Teacher Candidates\u27 Critical Thinking in an Education Program Committed to Urban Education

The purpose of this research was to investigate critically reflective thinking (CRT) among prospective teachers as they analyzed course readings and field- and school-based experiences that focus on the education of diverse students. We hoped to identify and trace the development of critically reflective thinking as it appeared in participants’ reflections on their experiences. The following thematic question guided this research: At the conclusion of a year-long preservice teacher education course designed to foster critically reflective thinking, what kind of thinking is demonstrated in questionnaire results, small-group computer-mediated discussions, action research, and personal teaching texts? Ideally, this work allows us to help our teacher candidates develop pedagogical approaches that respect and validate the learners in their future classrooms. As a longitudinal embedded multiple case study, our data present a rich qualitative view of the participants’ thinking, offering a more complete picture of the views of teacher candidates as they grapple with the reality of their classroom context at the same time that they develop their teacher selves