| The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate how preservice teachers plan and what their planning revealed about their understanding of teaching. The study was based primarily on direct observations, lesson plans, and interviews with three preservice teachers during their junior and senior years in the Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) program. Preservice teachers' ways of knowing about learning to plan and to teach are influenced by the situations they encounter in the course of becoming teachers. The kinds of learning experiences they have in their teacher preparation programs in large part affect the teachers they will become in the future. This research of preservice teachers is based on teacher knowledge, teacher beliefs, and cognitive psychology as seen through a multiple-framework perspective based on constructivism, situated learning, and personal, practical knowledge.; In the fall of 2004, a pilot study was conducted on preservice teacher planning with four preservice teachers. Results indicated that both lesson plans and instruction tended to focus on sets of activities, keeping students busy irrespective of learning objectives. Three of the four of the pilot preservice teachers later agreed to participate in the main dissertation research. It was found that four common phenomena influenced their later planning for instruction: confidence, organization and control, equipment, and motivation. All three participants showed shifts in planning, confidence, and teaching behavior. An important aspect of the results was that not all preservice teachers learn the same things from the same field-based teaching experiences. The data also indicated that more reflection and debriefing is needed in PETE programs in order for preservice teachers to reorganize their understanding of teaching and learning. Future research is needed to examine cognitive shifts in preservice teachers in order to understand how we may assist in their development in physical education teacher education programs. |
