Preservice Teachers' Use of Educational Theories in Classroom and Behavior Management Course: A Case Based Approach

Teaching is a complex activity that requires one to make many decisions in a short span of time. Decision making by teachers in their daily lives is therefore inevitable. Most of the decisions made are mostly based on teachers' personal belief system which are usually related to educational theories and principles but the issue is most teachers are not aware of such relationships. They have actually put these thoeries into in their daily decision making practices. In view of this situation, this study intends to explore the preservice teachers' use of educational theories, principles and concept in making decisions to solve problems in the classroom using a case analysis model. This model was used by the preservice teachers as a framework for analysing classroom and behavior management cases. In addition, this study also evaluated the attitude of preservice teachers towards the course after using a case based approach. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Dr. Zafer Bekirogullari.