Increasing Student Teachers' Preference of Scientific Evidence—Insights From a Utility Value Intervention
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Teacher education should equip student teachers with scientific evidence and scientific theories as a resource for future pedagogical action. In opposition to this, student teachers tend to perceive a rather low utility value of scientific evidence and scientific theories for pedagogical action. This unfavorable motivational disposition for the use of scientific evidence and scientific theories can be addressed with a utility value intervention. Some studies have addressed this issue by conducting utility value interventions and their results range from nonsignificant to medium effects. However, little is known about how utility value interventions affect student teachers' preferences for different sources. We therefore conducted a secondary analysis to evaluate the effect of a utility value intervention on student teachers' sourcing preference. The student teachers were asked which source they would prefer to obtain information about good teaching. Our secondary analysis has revealed that the utility value intervention diminished the preference of anecdotal evidence ( d = 0.12) while elevating the preference of scientific evidence ( d = 0.10). By contrast, the preference of scientific theories and subjective theories were not affected by the utility value intervention. We interpret this as an extension of prior results and discuss future directions for utility value interventions in teacher education.
Source: Future in Educational Research
DOI: 10.1002/fer3.70023
Institutions: University of Wuppertal, Bielefeld University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4415456129