Non Traditional Pre-Service Teacher Experiences as Assistant Professional Development Trainers and as Scientific Research Apprentice
Findings from the research apprenticeship provide some evidence indicating that engaging pre-service teachers in research experiences improves their research skills and content knowledge, as reported by themselves, the researchers and their graduate student mentors and demonstrated through their presentation in the Research Symposium. These pre-service teachers expressed a willingness to do scientific research and teach research skills to their students; and those who had had teaching experiences when interviewed, because they were in-service or in their teaching practicum, mentioned that they had already put into practice research-oriented activities in their classrooms.
Findings also suggest that the PD training assistantship helped pre-service teachers to enhance the development of many of the capabilities that the TPP program intended them to develop, especially those related to mastery of content knowledge and planning and implementation of teaching. They gave specific details of how these and other capabilities were enhanced. Moreover, they also reported the development of fruitful relationships with trainers and teachers that would serve as their resources to enhance their teaching practicum and future teaching profession.
These findings imply that the studied non traditional pre-service teacher experiences have promoted benefits for the educational development of the participants in their process of becoming competent MS teachers. The TPP programs should consider these experiences as important enhancement alternatives to provide MS education majors with a continuous set of opportunities for diverse real-life learning experiences within their curriculum.
References
National Research Council (2001), How people learn. Committee on How People Learn, J.D. Bransford and M.S. Donovan, Editors. Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
National Science Teachers Association (2003) Standards for Science Teacher Preparation, Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association.
Raphael, J., Tobias, S., & Greenberg, R. (1999). Research experience as a component of science and mathematics teacher preparation. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 10(2), 147-159.
