This study examined early field-based experiences to determine their impact on prospective teachers' perspectives towards teaching. Results indicate that university supervisors need to help students see connections between theory and practice and to establish field placements that allow time for instructional experimentation. (MT)

The author describes the early field experience program at Washburn University designed to help preservice teachers become more reflective, experimental, and empowered as curriculum developers and implementors. (Author/MT)

Findings of an ethnographic study of student teaching experiences in a program emphasizing field-based practicums are explored. What students do in practicum sites, what influences behavior, ideas, attitudes, and different ways students respond to placement are described. Also discussed are how these findings are related to theoretical constraints…

Four cultural conditions within universities impede significant reform of field experiences in teacher education: lack of resources, low status, fragmented curriculum, and professional perspectives of teacher educators. Recommendations are made for altering the purpose of field experiences to include more than the acquisition of technical…

Critics of Early Field Experience (EFE) for preservice teachers have cited a need for shifting focus away from logistical questions (e.g., quantity of time spent in the field, legal questions, administrative schedules) and toward promoting a critically meaningful educational experience for preservice teachers. This paper describes an EFE at…

A study was made of an early field practicum, in elementary education, which theoretically emphasized quantity and diversity in the students' field experiences and allowed them the opportunity to apply newly acquired curriculum methods and theories. Ten student teachers were intensively interviewed and observed over a six month period. It was…

An ethnographic study of 12 student teachers in an elementary school field-based program determined, through observation and interviews, how they reacted to the socializing process that is an integral factor in practicum experiences. Institutional and social forces that shaped these preservice teachers' behaviors and ideas were the elementary…

Student teachers were observed at their practicum sites and in their university courses to determine the relationship of education courses to field experiences in an elementary education program designed to integrate these two components. The curriculum and nature of instruction found at the practicum sites were highly structured, predetermined,…

A three-part program in elementary teacher education was initiated as an experimental and alternative approach to a traditional teacher education program, and students and faculty members in this elementary education program (EEP) were observed and interviewed during two university quarters (six months). The EEP was organized around three…

This study explored how preservice elementary teachers experienced coursework and field experiences that fostered commitment to socially and pedagogically progressive teaching, especially development of against-the-grain perspectives. Interviews and observations indicated that against-the-grain perspectives evolved from complex interactions of…