Case-based teaching in homogeneous teacher education contexts: a study of preservice teachers’ situative cognition

Abstract Following the work on case-based pedagogy and on situative cognition, the purpose of this study was to examine how situative knowledge, as embedded in preservice teachers’ prior experiences and as embedded in a dilemma-based case, influenced preservice teachers’ analyses of the case-as-written. Twenty-three preservice teachers ranging in age from 23 to 47 participated in the study. Using a microethnographic approach, the study focused on preservice teachers’ discussion of a single case. An analysis was conducted on preservice teachers’ pre- and postdiscussion writings about the case, and on their during-discussion dialogue. Results of the study revealed that the preservice teachers’ homogeneous thinking limited the extent to which these preservice teachers could reflect critically on the case and limited their potential to make reasoned decisions based upon alternative or novel solutions. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

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