Publication: TEACHER CANDIDATE’S PEDAGOGICAL REASONING AND REFLECTIVE PRACTICE USING A RESEARCH-EMBEDDED LESSON PLANNING TEMPLATE
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Date
2026-04-16
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Type
Poster
Abstract
Teacher candidates routinely complete lesson plans as part of their preparation; however, recent research demonstrates that many candidates approach lesson planning as a procedural compliance task rather than as an act of pedagogical reasoning (Cevikbas & Kaiser, 2023; Lammert, 2025). Despite national standards emphasizing reflective practice, equity, and research-based instruction (InTASC; Danielson), teacher candidates often struggle to justify instructional decisions with evidence, apply educational research meaningfully, and reflect systematically on student learning.
In response to this gap, teacher educators are increasingly called to design instructional scaffolds that make pedagogical reasoning explicit, promote formative reflection, and embed equity-oriented planning (CAST, 2024; Shih, 2024). While lesson planning templates are widely used, few studies examine how specific template structures shape candidates’ thinking, identity development, and research-to-practice reasoning.
This basic interpretive qualitative (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) study addresses this gap by examining how preservice teachers use and experience a research-embedded lesson planning template that requires explicit justification of instructional decisions, structured reflection, and equity-oriented design.
Our research questions included:
1.How do teacher candidates use the “Plan + Why/Research Link” structure to justify
instructional decisions?
2.How does the template shape candidates’ ability to connect educational research to
classroom practice?
3.How do candidates’ written reflections reveal growth in reflective practice over time?
4.How do candidates interpret and enact equity through the Equity, Differentiation, and CRP
section of the template?
5.How does use of the template influence candidates’ perceptions of professional identity and
instructional confidence?
This study seeks to understand how candidates:
•Develop pedagogical reasoning through justified planning,
•Engage in reflective practice across planning and teaching,
•Interpret and enact equity and culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP),
•Construct professional identity and instructional confidence through structured reflection.