Encouraging preservice teachers' critical thinking development through practitioner inquiry

This chapter presents findings from a phenomenological study that investigated the experiences of elementary preservice teachers engaged in semester-long inquiries during a yearlong student teaching internship. The authors found that practitioner inquiry was a means to support the critical analysis of teaching practices and classroom experiences. The preservice teachers first identified an aspect of teaching from which they wanted to learn, systematically studied their practices in that area, and transferred that knowledge to other aspects of their teaching. This research supports that practitioner inquiry can be used in teacher education coursework to encourage preservice teachers to take more active roles in their learning to become critical thinkers and to generate knowledge for student learning and professional growth.