This design research study describes how one mentor teacher-teacher candidate dyad co-learned to promote student engagement and participation through using a "Collaborative Learning Structure" (CLS) tool that we are developing. We share how the dyad used the CLS, with support from a professional development facilitator and fellow…

This paper forwards discourse analysis as a productive way to consider the ways in which the possibilities available for middle grades preservice teachers in justice-oriented teacher education programs are complicated by larger discourses relating to teacher neutrality and teacher education as a transformational narrative. To illustrate this,…

The researchers used Gorski's continuum of five approaches to multicultural education--which extends from conservative to liberal and then critical--to analyze 40 syllabi from required or elective courses for candidates seeking licensure to teach in the middle grades (grades 4-9). While the researchers found evidence of all five approaches within…

This research studied the impact of integrating virtual laboratories in chemistry lessons among 22 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a Bachelor of Education program, focusing on middle and high school science. These participants were systematically divided into an experimental group (EG) and a control group. Both groups engaged in the same…

In prior work, we fit the mixture Rasch model to item responses from a fractions survey administered to a nationwide sample of middle grades mathematics teachers in the United States. The mixture Rasch model located teachers on a continuous, unidimensional scale and fit best with 3 latent classes. We used item response data to generate initial…

Given the centrality of angle in mathematics curricula and scarcity of research in this area, we investigated 64 PTs' assimilatory domains of angularity by analyzing the angles they indicated when presented with four segments mutually sharing an endpoint. In both interview and written settings, we found PTs were more likely to recognize convex…

This study examined the development of prospective teachers' (PTs) understanding of productive struggle using video episodes which PTs analyzed through the lens of professional teacher noticing. Our qualitative study included 66 PTs in four sections of a semester-long mathematics content course for prospective elementary and middle school teachers…

Teacher candidates in North Carolina must earn a passing score on the edTPA assessment to get certified. The middle grades education program at Western Carolina University integrates aspects of the edTPA assessment throughout pre-student teaching coursework and field experiences to prepare candidates for this high-stakes assessment. Some of the…

The purpose of this study was to compare the concept images and hierarchical classification skills of students at different educational levels (middle school, high school, and university) regarding parallelograms. In this study, a cross-sectional research design was utilized. The study group consisted of a total of 357 students from middle school…

Promoting pre-service teachers' development of professional dispositions through purposefully designed learning experiences may be middle level teacher education's most important contribution to a novice's development from student to teacher. The 2022 Revised Middle Level Teacher Preparation Standards explicitly address this expectation in…

This study investigates a range of non-normative ideas that pre-service teachers (PSTs) employ in reasoning about sampling variability. This issue was studied in the context of a content course on statistics and probability for pre-service middle grade teachers at a Midwestern American university. Analysis of seven PSTs' video and screen records…

Problem posing is an indispensable constituent of mathematical thinking, which makes it a requisite ability for students of all grades. Therefore, pre- and in-service teachers should carry out problem posing activities of high quality, and having them pose non-routine problems may be a good way to make this happen. In this context, this study…

The purpose of this study is to examine pre-service middle school mathematics teachers' (mis)conceptions related to definitions, classifications, and inclusion relations of convex quadrilaterals through a case study research design. The participants of the study were 20 pre-service middle school mathematics teachers who attended a must course,…

This paper explores the nature of prospective teachers' noticing of students' understanding as they analyze and discuss middle school students' understandings of trapezoids in micro-case videos in the context of geometry. In this exploratory study, the data were obtained from eight prospective middle school mathematics teachers through individual…

We present an empirically based model for teaching about planning in pre-service science teacher education as part of on-campus courses. Planning is usually taught through the introduction of theoretically based planning models, but these models commonly assume a linear idea of planning that does not match how teachers go about planning. We…