Eric.ed.gov – Teacher Education Methods Courses: Modelling Practice, Not Perfection.

Public schools are increasingly investigating portfolio assessment as a means of evaluating student performance. A project examined student participation in portfolio assessment and cooperative learning in a “Reading in the Content Areas” class for preservice teachers. Students were a diverse group which included preservice middle school and secondary teachers of English, science, music, and art–as well as preservice elementary teachers seeking to learn methods for teaching math, social studies, science, and art. Of the 30 students, 18 were traditional undergraduate students; 2 were returning students who had been classroom teachers; 5 held baccalaureate degrees but no teacher certification; and the remaining 5 were nontraditional undergraduate students. During the 15-week semester, 10 projects were completed, 8 in cooperative groups and 2 individually. The instructor assessed student knowledge of and attitudes toward portfolios, cooperative learning, and learning logs in the beginning, mid-semester, and at semester’s end. Students all agreed that portfolios seemed fair and were an improvement over traditional forms of grading and that cooperative learning has advantages over traditional methods of instruction. This methods course appeared to accomplish its task of preparing preservice teachers to be effective teachers of portfolios, cooperative learning, and learning logs. (Contains 2 figures, a table of data, a list of project assignments, the survey instruments, and 19 references.) (CR)