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Cultural Studies of Science Education

, Volume 11, Issue 4, pp 1243–1268 | Cite as

Characteristics of place identity as part of professional identity development among pre-service teachers

  • Michal Gross
  • Nurit Hochberg
Article
First Online:

Abstract

How do pre-service teachers perceive place identity, and is there a connection between their formative place identity and the development of their professional teaching identity? These questions are probed among pre-service teachers who participated in a course titled “Integrating Nature into Preschool.” The design of the course was based on a multidimensional teaching model that yields a matrix of students’ perceptions and the practical aspects derived from them as the students undergo a range of experiences in the course of an academic year. The profile of perceptions uses a mixed-methods analysis that presents statements attesting to four indicators of place identity: familiarity, belonging, involvement, and meaningfulness. These indicators point to a broad spectrum of perceptions arrayed on a continual time axes as well as differences in perception and its complexity. A connection between the development of place identity and that of professional teaching identity is found.

Keywords

Place identity Professional development Place-based education Pre-service teachers Out-of-class learning 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel, for supporting this study.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Nature and Science Education DepartmentOranim Academic College of EducationTivonIsrael
  2. 2.Levinsky College of EducationTel AvivIsrael

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