Three faculty members, an adjunct professor and an IUPUC graduate recently presented at the Association of Teacher Educators’ 90th Annual Meeting in February in Chicago.

The presentation was titled “Strengthening Pre-service Teacher Performance: Program Improvements Focused on ‘Teaching for Understanding.’” It was the result of three years of examination of pre-service teacher planning performance outcomes, identified “teaching for understanding” for course and program improvement, and implemented change over three years.

In their research, the team discovered that too many teacher candidates were gathering and/or creating themed collections of discrete activities that fell far short of “teaching for understanding.”

This study prompted the Division of Education to evaluate and make changes to the areas of teacher candidate reflection, use of technology as teaching and learning tools, and connecting what teacher candidates are reading and discussing in class to experiences with K-6 learners.

Team members include Debra Winikates, Ed.D., head of the IU School of Education at IUPUC; Chris Walcott, Ph.D., assistant professor of mathematics education; Kate Baird, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of science education; Karen Parmer, adjunct professor; and Charity Campbell, December 2009 IUPUC graduate.