How do preservice teachers view classroom situations? A case study of variations in their mental classroom representations

This case study explored the possibilities of using a classroom video to elucidate preservice teachers’ mental representations (i.e. perceptions and interpretations) of a classroom situation. Twelve preservice teachers from different stages of their teacher education programme participated in the study. Eye tracking and stimulated recall interviews were utilized to gain access to what they perceived, where they focused, and on what time scale they operated in their descriptions of the classroom video. The results showed variation in preservice teachers’ processing of classroom situations, both in the emergence and frequency of different categories as well as in the quality of their cumulative cognitive processing in terms of viewpoint and continuity. Based on these dimensions, the participants could be divided into four distinct groups, highlighting individual differences in their cumulative cognitive processing of the classroom situation. Pedagogical implications are discussed.