Exploring the meaning of simulated instruction experienced by pre-service early childhood teacher

The purpose of this study is to investigate the meaning of simulated instruction by analyzing it experienced by pre-service early childhood teachers, in order to improve the classroom and the quality of education. The participants are 30 3rd grade students attending early childhood education department of University A in S city. They experienced the simulated instruction every semester and experienced in observation in the university-affiliated kindergarten. The research was conducted from February 27, 2017 to June 16, 2017. The students freely described what they have felt in the simulated experience over the past three years, and they described the process while practicing for 14 weeks. Through repetitive reading, the Received(June 24, 2018), Review Result(July 2, 2018), Accepted(August 10, 2018), Published(September 30, 2018) (Professor) Dept. Early childhood education, Korea National University of Education, Taeseongtabyeon-ro, Gangnae-myeon, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea email: kbrian@knue.ac.kr (Doctor’s course, Corresponding Author) Dept. Early childhood education, Korea National University of Education, Taeseongtabyeon-ro, Gangnae-myeon, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea email: grace-eh@daum.net Exploring the meaning of simulated instruction experienced by pre-service early childhood education teacher Copyright c 2018 HSST 628 meaning, theme, and terms implied in the collected data were found and analyzed by inductive method. As a result, the pre-service early childhood teachers were able to explore the role of early childhood teachers and to establish smooth social relations with their peers through the simulated instruction. They also learned how to write the educational plan, improved teaching ability, and formed the right teacher’s role. Therefore, it is considered that the simulated instruction is a way to cultivate true experts of the early childhood education in an effective and influential way.