Exploring Preservice and Practicing Teachers' Thinking About Children and Teaching.

This study seeks to evaluate if and how undergraduate and graduate students in an early childhood education program applied theories of child development and knowledge of pedagogy in discussing and interpreting young children's behavior in two different contexts.This was assessed by analyzing their discourse as they discussed video tapes: (1) in small groups after viewing a video of children playing over the course of 18 months; and (2) in stimulated recall sessions in which the students were reflecting on lessons that they had taught. A brief description is given of the current undergraduate early childhood program at the University College of New York at Oswego, and the procedures used in the study. Data from the study indicated that the undergraduates' discussion of children revealed that they attempted to apply course content to their observations but lacked finely tuned observation skills. As compared to the more experienced teachers, their recommendations were often vague and abstract. Implications of the findings for improving a teacher education program are discussed. (JD)