Development of Habits Through Apprenticeship in a Community: Conceptual Model of Physics Teacher Preparation

Abstract

We propose the DHAC conceptual model of teacher preparation (Development of Habits through Apprenticeship in a Community), which builds on the contemporary literature on teacher preparation in physics and other disciplines and strives to provide a better understanding of the process of teacher formation. Extant literature on teacher preparation suggests that pre-service teachers learn best when they are immersed in a community that allows them to develop dispositions, knowledge, and practical skills and share with the community a strong vision of what good teaching entails. However, despite having developed the requisite dispositions, knowledge, and skills in pursuing the shared vision of good teaching, the professional demands on a teacher's time are so great out of and so complex during class time that if every decision requires multiple considerations and deliberations with oneself, the productive decisions might not materialize. We therefore argue that the missing link between intentional decision-making and actual teaching practice are the teacher's habits (spontaneous responses to situational cues). Teachers unavoidably develop habits with practical experience and under the influence of knowledge and belief structures that in many ways condition the responses of teachers in their practical work. To steer new teachers away from developing unproductive habits directed towards "survival" instead of student learning, we argue that any teacher preparation program (e.g., physics) should strive to develop in pre-service teachers strong habits of mind and practice that will serve as an underlying support structure for beginning teachers. These habits form the core of the conceptual model described in the paper. We provide examples of habits, which physics teachers need to develop before starting teaching and propose mechanisms for the development of such habits.