A Qualitative Study of Student Teachers' Experiences with Collaborative Problem Solving

Abstract

Collaborative problem solving is an activity in which special education teachers and other school professionals work together to solve the academic or behavioral problems of their students. The purpose of this study was to understand preservice teachers' perceptions of a collaborative problem solving activity they implemented with other professionals (e.g., general education teachers, school counselors, and speech and language pathologists) during their student teaching semester. These students formed a collaborative relationship with a school professional in an effort to assist the pair in supporting children with learning and/or behavior problems in general education settings. Findings from this study suggest that the problem-solving project expanded student teachers' definitions of collaboration by increasing their awareness of facilitators and obstacles to it. However, collaboration in practice was not an easy task for student teachers, with school context variables playing a role in facilitating successful or less than successful collaboration.

Beyond Special and General Education as Identity Markers: The Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of The Effects of Intersecting Sociocultural Identities

“…Furthermore, in all eight of these studies, both general and special education preservice teachers were included in the sample. Two of the studies (Griffin et al, 2006;Kamens, 2007) appeared in both the McCall et al (2014) and reviews. Four studies appeared in Pugach and colleagues' (2014) handbook chapter (Andrews, 2002;Arndt & Liles;2010;Sobel et al, 2007;Young 2011a).…”

“…Even when the researchers expressed interest in issues of equity in terms of race, culture and language, the discussion of a broader view of diversity remained in the peripheral of the papers (e.g., Arndt & Liles, 2010;Griffin et al, 2006).…”

“…Pugach and colleagues (2014) excluded survey and attitudinal studies from their analysis. Sixteen of the thirty studies included in the chapter included some form of assessments of preservice teachers (Andrews, 2002;Arndt & Liles, 2010;Brown, Welch, Hill, & Cipko, 2008;Frey, Andres, McKeeman, & Lane, 2012;Geer & Hammill, 2007;Golder, Norwich & Bayliss, 2005;Goodnough, Osmand, Dibbon, Glassman, & Stevens, 2009;Griffin, Jones, & Kilgore, 2006;Kamens, 2007;Kamens & Casale-Giannola, 2004;Kurtts, Hibbard, & Levin, 2005;Jeffs & Banister, 2006;Maheady, Jabot, Rey, & Michelli-Pendl, 2007;McHatton & Daniel, 2008;Sobel, Iceman-Sands, & Basile, 2007;Young, 2011a). One of the findings of the review revealed that when the term "diverse" appeared within the studies about collaboration, it was typically to reference the diversity of participants' academic or departmental backgrounds or to reference the diverse learning needs of P-12 learners.…”

“…(2014) review (Bradley & Monda-Amaya, 2005;Griffin et al, 2006;McHatton & Daniel, 2008;McKenzie, 2009) were also included in the chapter.…”

“…The researchers of these studies used a variety of researcher-developed assessments and applied quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods approaches to the analysis of the data. The assessments ranged from one or more of the following: pre-and post-test surveys (Brown et al, 2008;Jeffs & Banister, 2006;Kurtts et al, 2005;Maheady et al, 2007;McHatton & Daniel, 2008;Murray & Curran, 2008;Sobel et al, 2007;Stang & Lyons, 2008;Welch & Brownell, 2002;), qualitative analyses of preservice candidates responses (Arndt & Liles, 2010;Gallagher, Vail, & Monda-Amaya, 2008;Geer & Hamill, 2007;Griffin et al, 2006;Kamens & Casale-Giannola, 2004;Stang & Lyons, 2008;Young, 2011a), curricular probes to assess content knowledge (Hallam, Buell, and Ridgeley, 2003;Van Laarhoven et al, 2007), field-based observation reports (Frey et al, 2012;Golder et al, 2005;Goodnough et al, 2009;Kamens, 2007), case based assessment (Andrews, 2002), and qualitative vignettes (Bradley & Monda-Amaya, 2005).…”