As a result of the increased inclusion of engineering and computer science standards for K-6 schools nationwide, there is a need to better understand how teacher educators can help develop preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) teaching self-efficacy in these areas. Ed+gineering provides novel opportunities for PSTs to experience teaching and learning engineering and coding content by building COVID-companion robots. Growing evidence supports robotics as a powerful approach to STEM learning for PSTs. In this study, Ed+gineering examined three cases to explore this overarching question: In what ways did PSTs’ virtual robotics project experience develop their self-efficacy for teaching engineering and coding? Three PST cases were examined, within the context of their work with other team members (i.e., undergraduate engineering student(s), 5th graders). To understand each of three PSTs’ virtual robotics project experiences, multiple data sources were collected and analyzed which includes mid- and post-semester CATME, end of course short-answer reflections, follow up interviews (including a modified Big Five personality inventory), and Zoom session recordings. Elementary PSTs Brenda, Erica, and Sarah experienced various levels of commitment and engagement in their five Zoom sessions. These factors, along with other personal and external influences, contributed to Bandura’s four identified sources of self-efficacy. This study examines these contributing factors to create an initial working model of how PSTs develop teaching self-efficacy. In this conference session, science teacher educators will learn more about this model and pedagogical decisions that seemed to influence PST’s self-efficacy for teaching engineering and computer science.
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The self as noticer: Supporting preservice teachers’ developing awareness.
Gaining insight into how one’s noticing shapes decision-making can enable a teacher to reflect on how they frame, interpret, and respond to classroom activity and disrupt the influence of dominant ideologies. Working in the context of teacher education, we conjectured that systematically analyzing and reflecting on their own noticing can enable preservice teachers (PSTs) in mathematics to develop more equitable practices. Using data from summative assignments in a course on advancing equitable teaching, we investigate how PSTs use lenses of equitable teaching to make sense of their noticing and develop conceptions of equity. Analysis reveals that PSTs engaged in meaningful reflection and adopted terms from the course but avoided discussing the sociopolitical dimensions of instruction. These findings have implications for course design and facilitation in the context of developing PSTs’ noticing for equity.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1661164
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10424825
- Editor(s):
- Lischka, A. E.; Dyer, E. B.; Jones, R. S.; Lovett, J. N.; Strayer, J.; Drown, S.
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 44th annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1255-1264
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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