Student teachers explain changes in their thinking

Abstract

This study described the reflections student teachers made as they compared their pre‐ and post‐student teaching responses and explained changes in those responses at the conclusion of a semester‐long student teaching field experience. Several paper‐and‐pencil tasks, including a concept map task, were administered at the beginning and end of the fourteen‐week student teaching semester. In post‐interviews, individual student teachers were asked to compare their pre‐ and post‐student teaching conceptions. Their responses indicated that intrapersonal and interpersonal sources led to changes in their thinking. Explanations for those changes were seen as method‐centric, authority‐centric, and climate‐centric. Examining the responses contributes to a growing understanding of the effects of field experience on the thinking of new teachers; it identifies the need for more reflection generated by practice during the many changes that occur in the student teaching semester.