Integrated College Methods Courses

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-1999

Abstract

This study compared the performance of two groups of preservice teachers at Kentucky's Morehead State University. One group had taken four of their methods courses (reading, language arts, social studies, and mathematics) in an integrated fashion from four faculty members. This group was termed the block group. The other group (the nonblock group) took the four methods courses separately. The two groups were part of a large group of student teachers who student taught during the Fall 1997 semester. Their student-teacher supervisors were given an opinionnaire survey to rate the performance of the block and nonblock students. The survey had them rate student teachers as two groups, not as individuals. Survey questions addressed five topics: designing/planning instruction, creating/maintaining learning climates, implementing/managing instruction, assessing/communicating learning results, and self-evaluation of teaching. Data analysis indicated that the block students, who had taken integrated methods courses, performed as well as, or better than, the nonblock student teachers, who had taken their methods courses in the traditional separate approach.

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