Handle With Care: Integrating Caring Content in Mathematics and Science Methods Classes

It is a well-known theory and practice among early childhood educators that building early relationships with the children is crucial to their development. However, there is irony in the fact that many teacher education programs that propose to model "best practices" do not model relations...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of research in childhood education 2004-03, Vol.19 (1), p.5-17
Main Authors: Lake, Vickie E., Jones, Ithel, Dagli, Ummuhan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Altruism
Beginning Teachers
Caring
Child development
Cognitive Development
Cohort Analysis
Course Content
Course Descriptions
Early Childhood Education
Ethics
Integrated Curriculum
Mathematics education
Mathematics Instruction
Methods Courses
Preschool teachers
Preservice Teacher Education
Preservice Teachers
Science Education
Sciences education
Scientific Methodology
Social aspects
Student teachers
Study and teaching
Teacher Education Programs
Teacher Educators
Teacher Student Relationship
Teaching Methods
Young Children
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:It is a well-known theory and practice among early childhood educators that building early relationships with the children is crucial to their development. However, there is irony in the fact that many teacher education programs that propose to model "best practices" do not model relationship building with their preservice teachers. This study examines two methods courses that integrated the ethic of care within their science and mathematics pedagogy as an avenue to operationalize the "relational zone." Two cohorts of 24 and 20 female preservice early childhood teachers participated in the study. The students were enrolled in science and mathematics classes that emphasized integration and an ethic of care. Integration included joint syllabi, discussions, joint assignments, and co-teaching by both teacher educators. Caring practices were modeled and practiced within the courses. The participants responded to 10 prompts by writing journal entries. Qualitative analysis of the students' journals revealed that they understood and practiced caring content in the context of science and mathematics teaching. The findings are discussed in terms of modeling relationship building with preservice teachers.
ISSN:0256-8543
2150-2641
DOI:10.1080/02568540409595050