Geoscientists use spatial thinking skills in many common tasks, such as adding a third dimension to two-dimensional maps by drawing cross-sections or envisioning rock fabrics from a single hand sample or exposure. Field courses allow students to practice and develop those skills in authentic settings. This study examines the development of spatial…

Improving the use of evidence in teacher preparation is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities for our field. The chapters in this volume explore how data availability, quality, and use within and across preparation programs shed light on the structures, policies, and practices associated with high quality teacher preparation. Chapter…

In the Australian state of Victoria, the city of Melbourne endured the world's longest number of lockdown days, with severe government health orders and travel restrictions in place for extended periods of 2020 and 2021. In common with others, we found the provision of field teaching in introductory geology, structural geology, and volcanology,…

Field instruction is a crucial component of natural sciences education. The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted many university courses to an online format, significantly impacting field instruction. FRST 350, "Foundational Field School," is an 8-day University of British Columbia Forestry field course taught to incoming transfer students from…

In 2011, the authors developed a new study abroad course in China as part of the University of Colorado Denver Global Study program. The program focused on short-term, intensive, international field study conducted during the three-week break period between the spring and summer semesters. The course, "Sustainability Along the Yangtze,"…

This case study explored pre-service teachers' (PSTs) efforts to consider the integration of digital technology as they learned to use their developing TPACK to plan literacy instruction. PSTs were introduced to the Technology Integration Planning Cycle (TIPC; Hutchison & Woodward, 2014) to support their learning. They observed modeling of the…

The purpose of this mixed-methods research was to investigate changes in preservice elementary teachers' science teacher identities and self-efficacy beliefs as they participate in a field-based science methods course. A total of 121 preservice teachers participated, four of which were purposefully selected who held varied initial levels of…

Currently, the use of technology in education has become more popular. Special attention has been given to the adaptation of computer technology into the teaching-learning process for effective learning and increasing students' achievement. In recent years, it has been realized that there is an immense benefit in applying computer technology in…

The third pillar of technology infusion is practice, providing numerous opportunities in multiple settings for teacher candidates to practice teaching with technology and to reflect on their experiences. Drawing from sociocultural theories of learning and change, this article offers a theoretical justification of this pillar and unpacks how…

Plant identification is a critical skill for students in biological sciences, especially forestry. Many students begin with limited plant identification abilities and struggle to learn this skill. To support student learning of identification and ecological characteristics of important forest plants in an undergraduate forest ecology course at the…

The Field Instructor Supervision Scale (FISS) measures field instructor supervision behaviors and can be completed by undergraduate and graduate students in diverse practicum settings. The FISS was validated over 4 years with 684 undergraduate and graduate social work students. The final FISS included 18-items and had two subscales: task support…

This is the tale of 74 teacher education candidates whose final student teaching field experiences were abruptly interrupted due to school and university closures. Ways they continued their student teaching amidst switching to online instruction are presented. University support for teacher candidates and classroom teachers is documented.…

There is a dearth of research on the evaluation of the psychometric performance of instruments designed to measure students' generalist-level social work competencies. There is also uncertainty on the performance of various response option formats used to measure students' competencies in assessment instruments. Using a sample of 198 master of…

Given the current lack of connection between people and the natural environment, the goal of this research was to explore if and how an educational program could impact an individual's sense of place, and environmental stewardship attitudes and behaviors. To address this question, I examined these impacts with a cohort of participants in the UC…

This research used a one shot, comparative, thematic analysis to listen for, analyze, and explicate: (1) best practices in teaching specialist level advocacy skills at micro, mezzo and macro levels, (2) the field instructors' motivators that affected their prioritization of learning objectives, (3) obstacles to prioritize the teaching of these…