Reflective Dialogue in Teams: a vehicle to support belief change in student teachers

This paper presents an approach to belief change in teacher education programmes. Although belief change may constitute a more relevant goal for initial teacher education than knowledge transmission and competence attainment per se, relatively few models or methods have been put forward that can help student teachers to become aware of, knowledgeable about, and actively involved in changing and (re) constructing their own teaching beliefs. The model of study teams is presented as a relevant approach to teaching in teacher education, together with some preliminary evaluations regarding its implementation. It shows that utilising study teams can have a strong impact on teacher education programmes as well as on student teachers’ thinking.     

Constructing constructivism: how student‐teachers construct ideas of development,knowledge, learning,and teaching

This case study investigates the development of the understanding of constructivist theory among students in a Masters level elementary teacher education program within a particular course. The focus of the study is a seminar entitled ‘Advanced Seminar in Child Development’. The questions explored include: How do students’ ideas of teaching, learning and knowledge develop within the context of their experience in this course? How do they come to understand constructivism? What are their definitions of constructivism? What is the course of the development of this understanding? The nature of the students’ learning processes is examined through three sources of data: dialog journals, videotaped sessions and the instructor’s reflective teaching journal. The study looks both at student development and instructional practice to further understanding of how student‐teachers can learn to apply constructivist theory to their teaching and to understand the learning process, both within themselves and their students. Their development is placed in the context of Korthagen and Kessels’s model of teacher understanding and practice, and within a broader context of principles of practice that emphasize a belief in equity and social justice. The case illustrates how the way student‐teachers are taught theory can help them integrate their own ideas of learning and teaching with constructivist theory in order to think critically about their own practice in an ongoing developmental manner.     

MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION AND QUALITY

‘Quality’ in mathematics teaching does not relate solely to pupil achievement, to teaching approaches or to deeply held beliefs about the nature of mathematics and its teaching and learning, but to all of these. A model of a teacher's mathematics‐related belief‐system is presented, and the issue of the contrast between espoused and enacted beliefs is discussed. ‘Quality’ in mathematics teacher education raises all of these issues, as well as the aims, goals and means of the teacher preparation process itself. The paper concludes by arguing against the ‘apprenticeship’ model of mathematics teacher education, for depriving student teachers of theory and of practical research experience. A well known dictum paraphrased states that theory without practice is empty, but that practice without theory is blind. ‘Quality’ in mathematics teaching and teacher education depends on both theory and practice in systematic cooperation.     

Curriculum,teaching and powerful knowledge

This paper examines the concept of ‘powerful knowledge’ and provides new perspectives on an important emergent theory for education. We claim that the key to attaining powerful knowledge is ‘epistemic access’ to the discipline, which is access of the generative principles of knowledge creation. We draw on 15 years teaching and researching a university science programme in which undergraduate ecology students are trained as researchers during the 3 years they attend university. Hence, there is close alignment between teaching students to do research and powerful knowledge. In addition, it has been suggested that the ‘power’ in powerful knowledge is realised in what is done with that knowledge, that its purpose is social since it allows the holder to make a better contribution to society. We argue that in addition to such an aspirational ‘outcome’, it can be part of the process of education and early acquisition of powerful knowledge can influence all subsequent formal and informal learning experiences as the student progresses though university. A model for powerful knowledge is presented in which there is the possibility of powerful action after graduation, but this remains in the theoretical realm while there is very little empirical evidence supporting such a hypothesis for ecology students. Powerful action also questions the limits of responsibility for a teacher.     

Belief change towards self-directed learning in student teachers: immersion in practice or reflection on action

Although belief change in student teachers constitutes a more important aim in programmes of teacher education than knowledge transmission per se, it is by no means clear what prompts a meaningful transition from existing — and often implicit — beliefs to professionally oriented frameworks for teaching. Reflection-oriented learning by student teachers has been put forward as the major route towards helping them to grow in their practice teaching, and to actively involve them in changing and (re)constructing their own knowledge base for teaching. However, practice teaching often severely challenges these constructed beliefs, and so reflection subsequently loses its claim to be a guide to future action. In this study, the dynamic interchange between reflection and immersion into practice teaching is related to the process of belief change, with student teachers engaging in self-directed teaching methods. It challenges long-held assumptions by indicating that reflection after practice may be a more professionally fruitful way of effecting belief change than reflectively preparing student teachers before they enter their practice teaching, with beliefs which are not grounded in their own teaching experience.     

对远程开放教育人力资源管理课程教学的思考与探索

远程开放教育人力资源管理课程的教学,应以培养学生自主学习的能力,掌握最基础的管理理论与实务,创造性的开展管理工作为核心。为经济建设培养既具备理论知识,又能学以致用的适用性人才,是远程开放教育人力资源管理教学的最终目标。     

Using multiple levels of experience to promote autonomy in adventure education students

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss how adventure education instructors in higher education may use different levels of experience in their teaching to promote student autonomy. The E model identifies four levels of experience and explains why it is important for instructors to provide students with higher-level experiences that will help promote student autonomy. The model is theoretically rooted in the fields of adventure education, experiential education and social psychology. Using these bodies of knowledge combined with practical application, the authors recommend ways of applying their model to all teaching situations.     

Building effectiveness in teaching through targeted evaluation and response: connecting evaluation to teaching improvement in higher education

This paper describes the development of a model for integrating student evaluation of teaching results with academic development opportunities, in new ways that take into account theoretical and practical developments in both fields. The model is described in terms of five phases or components: (1) the basic student evaluation system; (2) an interpretive guidance system that helps lecturers understand and interpret their results; (3) a longitudinal reporting system that initiates opportunities for staff to engage in personal and professional development in the context of a learning community; (4) a structured professional development programme that builds a faculty learning community, in which the members utilise extended cycles of evaluation based on (5) a comprehensive evaluation model designed to develop and encourage the collection of evaluation data from a variety of sources concerning the quality and impact of teaching: the teacher; student learning outcomes; student experience; and the teacher’s peers.     

Measuring and exploring the structure of teachers’ educational beliefs

This study explores the structure of French teachers’ educational beliefs. First, instruments to measure these beliefs are adapted and developed. Data is collected through focus group discussions and an online survey (n = 302). Factor analyses reveal a three-factor structure to measure teachers’ general beliefs about teaching and learning: ‘beliefs about student regulation of learning processes and knowledge construction’, ‘beliefs about teacher regulation of learning processes’, and ‘beliefs about knowledge reproduction’. Furthermore, a two-factor structure to measure teachers’ subject-specific beliefs about French language teaching is found: ‘traditional beliefs about French language teaching’ and ‘constructivist beliefs about French language teaching’. Second, this study explores the relationships between and within teachers’ general beliefs about teaching and learning and their subject-specific beliefs about French language teaching. Results show two distinct and independent belief structures: a traditional and a constructivist belief structure. Via cluster analyses, two clusters of teachers are found whose beliefs are consistent with these belief structures.     

Student engagement and neoliberalism: mapping an elective affinity

The purpose of this article is to argue that student engagement, an important area for research about learning and teaching in formal higher education, has an elective affinity with neoliberalism, a hegemonic ideology in many countries of the developed world. The paper first surveys an extensive research literature examining student engagement and its contribution to student learning in higher education. Among research outputs are contributions to quality, student success, belonging, well-being and active citizenship. Second, the paper explores why these diverse contributions have gained widespread acceptance in higher education. It argues that neoliberalism is a major influence in engagement’s rise to prominence. Third, drawing on Weber’s construct of elective affinity, the paper maps key affinities between student engagement and neoliberalism. Elective affinity comprises forces of mutual attraction that exist between the structure and contents of belief systems and the underlying needs and motives of individuals and groups who subscribe to them.     

Action research – connecting practice and theory

Teacher education is often criticised for not being relevant and for there being a lack of continuity between practice teaching and the university coursework. In the literature, action research is presented as a way to bridge the gap and connect the two. The present article explores, through a qualitative study, how research-based knowledge communicated at the university and experiences from practice teaching interact in student teachers’ action research projects. The study also explores the outcome, for the student teachers, of conducting research in their practicum. The findings show that student teachers use theory and research in many different ways, and they are both consumers and producers of research. They especially emphasise the outcome of theory interacting with real situations encountered in the teaching practice. Contributing to a positive impact on their outcome were the opportunity they are offered to reflect on their own practice, the possibility they have to focus on something they find important, and the chance to make their own experiences with a particular tool for professional development.     

Explaining school‐based curriculum satisfaction: a case study

This paper examines the contradictory effects of teaching multicultural education in two American white women's university classrooms. The authors use discourse analysis to understand the confusing results of teaching about difference. In this analysis, course readings and a field trip to an urban school are examined in regard to the instructors' intentions and students' responses. The authors understand the puzzling results of their teaching by examining the positivist dimensions of their pedagogy, including the belief in rational approaches to overcoming racism, sexism and other systems of oppression, the belief in the possibility of replacing 'bad ideas' with 'good' ones, and the perpetuation of knowledge grounded in a binary system of meaning-making and language use. The authors conclude with ideas for a postpositivist approach to knowledge, experience and action, that emphasizes the production of interpretations.     

Drawing on Dynamic Local Knowledge Through Student-Generated Photography

In this research, the authors explored how teachers using student-generated photography draw on local knowledge. The study draws on the framework of funds of knowledge to highlight the assets marginalized students bring to the classroom and the need for culturally relevant pedagogy to address the needs of a diverse public school population. The purpose of this study was to understand how teachers were using student generated photography to connect students’ dynamic local knowledge with curriculum and classroom practices. Through the methodology of critical qualitative teacher action research in two unique classroom sites, the authors’ findings include increased student responsibility and ownership; teachers as learners; and the richness and complexity of the students’ lived experiences.     

《流体网络理论》课程教学实践探讨

《流体网络理论》课程涵盖的知识面广,难点多,需要有较好的教学方法和扎实的理论功底才能更好的让学生掌握课程内容。本文根据近两年四轮的教学过程,叙述了教学过程中积累的一些心得、总结与看法,对提高《流体网络理论》课程的教学将有所裨益,同时就任课教师应具备的基本素质进行了简要的探讨。     

论中学生物学教学中学生自主学习能力的培养

在长期的教育教学实践中,＂传授——接受＂教学模式经过几代人的总结、提高,已日臻完善化、系统化,这种教学模式对学生获取知识有简捷、快速的优势,但也有明显的缺陷,如学生自主学习活动少,对教师的依赖性强,学生自主学习能力处于较低水平等。从培养学生素质和新世纪对人才的要求来看,提高学生自主学习能力已成为重要的、亟待解决的课题。在中学生物学教学中,教师应加强研究和实践探索,着力培养学生的自主学习能力。     

英语专业四级与英语语法教学

该文通过对《英语专业阶段英语教学大纲》及《最新专业四级考试大纲》的分析,重点提出了英语专业四级对语法和词汇的要求,详细指明了语法教学是基础阶段必须重视的课程,英语语法教学的真正目的是培养学生使用英语的能力。语法课应理论与实践相结合,这样,才有助于培养、提高学生的语言技能和交际能力。通过对语法知识的学习,学生能比较系统而完整的掌握英语语法知识,并运用语法规律去指导语言实践,提高运用英语的综合能力。     

试论学科教学智慧的内涵、表现和发展

学科教学智慧是教学智慧研究新的生长点,其实质是教师对学科知识进行转化以使学生更好学习的能力,体现为教学设计智谋和现场调适机智两种形态。深刻理解学科知识、深入了解学生、更新教学信念和写作教学文章是教师学科教学智慧发展的有效策略。     

Learning the Craft: a student teacher's story

Experienced teachers’ craft knowledge could provide valuable resources for the professional development of pre‐service teachers. Through the voice of a student teacher, this article reports on a process of observing and questioning aimed at accessing the craft knowledge of experienced teachers. Learning partnerships formed during this process helped to overcome difficulties with experienced teachers articulating their knowledge, with the student teacher asking appropriate questions and with the student teacher focusing on relevant classroom events. Incorporation of a reflective component within the process provided a means for the student teacher to understand better the nature of teaching. The data revealed potential benefits for student teachers, teachers and teacher educators participating in this process.     

The Effect of Selected Media Feedback upon the Interactive Behavior of Student Teachers

Abstract

The problem involved in this study was to ascertain whether student teachers receiving supervisory feedback with the aid of video and/or audio tape replay demonstrate a greater change in their classroom verbal interactive behavior than student teachers who receive supervisory feedback with no video or audio feedback. Evidence indicates that those receiving video feedback utilize less “direct teaching influence” and more “indirect teaching influence” as categorized by Flanders’ Verbal Interaction Analysis System, Within the audio group, the magnitude of change in the student teachers’ instructional behavior was not statistically significant. The magnitude of the directional change was greater for those students receiving video or audio recorded feedback than the magnitude of change in the control group.     

Preservice Science Teachers’ Efficacy Regarding a Socioscientific Issue: A Belief System Approach

The aim of the present study was to understand the nature of teaching efficacy beliefs related to a socioscientific issue (SSI). We investigated Turkish preservice science teachers’ teaching efficacy beliefs about genetically modified (GM) foods using a belief system approach. We assumed that preservice teachers’ beliefs about GM foods (content knowledge, risk perceptions, moral beliefs, and religious beliefs) and their teaching efficacy beliefs about this topic constitute a belief system, and these beliefs are interrelated due to core educational beliefs. We used an exploratory mixed design to test this model. We developed and administered specific questionnaires to probe the belief system model. The sample for the quantitative part of this study included 441 preservice science teachers from eight universities. We randomly selected eight participants in this group for follow-up interviews. The results showed that preservice science teachers held moderately high teaching efficacy beliefs. Learning and teaching experiences, communication skills, vicarious experiences, emotional states, and interest in the topic were sources of this efficacy. In addition, content knowledge and risk perceptions were predictors of teaching efficacy. We believe that epistemologies based on traditional teaching and the values attached to science teaching are the core beliefs that affect the relationship between predictor variables and teaching efficacy.