Case 1: Students, Candidates, and Scholars: Organizing a Student Research Group to Facilitate Teacher Candidate and Teacher Educator Scholarship

This chapter highlights the work of teacher educators and teacher candidates as they engage in inquiry and contribute to scholarship that expands the knowledge base related to teacher education (ATE Standard 3) within a student research group (SRG). This SRG, housed in a combined childhood and special education program within a regional comprehensive institution, provides opportunities for teacher education faculty to collaborate with teacher candidates as the latter consider, investigate, and present scholarship related to self-chosen problems of practice. Through this collaboration, the teacher candidates become student scholars. Faculty provide group instruction covering the research process, tools to scaffold student analysis of published research, and frequent mentorship meetings with individual student scholars. The process culminates in student scholar presentations at a college-level conference organized by the teacher education faculty. Many student scholars conduct their research in their field placements and then go on to present their scholarship at various local and state level conferences. This case outlines the ways in which the SRG facilitates the development of professional skills, dispositions, and knowledge related to investigating and integrating teacher education scholarship into practice.