Faculty Co-Teaching with Their Teacher Candidates in the Field: Co-Planning, Co-Instructing, and Co-Reflecting for STEM Education Teacher Preparation

Co-teaching is a fieldwork model in teacher education used to describe the shared responsibility of educators engaging in the process of planning, teaching, and reflecting to support student learning. While research often describes this model between teacher candidates and mentor teachers, this research examined co-teaching between university faculty and teacher candidates. The research questions included: (1) How do teacher candidates experience and perceive a co-teaching model with their faculty? and (2) What elements of teacher candidates’ experiences during co-teaching reflect the cognitive apprenticeship model of learning? Through this study it was identified that teacher candidates co-teaching with their faculty led to strengthened understanding of integrated STEM education, particularly in STEM content and PCK. Making thinking visible using cognitive apprenticeship through co-teaching led to teacher candidates developing an understanding of STEM education in their personal teaching practice and building their capacity to become confident and resourceful STEM educators.