Exploring the diagnostic process of pre-service teachers using a simulation: A latent profile approach

Assessing individual students’ learning progress is a key task in teachers’ everyday life, which allows them to infer students’ zone of proximal development and offer adaptive support. Because of the complexity of the diagnosing in classroom settings, training pre-service teachers using standardized settings with adaptive support seems desirable. However, to design effective learning environments and offer adaptive support, a deep understanding of the diagnostic process is necessary. Thus, the present study investigates the diagnostic process of pre-service teachers in a video-based simulation by examining the occurrence of diagnostic activities and their relation to relevant learner prerequisites and learners’ diagnostic outcome. Findings suggest that describing and evaluating simulated students’ learning process is sufficient for an accurate diagnosis. However, only students with higher professional knowledge made further-reaching pedagogical decisions. Moreover, we identified three profiles representing pre-service teachers’ distinct engagement in diagnostic activities and suggest the implantation ofdifferent types of scaffolding.