mentor teachers work closely with students on lesson preparation and implemen-
tation. They assist with the development of sample activities linked to the content to
be taught during thefield experience.
With theMTSclass, students experience and analyze a variety of MTS. Model
lessons involving several of the strategies are presented to (a) demonstrate appro-
priate usage of the strategy and (b) allow students to experience effective imple-
mentation of the strategy. Some lessons are presented twice using a different
teaching strategy each time. Attributes (strong and weak) of each strategy are
addressed thus allowing for discussion of whether one strategy is more effective for
the given topic than another. This leads to discussions of how to choose the best
teaching strategy for the given material. Teaching strategies that are less familiar to
most learners (i.e., inquiry, discovery, problem solving, and project-based
approaches to teaching) are the focus of the course. Students observe exemplary
high school teachers as well as develop and teach lessons in diverse, urban high
schools. Students also develop and present a project-based instructional unit.
During Student Teaching, preservice teachers work with University
Supervisors and Cooperating Teachers to design instruction appropriate for all
students that reflects an understanding of relevant content and is based on contin-
uous and appropriate assessments; create a classroom environment of respect and
rapport that fosters a positive climate for learning, equity, and excellence; promote
student learning by providing responsive instruction that makes use of effective
communication techniques, instructional strategies that actively engage students in
the learning process, and timely high-quality feedback; and fulfill professional roles
and responsibilities and adhere to legal and ethical requirements of the profession.
Student teachers start out the semester by observing and then gradually taking over
all of the teaching and other responsibilities of a full-time teacher with guidance
from University Supervisors and their Cooperating Teacher.
We will now catch a quick glimpse of what happened in one science as inquiry
course and what sampleteachHOUSTON student teachers had to say about their
experiences.
30.7 teachHOUSTON Student Teachers’Responses
to a Physics as Inquiry Course
The Physics by Inquiry Course (Physics 4342) is a laboratory-based course in
which theteachHOUSTONstudents develop a deep understanding of physics
concepts by experimenting and establishing scientific concepts based on a concrete
experience.^4 The course is taught as a set of laboratory-based modules that provide
(^4) Bobby Abrol, Ph.D. student and evaluation team member, designed a poster board presentation,A
true story of teaching and Learning physics as inquiry”aboutteachHOUSTONstudents’expe-
riences of learning Physics, which she presented at the Graduate Research and Scholarship
30 Attracting, Preparing, and Retaining Teachers in High Need Areas... 465