Fostering Subjective Understandings: Exploring the Role of Place and Transdisciplinarity in a Teacher Education Program

• In Event: Teacher Preparation for Educational Equity

Abstract

Education in the United States is often siloed by discipline, making it challenging to engage in transdisciplinary teaching and learning that support social justice. New approaches are needed to disrupt entrenched divides and support critical understandings, particularly in teacher education. We share findings from an initial pilot, centering place, mapping and dominant narratives in an elementary teacher education program. Drawing on case study methodologies, we examine prospective teachers’ questions posed across 3 class sessions, studying the ways in which they engaged in transdisciplinarity and justice-oriented inquiries. We find that the juxtaposition of place-based pedagogies, collaborative teaching among ourselves, and a focus on question posing were generative for fostering transdisciplinarity. Yet challenges also emerged, suggesting refinements for future iterations.

Authors

• Kathryn Lanouette, College of William & Mary
  Presenting Author

• Esther June Kim, College of William & Mary
  Presenting Author

• Gladys Krause, College of William & Mary
  Presenting Author