The Laboratory School Butcher Children's School complements and supports the teacher education program at Emporia State University by providing quality experiences for students observation Preservice Teacher Preparation T he need for laboratory experiences, which provide teacher candidates with opportunities to come into direct contact with children through observation and participation in teaching-learning situations, is one that is well known by researchers and theorists. Each semester 100-125 elementary education juniors at Emporia State spend 10 full days in the laboratory school observing master teachers and working directly with children. Subject methods classes such as science, mathematics, language arts, and reading take advantage of the practical experience afforded by the University laboratory school.
Students teach one lesson in each of the subject areas laboratory school children.
Research Bu tcher Children's School provides a settting in which Emporia State University faculty and students can engage in real-life teaching and learning strategies with elementary age children. The preschool and kindergarten classrooms at Butcher Children's School provide a prime location for observation of young children. Investigations into child development, problem solving, strategies, and social development are all possible in such a setting. The laboratory school provides a locale in which curricula is developed, implemented, tested, and validated. In summary, Butcher Children's School, the elementary laboratory school for The Teachers College, Emporia State University, operates under the assumption that a quality education for pre and inservice teachers is a function of quality education in a setting readily available to teachers for observation, participation, instruction, and research.