Affiliation:
1. Radford University, Radford, USA
2. Saint Peter's University, Jersey City, USA
Abstract
Capstone courses are uniquely positioned in higher education programs. A capstone course in teacher education programs provides an opportunity for preservice teachers to synthesize their undergraduate learning. A capstone course builds and connects a bridge between college learning and workplace environment to ease preservice teachers' transition into the workplace. In this transition process, faculty helps preservice teachers elicit, reflect, and interpret their own understanding of their content area and relate it to their teaching practices. This article draws upon a series of semi-structured interviews with capstone instructors across the United States. It explores the experiences of faculty, teaching capstone courses and provides rich accounts of how capstone courses serve preservice teachers. It offers an insight into the challenges faculty face while teaching capstone courses. The findings provide an overview of mathematics education capstone instructors' pedagogical approach and their belief about the role capstone courses within teacher education programs.
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