The Concept of Teaching Instrument: Measuring Student Teachers' Conceptualizations of Teaching
Whiteford, Timothy James
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/68841
Description
Title
The Concept of Teaching Instrument: Measuring Student Teachers' Conceptualizations of Teaching
Author(s)
Whiteford, Timothy James
Issue Date
1982
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Elementary
Abstract
The dual purposes of this study were to describe the development of an instrument for identifying pre-service teachers' conceptualizations of teaching and to examine the nature of the changes that occur in student teachers' conceptualizations of teaching as identified by the instrument during the student teaching experience. The instrument was designed to identify two primary constructs of a concept. Level of abstractness was used to identify the nature of the conceptual process while degree of comprehensiveness provided a measure of the scope of the conceptual product. It was expected that while subjects' levels of abstractness would remain fairly stable over the student teaching period, degrees of comprehensiveness would increase more for subjects demonstrating higher levels of abstractness than for those possessing lower abstractness levels.
Five research hypotheses were stated: two hypotheses addressed the properties of the instrument, two other hypotheses concerned the nature of conceptual change demonstrated by subjects during student teaching. The fifth hypothesis investigated the effects of a planned intervention strategy upon the degree of comprehensiveness construct for subjects in a small experimental group. Subjects were tested using the Concept of Teaching instrument at the beginning and end of the student teaching semester.
The findings of this study suggest that the Concept of Teaching instrument is a viable research tool for identifying and describing pre-service teachers' conceptualizations of teaching. Stable test-retest scores were obtained when the instrument was administered to the same subjects on two occasions one week apart. Levels of abstractness scores remained fairly stable over the course of the student teaching semester, and high abstractors were found to demonstrate a greater increase in degree of comprehensiveness than were low abstractors. The results of the experimental part of the study were inconclusive due, in part, to the non-representative character of the experimental group at the outset of the investigation.
Implications of this study for theory, research, and pre-service teacher preparation were discussed. Recommendations for future research were also suggested.
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