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The State of Readiness of Initial Level Preservice Middle Grades Science and Mathematics Teachers and Its Implications on Teacher Education Programs
Author(s) -
Bischoff Paul J.,
Hatch Douglas D.,
Watford Lettie J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
school science and mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1949-8594
pISSN - 0036-6803
DOI - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.1999.tb17500.x
Subject(s) - lesson plan , mathematics education , rote learning , competence (human resources) , memorization , lesson study , plan (archaeology) , psychology , pedagogy , teaching method , professional development , cooperative learning , social psychology , archaeology , history
The purpose of this study was to document through interview and videotaped data the current state of readiness of 10 preservice middle grade teachers, regarding their ability to plan, implement, and reflect on an integrated mathematics and science lesson. The results showed that only one student was successful in implementing a lesson that compared favorably to national standards. This student's lesson plan contained minimal pedagogical considerations and consisted primarily of notes emphasizing fine detail of distinction about the content of the lesson using her own examples. The lesson plan and post‐lesson‐plan interview data of the remaining students indicated an adherence to algorithmic learning, rote memorization, and procedural knowledge. There were numerous content errors in the plans, and these students orally described a lack of self‐confidence in their ability to teach this lesson successfully. The most successful student demonstrated her competence in meeting standards of pedagogical content knowledge and was most successful in analyzing her own teaching. The results showed that most subjects of this study needed extensive training in content and pedagogy and in synthesizing these in a way consistent with modern learning theory.