Browsing by Subject "Pre service teachers"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Open Access
    Pre-service teachers' perceptions of physical, socioemotional and cognitive traits in gifted students: unveiling bias?
    (Frontiers Media , 2025-01-07) Ferrándiz García, Carmen; Ferrando Prieto, Mercedes; Fernández Vidal, María Carmen; Pons Parra, Rosa María; Infantes Paniagua, Álvaro; Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación; Facultades de la UMU::Facultad de Educación
    Introduction: Attitudes and beliefs guide our decision-making. In the educational context, prior research has noted the existence of prejudices and stereotypes among teachers that make it difficult to identify and care for gifted students. Stereotypes towards gifted students can hinder the identification and development of potential and the development of personality. This study examines Spanish pre-service teachers' stereotypical conceptions of gifted and non-gifted students focusing on physical appearance and athletic ability. Methods: Following a mixed methods research with between subjects design and using a convenience sampling, 455 last-year pre-service teachers enrolled during 2023–2024 in one of three university degrees or one Master's degree related to teacher training at University of Murcia were randomly assigned a vignette in order to rate the intellectual ability, motivation, prosociality, and physical characteristics of a fictitious 12-year-old student whose ability level (gifted/non-gifted) and gender (girl/boy), varied. Additionally, participants were asked to describe how they imagined the fictitious student's physical appearance. After exploring measurement invariance (SPSS AMOS 29), a MANCOVA was performed to compare the results across vignettes (SPSS 28). The study delves specifically into the physical characteristics attributed to gifted students through qualitative analysis addressing co-occurrence coefficients (Atlas.ti 9). Results: The results suggest that pre-service teachers described gifted students as more intelligent and with better physical attributes, especially gifted females. Furthermore, gifted students of both genders were defined as more intelligent, creative, and tall. They considered gifted girls to be attractive and gifted boys to be good at sports, highly fit, formally dressed, and wearing glasses. Discussion: The results are relevant as they allow a greater understanding of the perception of these students. As pointed out by pioneering studies in the field, implicit theories relate intelligence to physical appearance. This evidence could improve the training of future teachers, and therefore, the identification and assessment of gifted students from different areas.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Open Access
    Storytelling in EFL primary education: defining a sociocritical and participatory model with pre-service teachers
    (Elsevier, 2023-06-25) Férez Mora, Pedro Antonio; Coyle Balibrea, Yvette; Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura
    This study explores the challenges faced by 25 future primary school teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) when designing a storytelling session aimed at promoting young learners’ linguistic competence—the norm in the practice of EFL storytelling—, while simultaneously activating their higher order thinking skills and raising their awareness of social justice issues. Data collection instruments included student reflective journals and recordings of the instructional sessions. The main difficulties the trainees encountered on developing this multi-faceted approach with the well-known fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood included designing tasks to successfully enhance the children's participation, encourage their critical thinking, and specifically target content related to social justice. The challenges reported in this study led to the definition of a comprehensible set of guidelines which teachers interested in conducting EFL storytelling from this expanded perspective might usefully employ with younger learners.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Open Access
    Waste education in teacher training: exploring the role of context in shaping perceptions and didactic approaches
    (MDPI, 2025-12-12) García Fortes, María de los Ángeles; Esteve Guirao, Patricia; Baños González, Isabel; Valverde Pérez, Magdalena; Ruiz Navarro, Ana; Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales
    This study explores how 130 future teachers (FTs) perceive and address massive waste generation when it is framed through two socio-environmental contexts: waste export from affluent to vulnerable countries and microplastic pollution in natural environments. Using a mixed-methods design, we examine how each context shapes problem perception, attribution of responsibility, and proposed teaching activities. Both contexts foster a systemic understanding of waste issues. Economic drivers are identified as the main cause (means = 3.2/4), while institutional factors are downplayed in the export scenario and individual factors in the microplastics scenario. Proposed solutions center on institutional and economic measures. Ecological impacts are prioritized in both contexts; however, the export case elicits broader multi-sphere interpretations, whereas microplastics are viewed primarily as ecological–sanitary risks. Perceived responsibility is moderate (mean = 2.6/4) in both contexts, though waste export is interpreted more individually and microplas tics more collectively. A disengaged profile predominates, particularly for microplastics (76.92%), with most FTs showing limited intention to change personal habits. In terms of didactic design, only 20% of activities in the export context and 50% in the microplastics context are action-oriented. Findings highlight the importance of carefully selected socio-environmental contexts in teacher education to promote systemic reasoning, shared responsibility, and action-oriented learning.