Coaching During Student Teaching: Using Self-Regulated Learning to Improve Questioning Skills for Preservice Science Teachers

Although student teaching plays a crucial role in teacher preparation programs, limited research has examined the specific features of this experience that positively impact preservice science teachers’ (PSTs) questioning competency. This multi-case study contributes to the existing body of research by presenting findings from an initiative in a teacher preparation program that integrates self-regulated learning (SRL) into professional learning (PL) and coaching to improve PSTs’ questioning skills. Despite variability in their initial SRL skills, all participating PSTs experiened shared learning opportunities related to asking higher-level cognitive questions. The PL and coaching during student teaching appeared to contribute to PSTs’ improvement in different aspects of asking questions. Coaching, in particular, enhanced PSTs’ application of strategies learned in the PL and facilitated learning from the act of teaching. The findings suggest that to help PSTs develop to ask higher-level cognitive questions, teacher preparation programs need to provide detailed, memorable, and theory-grounded descriptions of questioning techniques. In addition, integrating SRL processes into coursework and coaching can significantly enhance PSTs’ learning from teaching experience.