A Study on Preservice Teachers’ Mindset Concerning Teaching Competences

Abstract

In order to discuss various ways of learning as part of teacher education, it is important to clarify the learning mechanism of each student. However, no research focusing on mindset has been conducted in teacher education research in Japan. In this study, as a first step to clarify the teachers’ mindset concerning science, differences between implicit theories of intelligence and preservice teachers’ mindset about teaching competences were explored and their perceptions about the competences necessary for science were analyzed. The results of the research can be summarized in the following four points: (1) Preservice teachers believe that teacher competences can grow more than intelligence. (2) First-year university students have greater belief that teacher competences can be developed than do second-year students. (3) Preservice teachers consider having the ability to experiment; having abundant class contents or peripheral knowledge; and raising the interest, motivation, and curiosity of children as teacher competences necessary for science. (4) Second-year university students value the need for children-centered classes, which may have created a difference in their mindset about teaching competences compared to first-year students.