An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions of an Early Field Experience
Location
Preservice Teacher Education (Session 3 Breakouts)
Proposal Track
Research Project
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
Early field experiences (EFE) are defined as those experiences occurring prior to student teaching (Seiforth & Samuel, 1979; Van Schagen Johnson, La Paro, & Crosby, 2017). One of the earliest investigations of EFE showed that most students in these early field experiences judged them as valuable and helpful and became more aware of problems in the teaching process. Furthermore, EFE helped preservice teachers decide if teaching was the right career choice for them (Seiforth & Samuel, 1979), and while there is much consensus that field experiences are invaluable to learning to teach (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005; Darling-Hammond & Youngs, 2002; Latham & Vogt, 2007) there is little empirical research documenting what students learn in these early field experiences (Singh, 2017; Wilson & Floden, 2003). The purpose of this study is to begin a preliminary investigation of the benefits of early experiences, including an examination of what preservice teachers (PST) perceive to be the most important outcomes of an early field experience. Initial examination of the data indicate that PST found most valuable the opportunities to observe teachers as they managed their classrooms and resolved conflicts, and how teachers’ personal connections to students influence the learning process.
Keywords
early field experience, preservice teacher education, student teaching, preservice teacher perceptions
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Griffin, Marlynn and Zinskie, Cordelia, "An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions of an Early Field Experience" (2020). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 32.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2020/2020/32
An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions of an Early Field Experience
Preservice Teacher Education (Session 3 Breakouts)
Early field experiences (EFE) are defined as those experiences occurring prior to student teaching (Seiforth & Samuel, 1979; Van Schagen Johnson, La Paro, & Crosby, 2017). One of the earliest investigations of EFE showed that most students in these early field experiences judged them as valuable and helpful and became more aware of problems in the teaching process. Furthermore, EFE helped preservice teachers decide if teaching was the right career choice for them (Seiforth & Samuel, 1979), and while there is much consensus that field experiences are invaluable to learning to teach (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005; Darling-Hammond & Youngs, 2002; Latham & Vogt, 2007) there is little empirical research documenting what students learn in these early field experiences (Singh, 2017; Wilson & Floden, 2003). The purpose of this study is to begin a preliminary investigation of the benefits of early experiences, including an examination of what preservice teachers (PST) perceive to be the most important outcomes of an early field experience. Initial examination of the data indicate that PST found most valuable the opportunities to observe teachers as they managed their classrooms and resolved conflicts, and how teachers’ personal connections to students influence the learning process.
