This study examined the experiences of elementary education teacher candidates in a servicelearning literacy methods course in which they were placed in two public school settings-- one urban elementary school and one urban laboratory school. This was teacher candidates initial field experience in elementary classrooms. Teacher candidates explored…

This paper reports the results of a study conducted in an elementary education mathematics methods course aimed at increasing elementary preservice teachers' (EPTs) level of professional noticing. Weekly reflections conducted by EPTs from tutoring sessions were video recorded and scored using the Framework for Learning to Notice Student…

Preservice elementary teachers' attitudes towards mathematics are often negatively influenced by their K-12 education. Accordingly, teacher educators must allow preservice elementary teachers to experience mathematical instruction differently to change their attitudes toward mathematics and their conceptions about what it means to teach and learn…

Previous studies of prospective elementary mathematics teachers' mathematics anxiety have documented that many prospective teachers often worry about managing their repeated experiences of anxiety while developing their pedagogical and content knowledge to teach mathematics. The literature further indicates the importance of developing learning…

Acknowledging that our professional development (or methods course) was not going as well as we had hoped was difficult. However, knowing what to do and correcting the problem was even more challenging. This article explains how we engaged teachers in helping us rethink our video club by listening to and acting on their ideas. Through "coffee…

This study explored the use of digital notebooks in an elementary science methods course to encourage teacher candidates (TCs) to think critically about and reflect on important aspects of elementary science teaching. Framed within John Dewey's experiential education and the application of this work to science education, we examined how TCs…

In this study, three math and three science teacher educators (TEs) were positioned as designers of instruction. The investigation considered how TEs supported preservice teachers (PSTs) to learn to facilitate argumentation discussions using two digital simulations. Research questions were (a) How did TEs engage in instructional design around the…

The senior-level capstone course, HDFS 442 Strategies of Family Life Education, in the Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) major at a small, private university in the Mid-Atlantic region meets the National Council on Family Relations' "family life education methodology" content area for this Certified Family Life…

We discuss the evolution of an instructional unit for supporting prospective elementary and middle grades' teachers' conceptions of fractions as measures. We first studied prospective teachers' conceptions of fractions using a task-based written assessment with discrete, linear, and circle representations. We designed an instructional unit that…

This study analyzes the use of community-based pedagogy in a social studies methods course to encourage teacher candidates to initiate similar practices in the classroom. Through a culturally sustaining framework, community-based pedagogy encourages teacher candidates to center the assets, knowledge, and experiences of students, families, and…

This article reports on a national survey of post-secondary mathematics instructors (n = 458) of mathematics courses designed for elementary teachers. The article links the use of various instructional practices to instructor characteristics. Specifically, there were statistically significant differences in reported use of class time depending on…

Purpose: This article describes an effort to ease the tension between boundary spanning roles for interns participating in a yearlong Professional Development School (PDS) program. In order to do this, the structure of a Social Studies Methods course was revised to mimic a professional learning community (PLC) and assignments were not evaluated…

This research investigated pre-service teachers' (PSTs) experiences with productive struggle in an online environment, and how it influenced their pedagogical knowledge. This action research study reports on secondary mathematics pre-service teachers (PSTs) who completed mathematical tasks in weekly synchronous Zoom sessions to develop their…

Accompanying a senior methods course, 19 teacher candidates at Southeastern Louisiana University participated in a semester-long social studies fifth grade mentorship at an International Baccalaureate World School. Teacher candidates identified factors they perceived to affect the success of the experiential learning experience through…

This study examined the impact of action research conducted by five science teaching methods course instructors on their students' perceptions of the classroom learning environments at a large public university in Texas. The study analyzed the results from 133 students who completed two administrations of the What is Happening in this Class…