This study investigates the mechanism of beginning teachers' learning in the context of a university-based teacher preparation program. The purpose is to understand how and why secondary science teacher candidates from the same university-based teacher preparation program develop different kinds of practices of science teaching as their responses to deliberately designed occasions for learning. This study focuses on two key science teaching practices--(a) planning and enacting classroom activities, and (b) assessing and responding to students--that are closely connected to learning from professional communities and learning from students. Fourteen teacher candidates, 14 mentor teachers, and two course instructors participated in this study. Data included written plans and reports of teaching, candidates' teaching videos, interviews with candidates, mentor teachers, and course instructors, candidates' vision statements, and other teaching artifacts. The findings show that the candidates' ways of understanding science for teaching and their designated identities--the kind of teacher they want to be and the kind of practice they want to master--play critical roles in their learning from professional communities and from students by affecting their highlighting and interpretation of practices, resources, and advice from the communities of practices. I conclude this study by presenting a mechanism of beginning teacher learning developed from the evidence. The implications for practice and research of teacher education are discussed.
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