Investigating preservice teachers’ perspectives on out-of-school learning

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate preservice teachers’ (PSTs) perspectives on out-of-school learning (OOSL). A total of 100 PSTs studying at a faculty of education in Turkey voluntarily participated in the main research. The study was conducted as a descriptive qualitative inquiry, with study data generated from two online surveys plus an interview. The findings revealed that the PSTs expressed mostly positive effects of OOSL. The PSTs mentioned additional OOSL environments such as beaches. As stakeholders, a student’s family, teachers, the school, official guides, and learners were mentioned as having active roles in the OOSL process. The expectation of an OOSL environment having been professionally designed was perceived the most by the PSTs. Most of the PSTs favored using OOSL during the pandemic period. Based on the study’s results, teacher education programs operating outside of the classroom teaching environment can be organized according to the PST perspective.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning environments
• out-of-school learning (OOSL)
• perspectives
• preservice teachers (PSTs)
• descriptive qualitative study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ozlem Oktay

Ozlem Oktay is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Science Education at Ataturk University. She received a Ph.D. in physics education from Middle East Technical University (METU). She also spent a year researching at Harvard University, where she participated in Eric Mazur’s research group. Her research interests include professional development, teacher education, peer instruction, the nature of science/physics, out-of-school science learning, teacher emotion, and physics education.