Student teachers' beliefs and dispositions and their relation to observed classroom practices
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Tenisha LaNae Tolbert, PhD (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- C. Chris Payne
Abstract: "The primary purpose of this study sought to examine the relationship between student teachers' beliefs and classroom practices with regards to developmentally appropriate practice, from the perspective of Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory. The influence of age of student teacher, prior experience and having an Associate's Degree prior to entering the university's teacher licensure program were examined. To investigate the relation between student teachers' beliefs and observed classroom practices, nineteen student teachers enrolled in HDF 460: Professional Experience in Early Childhood, participated in this study. Their participation included completing surveys to obtain demographic information and to assess their beliefs concerning developmentally appropriate practices. Student teachers also had to conduct videotaped lessons and activities in their student teaching placement. In addition, nine cooperating teachers filled out a set of two questionnaires to obtain demographic information and to assess their beliefs about the importance of various classroom developmentally appropriate practices. All nineteen student teacher participants were recruited from a North Carolina University and were seeking Birth-Kindergarten Licensure. All 9 cooperating teachers who also participated in this study were employed in the local Public School System and had previously had a student teacher from the participating university. The results reveal that having an Associate's Degree prior to entering the teacher licensure program did not significantly influence reported developmentally appropriate beliefs. However, having at least one year of prior experience and being a non-traditional student did positively influence those student teachers who were placed in pre-k classrooms in their reported developmentally appropriate beliefs. The findings also indicate that cooperating teachers' reported beliefs did not appear to have influence on their student teacher's observed practices, although the sample size was limited. The study provided evidence that all the student teachers started out with relatively high reported appropriate beliefs and retained them and the only change was an increase in reported beliefs for those placed in kindergarten classrooms. Implications for pre-service professional development and future research are addressed."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.
Student teachers' beliefs and dispositions and their relation to observed classroom practices
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Created on 8/1/2006
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2006
- Keywords
- student teachers, beliefs, classroom practices, Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory, Associates Degree
- Subjects
- Student teachers--United States--Attitudes
- Early childhood education--Study and teaching
- Early childhood teachers--Training of