Assessing problem solving skills among pre-service and in-service teachers with regards to academic skill deficits

Abstract

Given the importance of student academic success, it is imperative that teacher preparation programs ensure teachers-in-training, also called pre-service teachers, are being taught how to successfully identify and analyze the problems of struggling students. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate whether in-service and pre-service teachers differed in measured problem identification and analysis skills. In addition, the study sought to evaluate whether no instruction, didactic instruction, or didactic instruction plus modeling would result in the highest measured problem solving skills among participants. The results indicated in-service teachers possessed greater problem solving skills than pre-service teachers, and that didactic instruction plus modeling was the most effective form of instruction for teaching problem solving skills. No significant differences were found between the control and didactic instruction conditions. In addition, there was not a significant interaction between the independent variables. Implications for teacher preparation programs and for how to teach pre-service teachers problem solving skills are discussed, as well as suggestions for related future research.