Searching for Metaphors: Exploring Teacher Candidates’ Epistemological Frames

Hughes and Drake Brown consider history teacher candidates’ conceptualization of the relationship among historians, history teachers, and history students, and they investigate the ways that teacher candidates’ understandings are manifested in their work in classrooms. Drawing from qualitative research on fifteen teacher candidates in the United States and the artifacts participants choose to represent their teaching identity, the authors argue that a significant break exists between teacher candidates’ understanding of the discipline of history, their articulated purposes as teachers, and the work that they perform with students during clinical experiences. The study underscores the importance of understanding not just the epistemology of emerging teachers, but also the complex relationship between their developing knowledge and actual classroom instruction.