Enhancing Pre-service Teachers’ Reflective Quality on Inquiry-based Teaching Through a Community of Practice
Jeerawan Ketsing
Faculty of Education, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
Noriyuki Inoue
Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
Sandy Buczynski
School of Leadership and Education Sciences, University of San Diego, CA, United States
Abstract
Implementing inquiry-based teaching in secondary school is often a challenge for pre-service teachers. Thoughtful reflection on their teaching experience may help future teachers address this challenge. This article examined the quality of reflection on inquiry teaching by two pre-service science teachers as they participated in a mini-Community of Practice (mCoP) with their cooperating teachers and university advisor. Findings from this study revealed the benefits of this mCoP for nurturing pre-service teachers’ inquiry teaching by building a network of encouraging support from experienced teachers and by providing a supportive reflective environment. The study also showed pre-service teachers transformed their reflections from technical to reflective thinking as they matured in inquiry-based teaching practice.
