Enhancing Pre-service Teachers’ Reflective Quality on Inquiry-based Teaching Through a Community of Practice

Abstract

Implementing inquiry-based teaching in secondary school is often a challenge for pre-service teachers. Thoughtful reflection on their teaching experience may help future teachers address this challenge. This article examined the quality of reflection on inquiry teaching by two pre-service science teachers as they participated in a mini-Community of Practice (mCoP) with their cooperating teachers and university advisor. Findings from this study revealed the benefits of this mCoP for nurturing pre-service teachers’ inquiry teaching by building a network of encouraging support from experienced teachers and by providing a supportive reflective environment. The study also showed pre-service teachers transformed their reflections from technical to reflective thinking as they matured in inquiry-based teaching practice.

Keywords

• community of practice
• inquiry-based teaching
• pre-service teacher
• reflection