Addressing preservice teachers' conceptions of motivation

Preservice teachers' prior knowledge about teaching and learning may differ substantially from the theories and ideas presented in their education cou rses. In the present study, a refutational (conceptual change) text on moti vation was used in an effort to address preservice teachers' conceptions of motivation. Results indicated that preservice teachers who read the refuta tional text performed significantly better on a posttest and demonstrated m ore of a change in their knowledge. Further results indicated that in the a bsence of this text, self-regulated learning strategies enabled preservice teachers to undergo a change in their knowledge from the pretest to the pos ttest. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.