The Fifth Dimension: Application of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, Inquiry-Based Learning, Computers, and Telecommunications to Change Prospective Teachers' Preconceptions

The literature on teacher education indicates that prospective teachers (PSTs) enter teacher preparation with flawed preconceptions of teaching, learning, and pupils. This paper reports the results of research and development on a programmatic effort to change PSTs preconceptions by participation in a learning system designed to promote learning interactions mediated through computer technology and telecommunications. Participants for this study were thirty-seven undergraduate PSTs enrolled in two sections of an Introduction to Teaching course (CI 2800). The core activities of CI 2800 are: 1) participating in class devoted to lecture, reading discussion, student presentations; 2) participating in the Fifth Dimension after-school program two times per week; 3) writing detailed field-notes on experiences and observations in the Fifth Dimension; 4) interacting with undergraduates at other campuses about the Fifth Dimension through e-mail and distance learning; and 5) participating in a web-based learning system. A ten-item test was designed to determine attitudes and beliefs toward teaching, learning, and pupils. Data analysis was a comparison of responses on the pre-test and post-test and triangulated with articulation from field-notes and notes conferencing [1]. Results suggests that teacher education students participating in the learning system we have designed transform their beliefs about education away from the belief of learning as a linear process toward a definition of learning as a social process involving active participation of children in socially constituted practices.