Teacher Inquiry: A Vehicle to Merge Prospective Teachers' Experience and Reflection during Curriculum-Based, Technology-Enhanced Field Experiences

This study describes and analyzes a four-year effort to provide curriculum-based, technology-enhanced field experiences for prospective teachers. These field experiences and this associated study espouse the notion that experiences and reflective activity must coalesce to yield professional growth for prospective teachers. The study suggests that teacher inquiry, a process that scaffolds prospective teachers to systematically and intentionally study their use of technology, may (1) counter many shortcomings associated with traditional strategies designed to promote reflective activity, (2) focus prospective teachers' attention on student learning outcomes, and (3) facilitate more desirable integration strategies during curriculum-based, technology-enhanced field experiences. The study notes that teacher inquiry is widely recognized in the general teacher education literature, yet novel within the context of curriculum-based, technology-enhanced field experiences, and encourages educational technologists to further explore its possibilities as a tool for teacher preparation and educational research. (Contains 5 tables and 4 figures.)