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The Effects of EarlyChildhood Academic andProfessional Experience onSelf Perceptions and Beliefsabout DevelopmentallyAppropriate PracticesMary Benson McMullen Ph.D. aa Indiana UniversityPublished online: 09 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: Mary Benson McMullen Ph.D. (1997) The Effects of EarlyChildhood Academic and Professional Experience on Self Perceptions and Beliefsabout Developmentally Appropriate Practices, Journal of Early Childhood TeacherEducation, 18:3, 55-68, DOI: 10.1080/1090102970180307

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Journal of Early Childhood Teacher EducationFall/Winter 1997, Volume 18, No. 3

The Effects of Early Childhood Academic and Professional Experience on

Self Perceptions and Beliefs

about Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Mary Benson McMullen, Ph.D.

Indiana University

"...attention to the beliefs of teachers and teacher candidates should be the focus ofeducational research and can inform educational practice in ways that prevailingresearch agendas have not and cannot" (Pajares, 1992, 307)

Researchers have been urged to go beyond examining teaching practices tolook at the self-perceptions and beliefs held by preservice and inservice teachers(Isenberg, 1990; Smith, 1993). Teacher beliefs get to the very heart of teachingpractices and should be a starting point for considering teacher education reform."The more one reads studies of teacher belief, the more strongly one suspects thatthis piebald born of personal knowledge lies at the very heart of teaching" (Kagan,1992, p. 85). Yet, to date, most teacher education research has focused on thepractices of teachers while shying away from the much more difficult to discern andto describe beliefs underlying teaching practices (Hollingsworth, 1989; Isenberg,1990). Furthermore, much of the research that does examine teachers' beliefsabout teaching has focused primarily on elementary and secondary teacherswhereas, according to Smith (1993), very little has been done to study the beliefs ofearly childhood professionals. There is also little information available thatcompares the beliefs of preservice teachers with inservice teachers (Benz,Bradley, Alderman, & Flowers, 1992). The literature discussed in this paperfocuses on four primary areas: ( teaching beliefs in general; beliefs aboutdevelopmentally appropriate practices; teacher efficacy beliefs; and the effects ofteacher education on teachers' beliefs.

In this study, four groups of Indiana University early childhood educationstudents and practicing professionals who were graduates of the program wereexamined, including: "New Students" (undergraduates in the first two weeks oftheir first professional early childhood education course); "Student Teachers"(seniors at the end of their student teaching experience); "Novices" (recentgraduates at the end of their first two to three semesters as teachers oradministrators of early childhood programs); and "Veterans" (graduates who hadbeen employed full-time in the profession for more than three years). Theresearcher addressed three questions, (1) Are there differences among groups ofinexperienced and experienced early childhood professionals in terms of theirbeliefs about using developmentally appropriate practices with young children? Arethere differences in their perceptions of efficacy of the teaching profession in termsof making an impact on young children's lives (educational efficacy)?; and (3) Arethere differences in their perceptions of themselves as teachers (personal teachingefficacy)?

Teachers beliefs about teaching and their perceptions of themselves as

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teachers are bound to influence classroom practice because such beliefs serve asthe basis for decisions made in managing the classroom and how teachers behavein their roles as teachers (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Brantlinger, 1996; Gibson &Dembo, 1984; Isenberg, 1990; Kagan, 1992; Weinstein, 1988). There is wideagreement in the field of early childhood education that a strong disposition towarddevelopmentally appropriate practices is highly desirable and that DAP constituteswhat are considered "best practices" for young children. In addition to studyingteaching and personal teaching efficacy, beliefs about developmentally appropriatepractices (DAP) was chosen for the knowledge base component of this study.

Although the national teacher exams that have been mandated by states overthe past decade indicate that a knowledge base for teaching has been defined andcan be evaluated, we are not entirely sure how that knowledge is retained byteachers as they are inducted into professional practice. In contrast to theassumption that teachers' knowledge base can be enhanced by teacher education,studies that focus on beliefs (such as those done by Goodman, 1989; Isenberg,1990; Tabachnick & Zeichner, 1984) conclude overwhelmingly that teachereducation has very little impact on the beliefs held by preservice teachers, and thatpreservice teachers usually leave the program with their original beliefs abouteducation intact. This study, with its three questions and four groups of preserviceand inservice early childhood professionals, addresses the development andretention of beliefs (in this, case, knowledge-based beliefs about DAP), theevolution of attitudes about teaching efficacy and personal teaching efficacy, andthe tenacity or malleability of beliefs.

General Beliefs About TeachingThe construct of beliefs is considered very difficult to define and even harder to

study. Beliefs are characterized and conceptualized in a number of ways, anddescribed by many in terms such as attitudes, values, judgments, axioms, opinions,ideology, conceptual systems, dispositions, perspectives, practical principles, andmany others (Pajares, 1992). Teacher beliefs are the implicit assumptions thatpreservice and inservice teachers have about students, learning, classrooms, andthe content material taught (Kagan, 1992). There has been a great deal of interestlately in the "implicit theories" of teachers (Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, & Hernandez,1991; Hollingsworth, 1989; Isenberg, 1990; Pajares, 1992; Spodek, 1988;Weinstein, 1989). Implicit theories are those beliefs teachers develop from theirpersonal experiences while "explicit theories" are those taught in college coursesand professional literature. Most teachers implicit beliefs are considered tacitbeliefs in that teachers may not be aware of them, lack the language to describethem, or feel reluctant to express them openly.

The metaphor of the filter or screen is often used in the literature to describethe powerful effects of beliefs' Goodman (1988), for example, characterizes beliefsas "intuitive screens" through which information is filtered. These screens causepreservice teachers to react intuitively rather than intellectually to new ideas.School experiences from early childhood through high school have significantimpact on the meaning of education to undergraduate education students (Gardner,1991; Goodman, 1988). Lortie (1975) refers to the several thousands of hoursspent in K-12 classrooms as an "apprenticeship of observation." This early site-

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The Effects ofEarty Childhood Academic and Professional Experience on SelfPerceptions and Beliefs about Developmental Appropriate Practices

based construction of the meaning of "teacher" and "teaching" may play much moreof a role in defining future teachers than the research-based knowledge andacademic theory to which preservice teachers are exposed in college classrooms(Nespor, 1987; Zeuichner & Tabachnick, 1981).

In psychology and cognitive science beliefs are characterized as relativelystable and highly resistant to change (Brousseau & Freeman, 1988; Pajares, 1992).Beliefs form early in life, tend to be self-perpetuating, and have been shown topersevere despite all evidence that is produced that would prove them invalid. Theearlier in life the beliefs are formed, the more difficult they are to alter, makingchange of beliefs in adulthood relatively rare (Gardner, 1991).

Pajares (1992) states that beliefs are the best indicators of teachers' decisionsand teachers' practices, whereas Pintrich (1990) goes a step farther and proclaimsthat beliefs will ultimately prove to be the most valuable psychological construct toconsider in teacher education. Whether or not beliefs prove to be "the mostvaluable psychological construct," there is tremendous agreement in the literaturethat teachers' beliefs influence perceptions, which in turn influence judgment andbehaviors (Ashton, 1990; Ashton, Webb, & Doda, 1983; Brookhart, & Freeman,1992; Clark, 1988; Feiman-Nemser, & Floden, 1986; Goodman, 1988; Nespor,1987; Tabachnick, & Zeichner, 1984).

Some researchers describe beliefs as precipitates of knowledge (Ernest, 1989;Nespor, 1987), whereas others argue that the origin of knowledge itself is rooted inbelief (Lewis, 1990). Errtest (1989), while stating that knowledge is a cognitiveoutcome and that belief is an affective outcome, concedes that beliefs also possessa significant knowledge component. In support of his emphasis on the affectivenature of beliefs and the influence of beliefs on action, Ernest points out thatteachers who have similar knowledge often teach in very different ways.Supporting the predominance of affect in beliefs, it is observed that beliefs ofteninvolve moods, feelings, and emotions which are stored in long-term memory fromwhich they can be readily and efficiently retrieved (Nespor, 1987). Other authorsmaintain that beliefs draw their power from previous knowledge and experiencesyet play a key role in what people attend to and how they construct new knowledge(Calderhead & Robson, 1991; Goodman, 1988); that is, it is the combination oflong-held beliefs together with previously constructed knowledge that contribute tohow people make sense of new information (Hollingsworth, 1989). Whatever therelative ratio of knowledge and belief in influencing action, together, knowledge andbeliefs shape cognitive processes such as memory, comprehension, reasoning,problem solving, and thus ultimately, behaviors and practices (Pintrich, 1990).

Beliefs About Developmental^ Appropriate Practices (DAP)The concept of developmentally appropriate practices, or DAP, was originally

described in detail in a policy statement by the National Association for theEducation of Young children (Bredekamp, 1987) and was subsequently refined in arecently published document (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). A DAP curriculum isone that focuses on the overall development of children, including social,emotional, aesthetic, moral, language, cognitive, and physical (including health,gross motor, and fine motor) development. DAP curricula are individually, agegroup, and culturally appropriate.

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DAP curricula are child-generated and child-centered and relate to theeveryday reality of the individuals within a group as well as to the learningcommunity as a whole (Oakes & Caruso, 1990). A DAP classroom is rich inliteracy opportunities, has a whole language approach to literacy, allows for freeexploration, encourages problem solving and critical thinking, values the play ofchildren, integrates instruction across the major content areas, and is processrather than product oriented (Bredekamp & Shepard, 1989; Elkind, 1986; Hills,1987; Smith, 1993). Assessment in such an environment is continuous and is donefor the purpose of preparing the environment for the children and building upontheir strengths; it is not done to assess the achievement of isolated skills or todetermine children's weaknesses. Both DAP and more traditional academicapproaches have been found to promote cognitive development and increasescores in reading, language, and math (Schweinhart, Weikart, & Lamer, 1986).Several studies reveal far more positive outcomes for DAP curricula overtraditional approaches, however. The teacher practices associated with DAP havebeen shown to increase overall student achievement (Goffin, 1989; Powell, 1986),increase prosocial behaviors, result in fewer behavioral problems at home and atschool, decrease stress behaviors in children (Bredekamp & Shepard, 1989; Elkind,1989; Halpin, Halpin, & Harris, 1982; Hirsh-Pasek, 1991), and improve problemsolving skills (Spidell-Rusher, McGrevin, & Lambiotte, 1992).

Efficacy BeliefsSelf efficacy was originally described by Armor, Conroy-Osequera, Cox, King,

McDonnel, Pascal, Pauley & Zellman (1976), Bandura (1977), and Barfield andBurlingame (1974). Bandura described two components of self efficacy: (1)outcome expectancy, which is the belief that certain behaviors can lead to specificoutcomes; and (2) efficacy expectation which is a belief about one's owncompetence to bring about certain outcomes. Bandura argues that self efficacy issituation specific; one may feel efficacious in one area of life, but not in others.

Berman and McLaughlin (1977) state that the most important characteristic ofteacher effectiveness is self efficacy. In educational terms, the two components ofself efficacy translate into the terms "teaching efficacy" (Bandura's outcomeexpectancy) and "personal teaching efficacy" (Bandura's efficacy expectation)(Ashton & Webb, 1986). Teaching efficacy, which to avoid confusion will bereferred to from this point on as "educational efficacy," refers to teachers' beliefsabout their own ability to affect student performance based upon their assumptionsabout the general relationship between teaching and learning (Ashton, Webb, &Doda, 1983; Ginns, Tulip, Watters, & Lucas, 1995; Greenwood, Olejnik, & Parkay,1990). Someone with "low educational efficacy" believes that education cannotaffect student learning and performance whereas teachers with "high educationalefficacy" generally feel that teaching and education can affect student learning andperformance. Low educational efficacy has been related to "external locus ofcontrol" or feeling that things happen as a result of good and bad luck, fate, or morepowerful others and not by personal effort (Lefcourt, 1981; McMullen, 1997).Teachers who believe that their ability to affect change is limited by external factors(such as children's family circumstances, a perceived decline in society's morals,etc.) have less motivation to search for more effective teaching techniques

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(DiBella-McCarthy, McDaniel, & Miller,1995). High educational efficacy has beenpositively correlated with child-centered environments and high student outcomes(Weber & Omotani, 1994), DAP practices, willingness to implement innovativeprograms (Rose, 1994), and high teacher persistence leading to higherachievement for students (Dembo & Gibson, 1985).

The second type of efficacy, personal teaching efficacy, refers to teachers'general sense of their own effectiveness in having an impact on studentachievement (Ashton, Webb, & Doda, 1983; Ginns, Tulip, Watters, & Lucas, 1995).A teacher with "low personal teaching efficacy" may or may not believe that

teachers in general can affect student performance, but they firmly believe thatthey personally cannot; whereas teachers with "high personal teaching efficacy"believe that they personally can affect student learning and performance. Ateacher with high personal teaching efficacy is more likely to expect that allstudents can learn and that they are responsible for that outcome (Benz, Bradley,Alderman, & Flowers, 1992).' Teachers' sense of personal confidence and theirfaith in the benefits of education lead them to try harder and to accept and valuethemselves and children. If they value children and have confidence in their abilityto succeed they may allow the children more freedom and be able to adapt theircurricula to children's interests and needs. They also may worry less aboutexternal evaluation (which they perceive as a press for rigid practices andstandards) for themselves or their children.Effects of Teacher Education on Beliefs

The stability of early beliefs and their resistance to change have importantimplication for teacher education. There has recently been a great deal ofspeculation and theorizing about the possibilities that teacher education may havevery little effect on the shaping of teachers' beliefs about how children learn andabout what role the teacher has in that process (Calderhead & Robson, 1991;Kalaian & Freeman, 1986; McDiarmid, 1990; Tabachnick & Zeichner, 1984). Bothof these perspectives are key ingredients in a teacher's personal teachingphilosophy, which, in turn, is related to the way teachers structure their classroomlearning environments. Hence, if beliefs are not affected by reading or applyingresearch (Hall & Loucks, 1982) and teachers educated in recommended teachingpractices often don't use them (Clark, Smith, Newby, & Cook, 1985; Isenberg,1990) teacher educators face a serious problem. In spite of the promotion ofrecommended teaching practices in undergraduate teacher education programs,teachers may not use such best practices when it comes to working in classrooms.Preservice teachers tend to be influenced most by those ideas and people whovalidate, rather than challenge their existing beliefs (Goodman, 1988). In otherwords, entering teacher education students tend to hold on to their pre-teacherpreparatory program beliefs (despite plenty of contradictory evidence concerningtheir validity) even after graduation (Tabachnick and Zeichner, 1984).

Conclusions from study after study indicate that there is very little relationshipbetween teacher education and teachers' future practices; that practicing teacherscontinue to rely on their own early beliefs about education, many of which wereformed before they entered teacher education (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Goodman,1988; Oakes and Caruso, 1990; Zeichner and Tabachnick, 1981). If beliefs aredifficult, or impossible to change through teacher education, the result will forever

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the continuation of conventional practices, rather than change or growth. Thefindings paint a bleak picture about the impact that teacher education couldpossibly have in influencing the beliefs and practices of new teachers.Subsequently, there seems little hope that teacher education reform can ever trulytake hold. If this is true, teacher educators will begin to experience low educationalefficacy.

Yet the literature supporting teachers' learning of DAP is more hopeful. Thereis some evidence that DAP beliefs taught in early childhood undergraduateeducation programs may be different. Wood, Cobb, and Yackel (1990) report thathigh quality undergraduate early childhood course work in which DAP isemphasized, along with properly supervised field experiences in appropriatesettings influence the adoption of DAP beliefs and practices in preserviceteachers.

The ProblemAlthough the evidence of the impact of teacher education on best practices is

gloomy and that of DAP only slightly more hopeful, if educators are to have theirown sense of educational efficacy and personal teaching efficacy, a betterunderstanding of the beliefs of early childhood teacher education candidates andinservice teachers is critical. We must very carefully study ways to improveprofessional education, teaching practices, and professional development. Teachereducators need to determine which beliefs are teachable or changeable and whichare not, and how best to influence beliefs so that attention can be focused onfostering those beliefs that enhance practice in schools (Clark, 1988; McDiarmid,1990; Porter & Freeman, 1986). For early childhood teacher educators, thequestion becomes how preservice and inservice professionals can be encouragedto adopt an orientation that is closer to the DAP end of the continuum than the DIPend. Teacher education must become aware of which course work and whichfield-based experiences will be most effective in moving toward that goal.Similarly, teacher educators must study how best to encourage DAP in the ongoingprofessional development of early childhood inservice professionals. Again, toaddress these broad areas of inquiry, the following specific question was addressedin this study: Are there differences among the four groups of Indiana Universitypreservice and inservice professionals in terms of their beliefs about DAP withyoung children as well as their teaching efficacy and personal teaching efficacy?

MethodsSample

Indiana University preservice and inservice early childhood professionalsrepresenting four different levels of experience participated in this study. "NewStudents" (n = 23 with 1 male and 21 females) completed questionnaires during thefirst two weeks of their first semester in the teacher education program. "StudentTeachers" (n = 23 females) were tested during the last two weeks of their senioryear which was at the end of their primary grades (kindergarten through third grade)student teaching experience. "Novices" (n = 19 females) were recent graduates ofthe early childhood education program who had been employed as early childhoodeducation professionals full-time for two to three semesters. Three of these women

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were preschool teachers, three were preschool directors, four were kindergartenteachers, and nine were teaching in first through third grades. Practicingprofessionals were considered "Veterans" (n = 19; 17 females and 2 males) if theyhad been working in the profession full-time in early childhood for a minimum ofthree full academic years. These professionals were all graduates of either IndianaUniversity's early childhood undergraduate program, or they were elementaryeducation graduates who were certified to teach kindergarten as well as primary.Six Veterans were in preschool settings; four as teachers and two others asadministrators. Thirteen other professionals were in public school settings, asfollows: one multicategorical special needs preschool teacher; three kindergartenteachers; two K-1 multiage teachers; three first grade teachers; one second gradeteacher, one third grade teacher, one first through third multiage teacher, and oneprincipal. The total number of years of experience for the Veterans ranged fromfour to thirty years with a mean number of 18.2 years in the profession.Procedure

Questionnaires were administered to all four groups of participants betweenJanuary 1996 and November 1996. For the New Students, the questionnaires werehanded out in one of their college classes, with an envelope in which they could bereturned to the researcher. Questionnaires for the other three groups were sent bymail with self-addressed, stamped return envelopes. Fifty percent of thequestionnaires that were mailed were completed and returned to the investigator.

MeasuresTwo instruments were administered to the New Students, Student Teachers,

Novices, and Veterans. The two instruments used in this study were the PrimaryTeachers Questionnaire (Smith, 1993) which measures beliefs aboutdevelopmentally appropriate practices and the Self Efficacy Quiz (DiBella-McCarthy, McDaniel, & Miller, 1995) which has four subscales which measure lowand high educational efficacy and low and high personal teaching efficacy. Thedevelopment of the Self Efficacy Quiz was based upon the concepts of efficacy asdefined by Bandura (1977) and further refined for teachers by Ashton and Webb(1986). Smith (1993) developed the Primary Teacher Questionnaire from theoriginal NAEYC position statement which defined developmentally appropriatepractices for children from birth through age eight (Bredekamp, 1987). Thisinstrument is considered particularly useful for distinguishing developmentallyappropriate practices from inappropriate practices and for tracking the effects ofteacher education.

Data AnalysisAn analysis of variance (ANOVA) multigroup comparison was performed to find

out whether or not the dependent variables of Educational Efficacy, PersonalTeaching Efficacy, and Beliefs About DAP differed across the independent variablegroups representing different levels of teaching experience (i.e., New Teachers,Student Teachers, Novices, and Veterans). The results of the ANOVA for thisstudy indicated that beliefs about DAP differed significantly across the fourexperience level groups of early childhood professionals: F(3, 78) = 6.30; p < .001.The more experienced the professionals were, the higher the mean score on the

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DAP beliefs instrument, indicating stronger DAP beliefs. No significant differenceswere found using ANOVA among the groups for either educational efficacy orpersonal teaching efficacy, although Pearson Correlation Analysis revealed asignificant relationship between DAP beliefs and low educational efficacy (a = .559;p = .01) and DAP beliefs and personal teaching efficacy (a = .351, p = .005).

T-tests were run to compare DAP beliefs between various pairs of the fourgroups of participants. It was found that both the New Students (t = 5.23; p < .05)and the Student Teachers (t = 6.10; p < .05) differed significantly from Veterans intheir beliefs about developmentally appropriate practices. Novices, however, werenot found to differ significantly in these individual comparisons with the othergroups. (See Table 1.)

TABLE 1Comparison of Beliefs About Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Across Four Levels of Experience in Indiana University Preservice andInservice Early Childhood Professionals

DAP

Level of M NExperience SD

New 123.4 11.3 22Teachers

Student 132.6 10.4 23Teachers

Novices 135.3 12.6 19

Veterans 140.7 11.3 19

NOTES. - Significant differences were found among the four levels of experiencefor DAP beliefs, shown in the ANOVA results: F(3,78) = 6.30, p < .001. Also,significant differences were found between New Teachers and Veterans: t = 5.23, p< .05; and between Student Teachers and Veterans: t = 6.10, p < .05.*The higher the score for DAP beliefs, the closer the group is to the DAP end ofthe DIP versus DAP continuum.

Discussion of ResultsThe main purpose of this study was to find out if there are differences in terms

of efficacy beliefs and beliefs about DAP among four groups of Indiana University

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early childhood education professionals at various points of their careers. Resultsindicate significant differences across the groups in terms of DAP beliefs, but nosignificant differences in terms of efficacy beliefs. Overall, analysis of the datareveals that the more education and experience the Indiana University studentsand graduates had in early childhood, the higher the disposition to believe in DAP.

So much is known about how difficult it is to change core beliefs throughteacher education, that the result of the DAP scores increasing significantly withexperience is surprising upon first inspection. However, although beliefs are verystable and difficult to change, and serve as a "filter" or "screen" for knowledge,knowledge can also influence beliefs. That appears to be the case for beliefs aboutDAP. Knowledge about "best practices" for young children influenced the priorbeliefs and assumptions held by the participants in this study. DAP beliefs may notbe as subject as other beliefs to the "apprenticeship of observation" that Lortie(1975) describes.

Perhaps it is the very fact that developmentally appropriate practices are soradically different from what most of the participants experienced in their yearsbefore teacher education, that DAP beliefs are easier for teachers to assimilate. Inthe present study, it was confirmed that DAP beliefs are influenced by knowledgeand experiences that are gained through university education preparation andprofessional development; teachers become increasingly strong in their beliefsabout DAP as they learn more about it throughout their educational preparation andget out in the field and engage in DAP practices themselves.

The significant relationships found in this study between DAP beliefs and loweducational efficacy, a construct considered closely related to external locus ofcontrol, and DAP beliefs and low personal teaching efficacy, is easier tounderstand. Preservice or inservice teachers who held weaker DAP beliefs tendedto have low educational efficacy and thus were more externally oriented (i.e., theywere more likely to believe that success in their students was somehow beyondtheir control, not due to their influence or the influence of education), and had lowpersonal teaching efficacy (i.e., doubt that they personally as educators can reallymake a difference in student success). The relationship between DAP and externallocus of control makes sense when one considers that the more open DAPclassroom, with child-centered, child-generated curriculum, may be very difficult foran externally oriented person to work within successfully. Such a person wouldhave a tendency to exert more external control over the environment than isdesirable in a DAP environment. Teachers who engage in highly DAP practicesmust have more confidence in themselves as educators (i.e., possess highpersonal teaching efficacy) since this is inherently more challenging because itinvolves continuous adaptation to an emergent curriculum.

Future researchers should either conduct longitudinal studies on the growth andchanges of DAP beliefs over the teacher education and early professional career,or cross-sectional studies with a larger and more diverse sample. Also, research isneeded to find out what types of personality characteristics or situational factorsmake an early childhood preservice or inservice professional more likely to accept

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DAP as a personal teaching philosophy, and whether or not these characteristicsare influenced by teacher education or professional development.

Implications for Teacher EducationClearly, a better understanding of the beliefs of teacher education candidates

and inservice teachers is critical to improving early childhood professionaleducation and teaching practices. Several beliefs researchers urge teachereducators to keep trying to shape beliefs toward the DAP end of the continuum,which has been recognized from years of educational, psychological, and cognitivescience research as well as the classroom experience of multitudes of practicingteachers as best practices for early childhood education.

In terms of practices, teacher educators need to challenge their students'inappropriate beliefs, teach them the skills to critique their beliefs, and help themlearn to articulate and support their own philosophies (Brousseau & Freeman, 1988;Nespor, 1987; Sagan, 1979; Weinstein, 1989). This can be accomplished in theuniversity classroom by helping preservice professionals learn to make theirimplicit beliefs explicit (Brousseau & Freeman, 1988; Weinstein, 1989) and todevelop and defend a set of belief statements by finding both refuting andsupporting evidence concerning the beliefs (Sagan, 1979). Having to defend theirbelief statements will help students become more aware that their beliefs must bedefensible and valid, or there is little sense in having them (Nespor, 1987; Sagan,1979).

Careful selection of field observation and participation sites, and closesupervision and debriefing of these experiences is essential in early childhoodteacher education. Even if high quality field placements are available, teachereducators should use other observational methods that will allow for discussion andfeedback to occur within the college classroom. Showing and discussingvideotaped segments of appropriate and inappropriate environments,"eavesdropping" on early childhood classrooms via video technology or inobservation booths, and debriefing with the actual classroom teachers who weresubjects of the observations are excellent methods for facilitating the developmentof observation techniques.

If DAP beliefs are able to'be influenced by teacher education and professionaldevelopment, as suggested by this research, teacher educators have much toconsider about their own beliefs and practices. Teacher educators need to examinetheir own beliefs as well as practices. Are we clinging to old indefensible beliefs; ifso, why? Are we modeling appropriate practices in our own undergraduateclassrooms; if not, why not? Teacher educators must remember the influence theyhave in the classroom as role models of appropriate teaching and the power ofobservational learning. We must be willing in our own early childhood teachereducation classrooms to, as one practitioner told this researcher, "Walk the walk,not just talk the talk."

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