The beliefs and perceptions of pre-service teachers enrolled in a subject-area dominant teacher education program about “Effective Education”

Teaching and Teacher Education 22 (2006) 946–960

The beliefs and perceptions of pre-service teachers enrolled in asubject-area dominant teacher education program about

‘‘Effective Education’’$

S. Aslı Ozgun-Kocaa,�, Ahmet Ilhan S-enb

aTeacher Education Department, College of Education, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USAbDepartment of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education, College of Education, Hacettepe University, Beytepe, Ankara 06532, Turkey

Abstract

Teacher educators and researchers have studied the improvement of teacher education programs so that pre-service

teachers may be well prepared. Research has shown that not only teachers’ knowledge but also their beliefs have major

influence on their approach to teaching. This present research examined the mathematics and science pre-service teachers’

beliefs and perceptions in Turkey. Specifically, the study focused on the student–teachers’ perspectives on ‘‘effective

education’’ at the end of their subject area dominant program before the student teaching and the changes in those beliefs

after having teaching experience. Many pre-service teachers described the teacher-centered environment as effective, and

those who supported a student-centered environment discussed difficulties they faced in creating it during student and full-

time teaching.

r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Effective education; Teacher education programs; Pre-service teachers; Beliefs; Perceptions

1. Introduction

There has been no consensus in mathematics orscience education on what the curriculum should beand how it should be taught, and there has been nouniversal agreement upon what an effective teachereducation program should entail. Teacher educatorsand researchers have been continuously evaluatingways to improve teacher education programs in

order for pre-service teachers to be well prepared toenter the field. For example, some important issuesin teacher education programs are organization,content, and the number of subject area andeducation courses. It has been shown that being‘‘good at’’ doing mathematics or science does notequate to being ‘‘good at’’ teaching them. Good andprofound content knowledge should be supportedwith a sound pedagogical approach:

Teaching effectiveness, defined as the ability toproduce desired changes within the classroom, hasbeen found to relate positively to the number ofeducation courses taken by teachers, their gradesas student teachers, and teaching experience.

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www.elsevier.com/locate/tate

0742-051X/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.tate.2006.04.036

$This work was supported by a research grant from Hacettepe

University Scientific Research Section, Ankara, Turkey (Grant

no. 0201704002).�Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 313 5770944.

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Aslı Ozgun-Koca),

[email protected] (A. Ilhan S-en).

(Committee on Science and Mathematics TeacherEducation (CSMTP), 2000, p. 4).

The essential competencies of an effective teacherare command of subject, preparation in effectivepedagogical practice, and high overall academicperformance. (American Council on Education(ACE), 1999, p. 5).

Stein (2001) notes that it is time to take an activerole in improving the pre-service training of physicsteachers and informs educators about PhysTEC, thePhysics Teacher Preparation Coalition. ‘‘PhysTECwas proposed as the mechanism for augmenting therole of physics departments to better prepare futureteachers’’ (Stein, 2001, p. 424). As PhysTEC itselfcontends:

It aims to help physics and education facultywork together to provide an education for futureteachers that emphasizes a student-centered,hands-on, inquiry-based approach to learningscience. (Physic Teacher Education Coalition,n.d.).

Both general education courses and pedagogicalcourses specific to a subject area have taken theirplace among the core courses in teacher educationprograms.

Effective teaching requires knowing and under-standing mathematics, students as learners, andpedagogical strategies. (National Council ofTeachers of Mathematics (NCTM), 2000, p. 17).

Skilled teachers of science have special under-standings and abilities that integrate their knowl-edge of science content, curriculum, learning,teaching, and students. (National ResearchCouncil (NRC), 1996, p. 62).

However, there are other influences on establishingteachers’ professional development beyond teachereducation programs. Even though pre-service tea-chers take many courses within their program andgain experience in the field, their beliefs about theirsubject area and its teaching are also shaped by theirexperiences as students. Research has shown thatthese beliefs have major influences on their profes-sion (Ball, Lubienski, & Mewborn, 2001; Borko &Putnam, 1996; Holt-Reynolds, 1992; NCTM, 1991;Pajares, 1992; Prawat, 1992; Richardson, 1996;Stipek et al., 2001; Thompson, 1984, 1992).

Fennema and Franke (1992) offer a model forunderstanding mathematics teachers’ complexknowledge (see Fig. 1).

As can be observed from the model, in addition tothe different types of knowledge, there are beliefsand experiences which help teachers to digest andconstruct knowledge while becoming a teacher.

Those who teach mathematics bring with themexperiences as learners in mathematics classesfrom elementary school through their collegeuniversity careers. These experiences influencethe ways they think the teaching process, theirchoice of teaching as a career, and subsequentways in which they are involved with professionaldevelopment programs. (NCTM, 1991, p. 123).

As a result of those experiences, strong beliefs aboutthe subject area or the way it should be taught areformed. Teacher education programs should incor-porate courses that offer ways to construct teachers’knowledge in a coherent way in addition toexposing pre-service teachers to the theoreticalaspects of teaching. But when the time comes toteach, pre-service teachers may exhibit instructionalpractices inconsistent with the theory, but consistentwith their experiences and the way they best learned(Raymond, 1997; VanLeuvan, 1997). They mayeven embrace the knowledge acquired during theprogram, and state the knowledge as if it is theirown belief for teaching and learning. However, theymay still show discrepancies between their proposedbeliefs about the subject area, teaching, and learningand their instructional practices.

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Fig. 1. ‘‘Teachers’ knowledge developing in context’’ (Fennema

& Franke, 1992, p. 162). Reprinted with permission from

Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning,

copyright 1992 by the National Council of Teachers of

Mathematics. All rights reserved.

S. Aslı Ozgun-Koca, A. Ilhan S- en / Teaching and Teacher Education 22 (2006) 946–960 947

The present study aims to reveal Turkish mathe-matics and physics pre-service teachers’ beliefs andperceptions about ‘‘effective education’’ before andafter their student teaching. The phrase ‘‘studentteaching’’ stands for the teaching practice that pre-service teachers experience when they go to schoolsand teach as a part of their teacher educationprogram requirements. The teacher education pro-gram in which they were enrolled was dominated bysubject-area content. The number of courses andcontent required of students in their subject areawas overwhelming compared to what was requiredin education courses and fieldwork. The graduationrequirement from this particular university included12–15 core and elective courses in mathematics/science, 4–6 general education courses, one course inmathematics/science education methods, one seme-ster for field experience, and other core or electivecourses such as science and educational technology.The amount of general education courses couldvary for different universities, from as little as 3 toas many as 7. Thus, it was essential to examinethe beliefs and perceptions of pre-service teachersabout ‘‘effective education’’ when the main focus inthe program was developing their subject areaknowledge.

This present study examined pre-service teachers’beliefs and perceptions about the teaching profes-sion at the end of their 4-year program, before andafter student teaching. Central concerns were:connections between the subject area and itsinstruction, how learning occurs, what an effectiveteaching and learning environment should include,the association of their beliefs and instructionalpractice in the field, and if any, the changes in theirbeliefs and perceptions after teaching experiencesboth as pre-service and beginning teachers.

The results of this study will inform teachereducators who develop and evaluate teacher educa-tion programs of the relationship between programcontent and student’s beliefs. Teacher educatorswith a subject area focus in particular can gain aninsight as to how much room is left for pre-serviceteachers to form pedagogical content knowledge.The recommendations will be made in order toprepare pre-service teachers not only as goodscientists but also as good educators.

2. Previous research on the beliefs and perceptions of

pre-service teachers about effective teaching

Many research studies have examined pre-serviceor in-service teachers’ beliefs from different aspects

with various methods (Thompson, 1992). It hasbeen confirmed by many researchers that teachers’beliefs about teaching and learning their subjectarea significantly influence their performance in theclassroom and in their students’ learning (Ball,Lubienski, & Mewborn, 2001; Borko & Putnam,1996; Holt-Reynolds, 1992; NCTM, 1991; Pajares,1992; Prawat, 1992; Richardson, 1996; Stipek et al.,2001; Thompson, 1984, 1992). It is well known thatthose beliefs are shaped during the long years oftheir own education as well as in their teachereducation program. Both theoretical and practicalparts of the teacher education programs may havedifferent effects on pre-service teachers. Orion andThompson (1999) for example, reported that bothEnglish–Welsh and Israeli pre-service secondaryscience teachers demonstrated progressive ideasabout science education and changed their percep-tions about teaching after their initial teachereducation courses.

However, field experiences and student teachinghave more profound influences on creating bothpositive and negative beliefs towards teachingpractices (Cooney et al., 1998; Lowery, 2002;Mewborn, 1999). On this issue, research has impliedthat more time in the field helps teachers to developprofessionally and acquire positive attitudes (Low-ery, 2002). Moreover, student teaching allowedteachers to gain more confidence and reflect moreabout the teaching and learning of their subject area(Cooney et al., 1998; Mewborn, 1999).

Even when pre-service teachers graduate and startteaching, they go through a process of knowledgeconstructing and belief structuring. With day-to-dayteaching, mentoring, and support from the adminis-tration, beginning teachers develop new experiencesand beliefs which outline their practices in theclassroom (Gustafson et al., 2002). Cahill and Skamp(2003) studied 28 novice science teachers’ perceptionsof the factors affecting their confidence to teachscience. They reported that pre-service science tea-chers rated the pre-service science curriculum/meth-odology studies and practicum units as a strong,positive influence on teachers’ confidence levels.

Many researchers also conducted studies aboutteachers’ beliefs about Effective Teaching (Beyerbach& Smith, 1990; Hanrahan & Tate, 2001; Jones &Vesilind, 1994; Minor et al., 2002, Palmer, 1999; Rinket al., 1994; VanLeuvan, 1997). When asked abouteffective teacher/teaching, pre-service and in-serviceteachers brought two issues to the light: student/learner centeredness (Hanrahan & Tate, 2001; Minor

ARTICLE IN PRESSS. Aslı Ozgun-Koca, A. Ilhan S- en / Teaching and Teacher Education 22 (2006) 946–960948

et al., 2002; VanLeuvan, 1997) and classroommanagement (Beyerbach & Smith, 1990; Minoret al., 2002). Certainly there were other componentsto an effective teacher profile such as providingdifferent opportunities for students having diverselearning styles (Hanrahan & Tate, 2001), goodcontent knowledge (Beyerbach & Smith, 1990),planning, and the use of hands-on and integratedactivities (Palmer, 1999). Some studies focusedmainly on field experience and student teachingperiods in order to study pre-service teachers’ beliefsabout effective teaching. VanLeuvan (1997) usedconcept maps in order to study changes in thebeliefs of 26 secondary student teachers regardingteacher effectiveness and effective teaching duringthe supervision. In their pre-maps, student teachersfocused on the instructional methods and socialaspects of teaching. However, in their post-maps,pre-service teachers emphasized about classroommanagement and curriculum/planning entries.

However, having solid subject knowledge andeducational background, and strong beliefs does notresult in line practices in the classroom. When thetime comes to teach, teachers may often demon-strate inconsistencies in their supposed beliefs(Chen, 2002; Raymond, 1997; VanLeuvan, 1997).Raymond (1997) reported that beginning elemen-tary teachers’ practices were more related to theirbeliefs about mathematics content than pedagogyand also added that ‘‘although beginning elemen-tary school teachers often enter the teachingprofession with nontraditional beliefs about howthey should teach, when faced with constraints ofactual classroom teaching, they tend to implementmore traditional classroom practices’’ (p. 573).

We now turn to the discussion on the beliefs andperceptions of Turkish mathematics and physicspre-service teachers who are enrolled in a subject-area dominant program. The research question ofthe present study is:

By the end of their 4-year program, what are thepre-service teachers’ beliefs and perceptionsabout effective teaching and learning beforeand after student teaching?

3. Methodology

3.1. Participants

Before describing the participants in this study,let us explain how they come to be enrolled in the

teacher education program in Turkey. The studentselection and placement system for the under-graduate level in Turkey is centered on the nationaluniversity entrance exam. A student receives acomposite score which is based on the score receivedon the national exam as well as on the high schoolgrade-point averages. Candidates are assigned to aprogram based on their composite scores, a list oftheir preferences, and the number of places avail-able in each higher education program (Yuksek-ogretim Kurulu, n.d.). Even though prospectivestudents list their preference for programs of studyin which they would like to enroll, many of themmay also include alternate programs in their list ofpreferences which may require a lower minimumcomposite score than their first choice in order toensure placement at a university. For instance, astudent’s first choice is to study engineering whichrequires a high composite score. The student mayinclude mathematics, science, and mathematics/science education in his list of preferences afterengineering in case his composite score was lowerthan the minimum composite score required tostudy engineering. As a result, students are some-times enrolled in programs, such as teacher educa-tion, that they did not really want to enter and willnot pursue a teaching career upon graduating fromthe university.

Participants in this study were senior secondarypre-service mathematics and physics teachers at auniversity in Ankara, Turkey. Pre-service teacherswere enrolled in the separate sub-programs, mathe-matics education and physics education, under theDepartment of Secondary Science and MathematicsEducation. Fifty-one pre-service teachers, 26 inmathematics education (18 female, 8 male) and 25in physics education (10 female, 15 male) partici-pated in this study in the Spring Semester of 2002.

They generally had two reasons for becoming amathematics/physics teacher: a passion for thesubject area itself and a desire to teach. They statedthat they chose mathematics/physics, because theyloved it and they were good at it. ‘‘Why did I choosemathematics? It had always been my favoritesubject and the subject that I was the mostsuccessful in. That’s why I want to deal withit in the future’’ (Female mathematics pre-serviceteacher’s journal). Mathematics pre-service teachersloved the logic and philosophy behind the mathe-matics, and physics pre-service teachers liked theconnection between nature and physics. In additionto wanting to teach, they also liked the idea of being

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able to guide a person’s life and be in touch withand interact with younger people.

I will be shaping the social level, quality,characteristics and values of the future. Thenew generation will be a diamond carved in thehands of the teachers. (Male physics pre-serviceteacher’s journal).

And finally, teaching is a sacred profession forwhich there has always been a demand.

When finding a job right after you graduate isconsidered in Turkey, mathematics teaching isone of the most advantageous professions. That’swhy I am hopeful about my future. (Malemathematics pre-service teacher’s journal).

3.2. Data collection methods and analysis

The main data collection methods were conceptmapping, journal writing, and interviews. Conceptmaps were the main data sources of the study,however, and were used as a starting point in theanalysis of the research question from differentaspects. After analyzing the concept maps, the datawere triangulated with interviews and journals.Therefore, the subsections of the ‘‘Results’’ sectionstart with a discussion of the data related to conceptmaps and are supported with other sources of data.Participants created 2 pre- and 2 post-concept mapsby using the ‘‘construct-a-map-from-scratch’’ meth-od (Ruiz-Primo et al., 1998). ‘‘Construct-a-map-from-scratch’’ technique of creating concept mapsmay vary according to how much information isprovided by the assessor (Ruiz-Primo et al., 1998).Mainly, participants were given one or more keyconcepts, and were asked to determine other relatedconcepts and how they relate to each other by usinglinking words among the concepts. Even thoughparticipants were encouraged to explain the rela-tionship between two concepts with linking words,they may connect/link two concepts with an arrowwithout a linking word. Participants of this studyconstructed concept maps centered on multiple keyconcepts: ‘‘teacher, teaching, student, and learn-ing.’’ These key educational concepts gave research-ers opportunities to detect such things as theepistemological views of the pre-service teachers,how learning occurs, the roles of teacher andstudent in the teaching and learning process, andthe relationship between teaching and learning.Moreover, when multiple key concepts were

prompted, participants were directed to think moreabout relationships among those concepts. In orderto study the nature of relationships among the keyconcepts, the direct linkages among those conceptswith or without linking words were determinedquantitatively. Afterwards, the phrases on thedirect linkages and explanations were separatelyput into categories for each couple of key concepts.For instance, the linking word ‘‘actualizes’’ betweenthe key concepts of ‘‘student’’ and ‘‘learning’’was put into a category with other linking wordssuch as does, tries and so on (see Fig. 3). The natureof the relationship between these two conceptscannot be determined solely from the explanationon the linkage between them; the other concepts, towhich they are both directly connected to, are alsoexamined. For instance, ‘‘knowledge’’ is a conceptinserted freely into the concept map and connectedto both the ‘‘teaching’’ and ‘‘teacher’’ key conceptsdirectly in the concept map in Fig. 3.

Concept maps with key concepts of ‘‘mathe-matics/physics’’ and ‘‘mathematics education/phy-sics education’’ were helpful in detecting theconnections that pre-service teachers made betweentheir subject areas and educational concepts. Theseconcept maps had more room to add other conceptsby participants which were seen as related to‘‘mathematics/physics’’ and ‘‘mathematics educa-tion/physics education.’’ Freely inserted conceptswere grouped into emerged categories, such as (S-en& Ozgun-Koca, 2003):

Education (School/Class, Student, Teacher, Edu-cation Levels, etc.); Attitudes (Affection/Desire,Enjoyment, Fear/Fright, Interest, etc.); SubjectRelated Concepts (Algebra, Calculus, Optics,Mechanics, etc); Real-Life Relationship (Tech-nology (Computers, Calculators), Art (Music,Drawings), Nature, etc.); Science (Science, Scien-tist, Areas (Physics, Chemistry), etc.); CognitiveProcesses (Thinking, Reasoning, Intelligence,Logic, etc.); Profession (Teaching Profession,Career, Money/Salary, etc. ); Miscellaneous (Lifestyle, Nobel Prize, etc.).

Pre-service teachers were also asked to writejournals during the study about the reasons whythey wanted to become teachers, why they specifi-cally chose to become a mathematics or physicsteacher, and their expectations from student teach-ing. Sixteen out of 51 (8 mathematics and 8 physics)pre-service teachers were interviewed before andafter the study about topics such as effective


teaching, the roles of teacher and students, and aneffective learning environment. Some of the pre-service teachers were contacted after they graduatedand started to teach in order to observe whethertheir views on the items mentioned above hadchanged.

Due to the nature of qualitative data, the analysiswas based on categorizing in order to investigatethe emerging themes throughout. In this presentstudy, the methods of trustworthiness to be usedinclude triangulation, member checks, and peerdebriefing. Janesick (1994) and Patton (1990) statethat there are many types of triangulation, such asdata triangulation, investigator triangulation, theo-ry triangulation and methodological triangulation.Having different data collection methods in thisstudy allowed the researchers to generate a moreholistic picture of the environment and the issue(Morse, 1994). While journal writings guaranteedthat the pre-service teachers had sufficient pri-vate time to think without pressure, the conceptmaps were very structured in that they needed tobe completed in class. In contrast, interviewsprovided an environment where one-to-one com-munication could occur in a very flexible andpersonalized way. Thus, the three forms of datacollection with different encounter levels providedrich sources of data for this study and complemen-ted each others’ weaknesses and strengths. Sincedocument analysis is more open to interpretation,students’ writings could be misinterpreted. Tominimize these misinterpretations, face-to-faceinterviews were ultimately helpful. Presentingthe data or interpretation of the data to theparticipants and then asking for their commentsnot only ensured trustworthiness of the data butalso added another layer to the data collectionmethods. The initial interviews were analyzed beforethe second interviews occurred for the purpose ofpresenting the data to pre-service teachers forcontrol and confirmation purposes. Moreover,the researchers included member check questionsduring the interviews in order to ensure under-standing what the students meant. Guba and Licoln(1989) describe peer debriefing as the process ofengaging with a disinterested peer in extended andextensive discussions of one’s findings or conclu-sions in order to test out the findings, coding, ordata analysis. However, it took a different turn inthis study; two researchers coded the same dataseparately and checked them later for peer reviewpurposes.

A pilot study took place before the data collec-tion. The subjects of the pilot study were secondarybiology pre-service teachers in the same departmentwho did not participate in the actual study. Afterthe examination of the data collection processes andinstruments in the pilot study, it was concluded thatthe experimental procedures and instruments weregenerally adequate for answering the researchquestion of this study.

4. Results

4.1. The relationships among ‘‘Student, Teacher,

Teaching and Learning’’ concepts

The concept maps were created with four keyconcepts—student, teacher, teaching and learning—with the purpose of revealing the general picturethat pre-service teachers had about the relationshipsbetween these key concepts of education and theirviews on the effective teaching and learningenvironment, the roles of teachers and students.As a result of quantitative analysis of direct linkagesamong key concepts, the most directly connectedkey concepts were Student and Learning (pre:90%and post: 81%), followed by Teacher and Teaching(pre:87% and post: 81%) (see Fig. 2). As expected,pre-service teachers saw these concepts more relatedthan others; however, it was more important toexamine the labels on those direct linkages to seehow pre-service teachers related these concepts.

When learning was mentioned to the pre-serviceteachers, the first thing that came to their mind wasthe student. Pre-service teachers thought thatlearning was what students do before the studentteaching.

If we assume that learning could be actualized bythe learner, then, can we say that there is nothingcalled teaching? It might look strange but there isthe learning of the student. If student does notlearn, we cannot teach her or him anything. If s/he learns, yes there is learning. There is no suchthing called teaching, I think. (Female mathe-matics pre-service teacher, pre-interview).

According to pre-service teachers, a student isusually a person who likes the class and comesprepared to the class. Students’ roles were listed ashard work, preparation for the class, participationin the class, obeying the rules of the class and theschool, and being respectful. However, there wassome evidence that pre-service teachers believed that


students should be active. After student teaching, pre-service teachers displayed in their concept maps thatlearning was the job of the students. Students weremainly inactive participants in the learning processwho listened to the teacher and come to the class readyto absorb what is being presented. This was what wasgoing on in the actual classrooms in the field.

Interviewer (INT): What are the responsibilitiesof a student?

Pre-service Teacher (PST): Of course, first of all,to learn, to study, I mean. S/he needs to attendthe classes and listen (to the teacher) carefully.(Male physics pre-service teacher, pre-interview,italics added).

Everything was one-dimensional there. I was theonly one lecturing. They didn’t even try tounderstand. I mean, it was just teacher-centered.Students were passive listeners. (Male mathematicspre-service teacher, post-interview).

As a result of the analysis of other concepts thatwere linked to both ‘‘student’’ and ‘‘learning’’ keyconcepts in participants’ concept maps, it wasevident that the ‘‘teacher’’ and ‘‘school system’’were other key notions in relating the concepts of‘‘student’’ and ‘‘learning’’, meaning learning wouldoccur in a school environment with a presence of agood teacher.

Learning is everywhere, however, according tome, organized and disciplined learning is always

the best way of learning. The learning at schoolis, of course, this kind of organized anddisciplined learning. (Male mathematics pre-service teacher, post-interview).

What are the pre-service teachers’ perceptions ofa ‘‘good teacher? Subject area knowledge was themain category that emerged from the concepts maps(see pre-concept map in Table 1), interviews andjournal writing before student teaching.

INT: So, what are the characteristics of a goodteacher?

PST: First of all, knowledge is very important.The teacher’s authority over the subject area is ofutmost importance. (Female physics pre-serviceteacher, pre-interview).

Because they were educated in a subject areadominant program, this was expected. However,being a facilitator, a good communicator, tolerant(friendly and funny), patient, and experienced wereother characteristics of a good teacher before theywent into the field: ‘‘I think, teachers who are rolemodels for students have to be self-confident, self-aware, interpersonal, democratic, understanding(tolerant), patient, respectful to his mission, awareof the importance of his career’’ (Female mathe-matics pre-service teacher’s journal, italics added).

After some experience in the field, students’definition of ‘‘the teacher’’ became more varied. Itno longer was centered on subject area knowledge.

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Fig. 2. The percentages of direct linkages in the concept maps with ‘‘student, teacher, teaching and learning’’ key concepts.

S. Aslı Ozgun-Koca, A. Ilhan S- en / Teaching and Teacher Education 22 (2006) 946–960952

Pre-service teachers focused more on the pedagogi-cal knowledge (see post-concept map in Table 1).

The need for real-world applications and usingsuitable teaching methods became evident after thefield experience and teaching.

I got a better understanding of the techniquesthat a teacher needs to use while teaching. Ourmentor used generally the teacher-centered ap-proach and rarely the question and answertechniques. This causes the students to get boredafter some time. Methods such as experimentsand exemplifications should be used in order toget their attention and participation. I think,that’s the only way to have the students learn.(Female physics pre-service teacher’s journal).

Classroom management was another concern of thepre-service teachers after the student teaching:‘‘While I was observing in the field, I focused onthe quite important class management techniquessuch as getting attention, motivating and reinfor-cing, time management, communication in class,strategies used for misbehaving students andauthority in class’’ (Male physics pre-service tea-cher’s journal).

Pre-service teachers, who believed that if ateacher knew the material, was a good facilitatorand was friendly to the students that s/he would be agood teacher changed their ideas after observingexperienced teachers and teaching by themselves.While they still believed that they needed to knowtheir area, they felt it should have been supportedwith good pedagogical knowledge and classroom

management techniques where they could commu-nicate and be friends with their students, withincertain limits.

It was evident that the ‘‘school system,’’ ‘‘teach-ing methods,’’ ‘‘(subject area) knowledge’’ and‘‘student’’ were other key notions in relating teacherand teaching concepts in concept maps, meaningteaching would occur in a school environment by ateacher with a profound knowledge supported withdifferent teaching methods and good classroommanagement.

Table 2 illustrates the cognitive images of a malephysics pre-service teacher on the teaching andlearning environment. A school-centered environ-ment can be observed in the pre-concept map where‘‘the teacher does the teaching and lectures’’ and‘‘learning, instruction, and education occur in theschool’’ (see pre-concept map in Table 2). Afterstudent teaching, although ‘‘the teacher still doesthe teaching’’, ‘‘education is efficient with specificteaching methods’’ and ‘‘teaching is possible withspecial teaching methods, class management, plan-ning, and discipline.’’ Moreover, the students do thelearning which results in acquiring knowledgethrough education transmitted to them. The pre-service teacher preserved his behaviorist approachto education and he also recognized the importanceof special teaching methods and class management(see post-concept map in Table 2).

The pre-service teachers (pre: 55% post: 65%)who connected ‘‘student’’ and ‘‘teacher’’ concepts(see Fig. 2) in their concept maps emphasized theinteraction/communication and affection between

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Table 1

Mathematics pre-service teacher’s pre- and post-concept mapsa about teachers’ characteristics

aIn figures containing maps, the original hand-written concept map has been included for the sake of authenticity, with the typed

English translations.


students and the teacher both before and after thestudent teaching.

A wonderful communication came about be-tween the students and me. Though, we had onlymet two or three times beforey they tried to talkto me after the class. It was good; I think thatcommunication is very important for teachingthe subject and making it favorableyI think,especially in the mathematics classes, the (posi-

tive) attitudes of the teacher and the teacherhaving the students like him/her provides thelove of learning the subject. That is, the teacher’scommunication with the students is very impor-tant in the class. (Female mathematics pre-serviceteacher, post-interview, italics added).

4.2. The views of pre-service teachers about their

subject area and its instruction

In addition to the pre-service teachers’ generalbeliefs about the teaching and learning environ-ment, it was crucial to study how they related thesebeliefs to their subject area. The question waswhether pre-service teachers, educated in a mathe-matics/physics oriented program, considered mathe-matics/physics as a subject area that they were goingto teach or an independent discipline itself divorcedfrom teaching.

Concept mapping was done before the studentteaching with a key concept of ‘‘mathematics’’ formathematics pre-service teachers and ‘‘physics’’for physics pre-service teachers. The aim was toobserve freely inserted concepts related to education(see Table 3).

Table 3 provides an introductory picture of theconcept maps stating that pre-service teachersviewed mathematics or physics as a discipline,instead of the subject area that they were going toteach in the near future. A typical first concept mapincluded the branches of mathematics and physicsand classes that they took in their subject areadominant program and the titles and subjects inthose mathematics/physics classes.

Table 4 illustrates colored concept maps createdby one mathematics and one physics pre-serviceteacher with ‘‘mathematics/physics’’ concepts and‘‘mathematics/physics’’ and ‘‘mathematics/physicseducation’’ as key concepts. The concept maps hereare presented without translation but are colored inorder to demonstrate the density of the subject-related concepts in the first and second conceptmaps.

The concepts related to the subject area andemerging categories such as education, attitudes,and real-life relationships were colored with differ-ent colors; yellow ¼ subject area, blue ¼ education,pink ¼ attitude, and red ¼ cognitive processes re-lated concepts. The large quantity of subject-related

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Table 2

The concept maps created by a male physics pre-service teacher’s before and after the student teaching


concepts in mathematics pre-service teacher’s firstconcept map can easily be observed in yellow. Thephysics pre-service teacher, on the other hand, onlyhad subject-related concepts in the whole conceptmap. Even those who were enrolled in the educationprogram to become a teacher saw themselves asmathematicians or physicists.

The more I learnt physics, the more I havestarted to understand and comment on the

matter and nature. That is an exceptionalsituation when compared to the other fields ofscience. Physics is not only acquired knowledgefor me but was a new perspective for life. I lovedthis department that I entered by coincidence andnow physics education was physics for me. (Malephysics pre-service teacher’s journal).

When ‘‘mathematics/physics education’’ key con-cepts were added, the second concept maps included

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Table 4

The concept maps with ‘‘mathematics/physics’’ and ‘‘mathematics/physics education’’ key concepts

Table 3

Distribution of the concepts in the concept maps with key concepts ‘‘Mathematics/Physics’’

Mathematics (%) Physics (%) Whole group (%)

Education-related concepts 11 1 6

Subject area and the related concepts 63 89 78

Other concepts 25 10 16


more blue-colored education concepts and becamemore varied, including pink-colored concepts re-lated to attitudes (see Table 4).

4.3. Effective teaching and learning environment

Many pre-service teachers mentioned the teacher-centered environment as effective in their journals,concepts maps, or interviews. Through conceptmapping, a pre-service teacher described an envir-onment where learning occurs when ‘‘while theteacher tries to teach, s/he transmits his or her ownknowledge and the student receives it’’ (see Fig. 3).

This next quote presents a pre-service teachers’experience during student teaching who favored adominant role for the teacher in the pre-interview.

PST: It (student teaching) was effective teaching.I mean, it was an environment that I was effectivein. It was a totally teacher-centered lesson. Thestudents did not have the opportunity toparticipate much because of the (limited) time.I tried to make them do interactive activities,I tried to be interactive. I tried to give real lifeexamples. However, as I have mentioned, it was aclass where I was at the center. I think it wassuccessful in the sense of effective teaching.However, there were too many students.I actually believe that there was not enoughparticipation because of the crowded class andlimited time.

INT: So you take the teacher-centered educationas effective teaching?

PST: Yes, I think it is the teaching where theteacher is effective. (Female physics pre-serviceteacher, post-interview, italics added).

Some of the pre-service teachers, although not themajority, described their beliefs before any fieldexperience and student teaching, as an ‘‘active’’

student model, where the student is at the center, isresponsible for her or his own learning and activelyparticipating. The teacher, on the other hand, is thefacilitator in this process.

What effective teaching means to me is: It shouldbe student-centered, not teacher-centered,though. I do not know, am I wrong?...Actually,it (effective education) could be everywhere; ifstudent knows how to acquire knowledge, heacquires the resources that will lead him to theknowledge. And this, according to me, primarilyrequires rich libraries and materials and dependson the teacher’s practice. (Female physics pre-service teacher, pre-interview, italics added).

Some of the pre-service teachers who advocated astudent-centered environment in theory mentionedthat they could not bring the theory into life in theirstudent teaching or full-time teaching.

I have always been on the side of student-centered education. However, during my (stu-

dent) teaching, no matter how much I tried toactivate the students, the lesson was teacher-centered. I will definitely try to change that.(Female physics pre-service teacher’s journal,italics added).

Actually, I wish we had better conditions andcould actualize what we have been talking about.Unfortunately, one goes through an educationalsystem in which the knowledge is readilytransmitted, everything depends on memorizingand it is quite difficult to change that. (Femalephysics teacher, communication after graduated).

Student teachers listed various reasons for notbeing able to create a student-centered environment,such as crowded classrooms, the differences instudents’ levels of readiness and previous knowl-edge, insufficient time for applications, and students

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Fig. 3. Part of concept map prepared by a physics pre-service teacher before the student teaching.


who are not accustomed to these kinds of environ-ments. ‘‘Classrooms are crowded and I think it ismore about the students’ way of thinking. Whenyou leave the students alone, most of them do notthink’’ (Male mathematics pre-service teacher, post-interview).

Another participant who graduated and startedteaching full time mentioned the reactions of moreexperienced colleagues towards student-centerededucation. ‘‘Although we, the new teachers, insiston issues such as effective learning, student-centerededucation etc., under every (not suitable) condition,we are facing the great negative reactions of ourcolleagues with 10–15 years of experience atschools’’ (Female mathematics teacher, communi-cation after graduation, italics added).

5. Discussion and conclusions

Many of the participants of this study hadthought that they knew what and how they neededto teach their students. First, they needed to haveprofound subject area knowledge (Beyerbach &Smith, 1990). They believed that having goodrelationships and interaction with students wouldsolve many problems. Some of the pre-serviceteachers knew a ‘‘student-centered classroom’’would add to good subject area knowledge beforethey went into the field (Hanrahan & Tate, 2001;Minor et al., 2002; VanLeuvan, 1997). While theymentioned that students should be quiet and well-behaved in the class, they also favored student-centered classrooms. At no time did they mentioncooperative learning, doing activities, or usingmanipulatives and technology. They had a differentmeaning for what constitutes being active in astudent-centered environment.

INT: So, what are the characteristics of a goodteacher?

PST: I think the most important thing is thesubject area knowledge.

INT: And, what are the roles of the teacher andstudents in the effective learning process?

PST: I think the student has more responsibil-ities. That is, the teacher could lecture the subjector noty that is, the students have a responsi-bility of 80%, the teacher has that of 20%.

INT: I mean, instead of calculating percentages,if you think about the roles, what does theteacher do and what do the learners do?

PST: The teacher only presents his knowledge.The learner should acquire them in the best way,according to me. (Female mathematics pre-service teacher, pre-interview).

They wanted students to answer teachers’ questionsand participate when the teacher thought it appro-priate, but quiet at other times. Pre-service teacherscould have assigned this role to the students due toinfluences of their culture. That is, silence representsrespect in the Turkish culture. This is a specificcultural trait, and different traits will come into playat different parts of teaching and learning processes.The differences in belief systems of teachers due todiversity in cultures could be investigated with crosscultural studies.

However, after the student teaching, even this ill-structured student-centered environment idea gaveway to a teacher-centered environment notion.Because of the crowded classrooms and heavycurriculum, the student-centered concept was aban-doned. They resorted to a traditional view wherethey wanted to present their good subject areaknowledge to their quiet and well-behaved studentsthrough a good quality of communication withdifferent teaching methods.

INT: We had talked about effective teachingenvironment. You had mentioned that it shouldbe student-centered where there is library use,assignments and projects. Teacher was the onecompleting the missing pieces and guiding at thebackground. Student, on the other hand, had arole that was active, responsible, researcher andlearning by himself. Were you able to create thisenvironment?

PST: Honestly, I could not create this environ-ment and I think it is very difficult to apply allthese in the environment that I experienced.Because, the student psychology has becomerotten, when you set them free too much, youlose your target.

INT: Then what about effective teaching? Whatdo you think about it?

PST: Of course it is a better way. Since thestudent will research and acquire (the knowledge)and do the assignments by himself, it (learning)will be more permanent. However, as I havementioned it appears to be very difficult in thisenvironment. (Male mathematics pre-serviceteacher, post-interview, italic added).


Fennema and Franke’s (1992) model of teachers’knowledge is adapted according to these results. Itwas expected that pre-service teachers wouldemphasize the importance of knowledge of thesubject area, which is emphasized in every teachereducation program or research literature. Therefore,the frame of subject area knowledge in Fig. 4 wasdrawn thicker. Until recent years, this was themessage given by many teacher education programsin Turkey which had heavy subject area curriculumsupported with only a modicum of educationcourses or teacher recruitment activities.

Pre-service teachers acknowledged that knowinga subject does not necessarily mean that one couldteach it effectively. The significance of pedagogicalknowledge was discussed mainly after the studentteaching. Even though good subject area knowledgewas the main ingredient of a good teacher, withoutthe use of different teaching methods or classroommanagement, it remained with the teacher forever(Beyerbach & Smith, 1990; Minor et al., 2002;VanLeuvan, 1997).

On the other hand, pre-service teachers did notmention the knowledge of learners’ cognition inthe subject area, which is also called pedagogicalcontent knowledge by Shulman (1986). As aresult, it is framed with a dashed line in the model

(see Fig. 4). In addition to the pedagogical courses,education courses specific to the subject area areadded to many teacher education programs in orderto help pre-service teachers to develop theirpedagogical content knowledge.

‘‘Educational System’’ was added to this modelfor two reasons (see Fig. 4). It illustrates theprogram in which the pre-service teachers wereenrolled, while emphasizing the secondary schoolsand educational system where pre-service teacherswill teach. Some of the pre-service teachers men-tioned that they could not create a student-centeredenvironment because of the crowded classroomsand heavy curriculum.

The different components of teacher knowledgeand the practices of a teacher in the classroomsinteract with each other. Therefore, the biggerrectangle framing the knowledge of a teacher iscalled ‘‘Practice’’ in the model (see Fig. 4). More-over, all the elements of the model are insignificantwithout ‘‘Beliefs’’ because it is these beliefs thataffect both the practices and the knowledge of ateacher. The knowledge of a teacher and his orher practices are also influenced by his or her‘‘Experiences’’ which also helps to form her beliefs.No matter how effective the teacher educationprogram or the overall knowledge of a teacher is,

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Fig. 4. Teachers’ knowledge and practices (Fennema & Franke, 1992, p. 162, italics added).


it is still his/her beliefs that affect mainly everyaspect of classroom teaching in addition to, ofcourse, the resources in the Educational System.

There is a reform movement in Turkey which isgiving equal attention to the parts of this model; nolonger is there a concentration on the subject areaknowledge. The teacher education programs werere-constructed through the National EducationDevelopment Project at Turkish Higher Educa-tional Council with the collaboration of the WorldBank. To be a secondary mathematics/scienceteacher, students must earn a master-without-thesisdegree. Some universities are offering just agraduate program and accepting students with aBachelor of Science degree from the departmentrelated to their teaching areas. Others offer a 5- yearprogram in which subject area courses are com-pleted in seven semesters. Courses related toprofessional education and electives are offered inthree remaining semesters. In particular, the coursesin secondary school mathematics and scienceteacher education programs changed; more generaleducational courses and education courses withsubject-area focus were added. The time that pre-service teachers spend in the field has increaseddramatically (Bulut, 1999; Yuksekogretim KuruluBas-kanlıgı, 1998). Therefore, it is essential to studythe differences that will occur due to this reformmovement. Since the pre-service teachers enrolled inthe reformed program had not graduated at thetime the data were collected for this study, the datawas gathered only from the pre-service teachersenrolled in the original program. However, it wouldbe vital to compare this data from the old programwith the reformed one in the future.

The teacher education programs should enablethe teachers to think more precisely about theirbeliefs in order to improve both their knowledgeand practices in the classroom. Simply havingparticipated in this study made pre-service teachersreconsider their beliefs.

Thank you. I did not know why I was cominghere. First, I knew there was going to beinterviewing. I was able to see myself (from

outside) and realized what I was thinking. I didnot know these before but when I put it out theybecame more valuable for me. At least I believe Ihave gained (some things). (Male mathematicspre-service teacher, post-interview, italics added).

We hope that we had an impact on our participantsby making them reflect on their beliefs and teaching

which, we hope, will continue throughout theirprofession.

As emphasized above, teacher’s knowledge is notthat straightforward. Although there are manyfactors influencing teachers’ knowledge, beliefs,and practices in classrooms, their teacher educationprogram is one of the main influences among others.This present study has shown the importance of ateacher education program balanced between theo-ry, experience through practice, and subject. Theeducational theories learned in the program cannotbe easily transferred into classrooms. The profoundsubject area knowledge does not assure an effective

teaching and learning environment. Similarly, theneed for knowledge of teaching methods specific toa subject area was another important conclusion ofthis present study. Moreover, it emphasized thesignificance of the fieldwork in teacher educationprograms. Expectantly, the increased fieldwork timein Colleges of Education in Turkey will help pre-service teachers to prepare for their profession moreeffectively. As teachers’ knowledge, teacher educa-tion programs are very dynamic evolving phenom-ena which should continually be researched andimproved in order to be able to provide forchanging demands in classrooms and in society ingeneral.

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The beliefs and perceptions of pre-service teachers enrolled in a subject-area dominant teacher education program about “Effective Education”