Preactive planning and conceptions of success in elementary health education

Prospective classroom teachers' thoughts and understanding about teaching health were examined in this study. The study described the preactive thought processes of classroom teachers as they planned a lesson on health and teachers' conceptions of success and failure during the lesson. Before teaching a 30-minute lesson in health, participants were asked to "think aloud" during a planning session. Content of the thoughts was audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed. After the lesson, participants listed critical events they described as related to success and lack of success during the lesson. Content of the written accounts was organized into clusters with common elements. Findings indicated teachers' concerns during planning were related to identifying and arranging content for maximum involvement and enjoyment. Most teachers defined success in terms of student affective rather than cognitive behaviors.