Using Case-Based Instruction to Support Teaching Self-Efficacy for Cultural Responsiveness in Pre-Service Teachers: A Mixed Methods Study

Using a mixed methods design we quantitively examined how case-based instruction (CBI) influenced preservice teachers’ (PSTs) cultural responsiveness teacher efficacy development across three classroom case studies. Qualitatively, we examined how PSTs were able to engage in self-insertion when writing about their reactions to the classroom cases. Specifically, PSTs were randomly assigned to one of two conditions; one group received a content-based text excerpt prior to reading and responding to two classroom cases (Text–Case). Another group was given a series of three classroom cases (Case–Case) that contained similar information to the Text–Case group. The Text–Case group maintained their cultural responsiveness teacher efficacy compared to the Case–Case group, which showed a significant decline (p < 0.05). The Text–Case group also showed greater self-insertion in their responses to the cases. These findings provide evidence that CBI paired with foundational knowledge was more effective than CBI alone.