Physical education teacher education (PETE) programs require authentic, quality field experiences for their preservice teachers. Faculty often seek alternative experiences to public-school placements due to limited space, class size, location, and overwhelmed local schools. One opportunity in the surrounding community of many universities is the…

In an effort to prepare American high school students for future careers, many states have implemented specific career readiness standards and programs. One such program is known as Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO), which are hands-on, credit-bearing experiences outside of the classroom with an emphasis on community-based career exploration.…

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a secondary physical education methods course and early field experience, supplemented with reflective discussions via Twitter, on subjective theories of physical education. The course was organized using recommendations from the occupational socialization theory literature. Participants…

When most people think "King Island," they think of a place synonymous with premium Australian dairy products. But hidden away from the lush, green pastures of grazing cows is an island teeming with invertebrate and plant species. You could probably eat some of those too, but that wasn't the intent of the Bush Blitzers who set off to…

The recent push toward active learning -- engaging students in the learning process -- is meant to benefit students. Yet there is still much to learn about students' perceptions of this phenomenon. We share results from an interview study of students' perceptions of features of two active learning models institutionalized at a large…

Preparing prospective mathematics teachers to become teachers who recognize and respond to students' mathematical needs is challenging. In this study, we use the construct of critical incident as a tool to support prospective mathematics teachers' reflection on their authentic fieldwork activities, notice students' thinking, and link it to the…

Purpose: Grounded in self-determination theory, this study examined factors of secondary early field experiences that preservice teachers consider significant and how these experiences impact them as educators. Method: Preservice teachers (N = 13) completed two 10-week early field experiences, one at each level--middle school and high school. Data…

Field experiences are an important element of paleontological knowledge building. However, there is little information about the effects field experiences have on science stewardship and personal growth in high school learners. This pilot study analyzed the reflections of a group of female and male 9th grade U.S. high school students (N = 72) on…

Background and Context: To offer more experiences in the field, our study employed secondary school pre-service teachers as assistants in courses for secondary school students learning computer coding with the help of smart textiles. Objective: Did pre-service teachers assisting in CS courses have more highly developed pedagogical content…

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the ways in which physical education teacher education (PETE) prepares preservice physical education teachers (PPETs) to select and implement appropriate assessments. Methods: PPETs (N = 14) enrolled in the secondary teaching methods course at two US universities participated in the study. Semi-structured…

Despite the importance of learning to teach writing, many preservice teachers do not take a writing course as part of their teacher preparation. For those universities that do offer a writing methods course, teacher educators face challenges in designing responsive and rigorous clinical experiences especially since writing is often under taught in…

The researcher's goal is to instill a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world by encouraging students to think critically and gather information from numerous sources. By introducing field experiences and primary sources into the curriculum, student engagement increased. Students were able to make a personal connection with their studies and…

Teachers in Namibian government schools have to cope with a lack of textbooks and must teach content-rich subjects, specifically geography, with limited resources. The literature makes it clear that fieldwork and outdoor learning play essential roles in understanding and conceptualising geography. The challenge is that such beneficial and planned…

The FCE (field-based chemistry experiment) model was developed to cultivate pre-service science teachers' ability to teach chemistry experiments in secondary classrooms. We describe the process of developing the FCE model and student activities via feedback from experts and analysis of the implemented program. This study evaluated the…

To expand the field component of our secondary education program, we added service-learning field experiences to three courses. This qualitative study (n = 99) was designed to determine what our students learned from participating in these experiences and to examine whether the experiences supported our programmatic goals. The findings demonstrate…