally diverse populations, which may improve students' academic achievement in urban classrooms.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Margaret G. Shroyer / Complex social, racial, economic, and political issues involved in the practice of teaching today require beginning teachers to be informed, skilled, and culturally responsive when entering the classroom. Teacher educators must educate future teachers in ways that will help them teach all children regardless of language, cultural background, or prior knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) novice teachers described and demonstrated culturally responsive teaching strategies using their students’ cultural and academic profiles to inform practice in science and mathematics instruction. This qualitative exploratory case study considered the culturally responsive teaching practices of 12, non-traditional, Latina/o students as they progressed through a distance-based collaborative teacher education program. Qualitative techniques used throughout this exploratory case study investigated cultural responsiveness of these student teachers as they demonstrated their abilities to: a) integrate content and construct knowledge; b) illustrate social justice and prejudice reduction; and c) develop students academically during science and mathematics instruction. In conclusion, student teachers participating in this study demonstrated their ability to integrate content by: (1) including content from other cultures, (2) building positive teacher-student relationships, and (3) holding high expectations for all students. They also demonstrated their ability to facilitate knowledge construction by building on what students knew. Since there is not sufficient data to support the student teachers’ abilities to assist students in learning to be critical, independent thinkers who are open to other ways of knowing, no conclusions regarding this subtheme could be drawn. Student teachers in this study illustrated prejudice reduction by: (1) using native language support to assist students in learning and understanding science and math content, (2) fostering positive student-student interactions, and (3) creating a safe learning environment. Results also indicated that these student teachers demonstrated their ability to develop students academically by creating opportunities for learning in the classroom through their knowledge of students and by the use of research-based instructional strategies. However, based on the data collected as part of this study, the student teachers’ abilities to illustrate or model social justice during science and math instruction were not demonstrated.

The EL (English learner) population is rapidly growing in the United States. ELs most often are finding themselves placed in classrooms without ESOL trained teachers. In the social studies curriculum, United States History often is regarded as one of the hardest courses for newly arrived immigrants due to the unfamiliarity of the content (Dunne & Martell, 2013). The absence of culturally relevant instruction also contributes to the potentially overwhelming nature of the social studies curriculum for ELs. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent teachers’ and tutors’ use of culturally relevant biographies during social studies instruction fosters engagement in social studies instruction among Latino English language learners. The research study was inspired by the work of Margaret Peters, retired Dayton, Ohio United States History teacher and author. In 1969 Peters wrote a book entitled, Striving to Overcome, Negro Achievers. The book featured twenty-one short biographies and pictures of African Americans who had impacted the history of the United States. Peters’ purpose for creating the book was to “free” young Americans from prejudice (Watras, 2012). In significance to this study, eight culturally relevant biographies were available to the participants. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the value of incorporating culturally and linguistically relevant biographies into ESOL social studies instruction. The study answered two questions: (1) How do ESOL teachers and tutors perceive culturally relevant biography integration during United States History instruction? and (2) How does the use of culturally relevant biographies impact teacher and tutor reported student engagement with EL Latino students? The following research methods were employed: participant interviews, field notes, observations, and participant reported student engagement questionnaires. The findings of this study showed benefit for student engagement among Latino ELs. The participant base largely echoed that studying historical individuals relatable to students was better than studying historical events. Participants all said they would use culturally relevant biographies in future instruction.

Project-based learning (PBL) is a teaching approach where students engage in the investigation of real-world problems through their inquiries. Studies found considerable support for PBL on student performance and improvement in grades K-12 and at the collegiate level. However, fewer studies have examined the effects of PBL at the collegiate level in comparison to K-12 education. No studies have examined the effects of PBL with preservice teachers taking educational psychology courses. The purpose of this study was to provide an analysis of PBL with preservice teachers taking educational psychology courses. An experiment was conducted throughout two semesters to evaluate student achievement and satisfaction in an undergraduate educational psychology child development course and in an undergraduate educational psychology assessments course, which included the same students from the first semester. Student achievement was determined using quantitative and qualitative analyses in each semester and longitudinally. Results in semester one indicated that the comparison group outperformed the PBL group. Results in semester two suggested there were no differences in instructional styles between groups. Longitudinal analyses showed that the comparison group declined in performance over time, whereas the PBL group improved over time; although, the comparison group still outperformed the PBL group. Results of this study indicate that PBL was not an influential teaching method for preservice teachers taking educational psychology courses.

Cette thèse porte sur l’étude du processus de façonnage de l’identité professionnelle (IP) de professeurs des écoles en formation initiale (PEFI). Usité dans des contextes institutionnels, professionnels et scientifiques, le concept d’IP revêt un caractère polysémique lui conférant toute sa complexité mais aussi tout son intérêt. Le discours institutionnel témoigne d’une préoccupation souvent réaffirmée mais, paradoxalement, d’une quasi-absence d’évocation explicite de l’IP. Au plan scientifique, la multiplicité des modèles théoriques qui définissent l’IP est à l’origine d’une ambiguïté sémantique la caractérisant. En s’inscrivant dans les théories culturalistes (Engeström, 1999 ; Leontiev, 1975 ; Vygotski, 1960), les postulats de la clinique de l’activité (Clot, 1999), de la psychodynamique du travail (Dejours, 1993) et de l’ergonomie (Wisner, 1995), cette thèse apporte un regard nouveau sur le concept d’IP, en l’appréhendant comme une activité de renormalisation des prescriptions reconnue par soi et par autrui. Menée avec six PEFI, la démarche clinique a permis la reconstitution de leurs itinéraires individuels ainsi que le repérage des caractéristiques communes au façonnage de leur IP. Les résultats mettent en exergue l’identification de quatre « bascules », correspondant aux passages par lesquels passent tous les PEFI dans le processus identitaire. Ces bascules rendent compte du caractère dynamique et singulier du façonnage de l’IP. Elles ont conduit à la construction de scénarios individuels du façonnage identitaire qui rompent avec les scénarios-types retrouvés dans nombre d’études. Des propositions pour penser la formation initiale en termes d’IP sont esquissées. / This thesis focuses on the study of the shaping process of the professional identity (PI) of preservice teachers (PT). Usual in institutional, professional and scientific contexts, the concept of PI is of a polysemous character, which gives it all its complexity and interest. The institutional discourse reflects an often reaffirmed concern about PI, but paradoxically, a virtual absence of explicit mention of it. From a scientific standpoint, the multiplicity of theoretical models that define the PI is at the origin of the semantic ambiguity characterizing it. By entering the culturalist theories (Engeström, 1999; Leontiev, 1975; Vygotsky, 1960), the postulates of clinical activity (Clot, 1999), of psychodynamics (Dejours, 1993) and of ergonomics (Wisner, 1995), this thesis provides a new perspective on the concept of PI, analyzing it as an activity to renormalize Prescriptions as recognized by oneself and by others. Conducted with six PT, the clinical approach allows the reconstruction of their individual routes and the identification of common characteristics in shaping their PI. Results highlight the identification of four turning points, corresponding to the steps common to all PT in the PI process. These turning points reflect the dynamic and unique shaping of the PI. They lead to the construction of scenarios shaping individual identity that break with the typical scenarios found in many studies. Proposals for rethinking initial training in terms of PI are outlined.

Excerpt: In 2010, the state of Tennessee embraced the call to overhaul teacher education and required programs to adopt a residency model within K‐12 schools.

Since 1980, the number of people in the United States who speak a language other than English at home has increased by 140% (United States Census Bureau, 2010). Therefore a greater percentage of students now are multilingual. Throughout the world, multilingualism is considered the norm and monolingualism is the exception (Auer & Wei, 2008). In the United States, however, policies regarding instruction in schools are still influenced by monolingual ideology that carries expectations and assumptions of assimilation, loss of mother tongues, and defined hierarchical structures. As classroom populations become socially, ethnically, racially, and linguistically more diverse, it is increasingly important for teachers to have an understanding of how to address diversity in schools and for educators to understand how language use and the teachers' role in the classroom impacts learning. This paper explored the existing language beliefs and linguistic knowledge of preservice teachers as they prepare to enter linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. The increasing prominence of cross-cultural interactions creates a necessity for teachers to develop intercultural competence. Employing a conceptual framework of intercultural communicative competence theory, this qualitative study investigated experiences and knowledge in linguistics that influence teacher speech acts. Research in fields of applied linguistics such as psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, sociolinguistics, and educational linguistics revealed basic language knowledge that teachers need before they enter diverse classrooms including knowledge of language acquisition, phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, culture, instruction language, and how the brain processes language. The literature from these fields was used to create an instrument that included a demographics questionnaire, beliefs survey, linguistic knowledge assessment, and interview questions. Twenty-three preservice teachers participated in the study to describe their language beliefs and knowledge. Many of the findings in this study reflected key-findings in the literature; however, this study also found several significant findings that extend existing research. The results revealed significant impacts of 1) individual experiences with culture and linguistic contact, 2) the language used in classrooms, specifically languages other than Standard English and the deep and surface structure of language, 3) linguistic knowledge, specifically phonology, 4) meta-cognitive behavior and reflection, and 5) differences between monolingual and multilingual preservice teachers. The data also indicated that the majority of preservice teachers were concerned about preparedness in teaching in diverse classrooms. Implications for teachers working in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms and for teacher preparation programs are discussed.

The purpose of the study is to reveal pre-service teachers&rsquo / technology competencies during their four-year teacher training program at Burdur School of Education, S&uuml / leyman Demirel University in Turkey. The sample size is 1086 students from Primary School Teacher Education department. 262 is 1st year, 269 is 2nd year, 288 is 3rd year, and 265 is 4th year students. 435 are males, and 644 are females. The research design is non-experimental survey. Technology Use Self-Competency scale (TUSS) was used for the study. Reliability of the instrument is .96. The study is indicated that most of the pre-service teachers felt themselves as intermediate technology user. The descriptive, correlation, regression and higher-way ANOVA are applied. Gender, years of computer use and computer ownership and having access to internet variables are associated with significantly to technology use self-competency scores. Also the most useful predictor of technology use self competency is years of computer use. Finally, there is significant difference among categories of computer ownership and internet access, gender, years of computer on technology use self-competency. The recommendations and directions to future researches are presented.

The Education Faculties within the universities are looking to meet the needs of their learners more completely. Teaching and learning strategies are being adopted to make educational provision more flexible by using computer supported collaborative learning environments. However, research has shown that in preservice teacher programs, many teachers do not have a complete knowledge of subject-matter or pedagogical content knowledge. This study investigated how a lesson-planning task within the context of a computer supported collaborative learning environment can facilitate the growth of teacher knowledge, specifically subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge about the teaching of ratio and fraction. The findings from this research showed that using a lesson-planning task facilitated the development of teacher knowledge, specifically subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Within the computer supported collaborative learning community, the preservice teachers were able to articulate their current understandings and re-define their knowledge of fraction and ratio. The thesis concludes with a conceptual framework and some specific guidelines for the design of a scaffolded computer-mediated community and discusses implications for the design of future collaborative learning environments.

This study investigated the teaching experiences of six elementary preservice teachers (EPTs), three with high mathematics anxiety and three with low mathematics anxiety, during their student teaching semester. The EPTs were selected from an initial pool of 121 EPTs who took the Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety Scale. The cases were compared in a cross case analysis to highlight mathematics teaching experiences among EPTs. Data sources included EPT and researcher journal entries, interview transcripts, pre-lesson surveys, field notes, lesson plans, and artifacts of observed lessons. Data were coded using Shulman’s content knowledge, Graeber’s mathematics pedagogical content knowledge, and mathematics anxiety characteristics. Findings revealed both similarities and differences across EPTs as related to four major categories: (a) planning and resources used, (b) role of the cooperating teacher, (c) content knowledge, and (d) pedagogical content knowledge. All EPTs used mostly direct instruction and relied on the course textbook and their respective cooperating teacher as their primary resources for planning. Additionally, across participants, the cooperating teacher influenced EPTs’ perceptions of students and teaching. Also, EPTs with high mathematics anxiety were weaker with respect to content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Findings suggest a need to re-design methods courses to address improving the pedagogical content knowledge of EPTs with mathematics anxiety. Findings also suggest a need to develop content specific mathematics courses for EPTs to improve their content knowledge. Future studies could include a longitudinal study to follow highly anxious EPTs who take content specific elementary mathematics courses to observe their content knowledge and mathematics anxiety.