The mediating effects of metacognition and creative thinking on the relationship between teachers' autonomy support and teachers' self-efficacy

A bulk of research has shown strong relationships between metacognition, creative thinking, autonomy support, and self-efficacy among teachers. However, we could not find research with a large sample of teachers exploring the mediating effects of creative thinking and metacognition on the relationship between autonomy support and self-efficacy. A need for a novel structural equation model (Covariance-based) underlying psychological rationality of said relationships was deemed actual. To that end, firstly the effects of teachers' autonomy support (opportunity and decision-making) on teachers' creative thinking, metacognition, and self-efficacy were tested. Then, the mediating effects of metacognition and creative thinking on the relationship between teachers' autonomy support and teachers' self-efficacy were explored. A simple random-sampling method was utilized to gather 787 teachers' data. The results revealed that decision-making and autonomy opportunity predicted creative thinking, metacognition, and self-efficacy positively and meaningfully. Subsequently, creative thinking as well as metacognition had mediating effects on the effects of autonomy opportunity and decision-making on self-efficacy. In closing, for boosting teachers' skills in autonomy support and self-efficacy, attention should be given to fostering their creative thinking as well as metacognition. The study provides implications and suggestions for research on school psychology and improvement.     

Changing Teachers' Thinking Through Critical Constructivism and Critical Action Research

Abstract

This paper studies attempts to change teachers' thinking towards a construc‐tivist perspective within science education. The contexts surrounding the research are important: ideas of critical constructivism, critical action research and the work of Paulo Freire are brought to bear on teacher education in Recife, northeastern Brazil. A professional development course was designed to explore with secondary science teachers some elements of constructivist thinking, and to shape action research projects within their own classrooms. The course design is described, along with some of the responses of the participants both during and after they undertook their projects within their secondary schools. The responses highlight the tensions of trying to innovate with ‘non‐traditional methods’ within traditional situations, the advantages and drawbacks of ‘freeing up’ classroom discussion and authoritative teaching.     

"互联网+"教师专业发展的实践路径初探

"互联网+"时代的到来引发了教师思维方式、认知方式和行为方式的变革,并驱使教师在专业思维能力、专业认知方式和专业能力方面的变革与发展. "互联网+"教师专业发展具体包括从权威、封闭、近享、共存的实体思维向平等、开放、共享、协同的互联网思维转变;有效利用互联网"知识生产-互联-分享"特性,促成教师专业知识增长和实践性知识分享;积极开展网络校本教研和教师网络学习,进而形成教师专业洞见力等实践路径.     

Metaphors of knowing,doing and being: Capturing experience in teaching and teacher education

In this article, Bateson's idea of human beings thinking with metaphors and learning through stories is examined as it played out within accumulated educational research studies. Five storied metaphors illuminating knowing, doing and being are highlighted from five investigations involving different research teams. In the cross-case analysis, the importance of narrative exemplars emerges, along with the significance of metaphors serving as proxies for teachers' experiences. The plotlines of the metaphors, the morals of the metaphors and the truths of the metaphors are also discussed. In the end result, the value of metaphors in surfacing teachers' embedded, embodied knowledge of experience is affirmed as well as the deftness of the narrative inquiry research method in metaphorically capturing pre-service and inservice teachers' storied experiences.     

How do Teachers Teach Memory Skill?

Research on teachers' efforts to influence the ways in which children approach memory tasks and understand and regulate their own memory processes has been limited, possibly because of the restrictive views of memory held by cognitive theories that have previously guided research efforts. A more complex perspective on the memory skills that develop over the elementary school years has been elaborated by developmental psychologists and information-processing theorists, but their work has had limited influence on either teacher-training practices or research in teaching. In order to begin to apply this newer perspective to an understanding of classroom teaching processes, research needs to consider teacher practices and expectations for children's learning and memory. A program of research that has been concerned with how teachers teach memory and metacognitive skills and with teachers' views of memory processes is summarized in this article, and implications for teacher training are discussed.     

Conceptions or Misconceptions? Primary Teachers' Perceptions and Use of Computers in the Classroom

Why should computers be used in primary schools and what roles have they come to play in the classroom? This paper describes an investigation into UK primary teachers' perceptions and use of computers in the classroom. The responses collected illustrate the existence of two broad groups of teachers. Those who adopt a computer awareness perspective and those who believe that the computer should be used as a means to facilitate and enhance teaching and learning. Furthermore, the responses suggest an association between teachers' beliefs about computer use and teachers' patterns of actual computer use and thus demonstrate that educational innovations are primarily and intrinsically realized in our way of thinking before they become practice. Yet, this way of thinking may be formed not only by teachers' interpretations of official orders and requirements but also by their knowledge of information technology (IT) and their comprehension of what teaching and learning is about.     

Research as ideology in professional communication

This article claims that the debate over research in professional communication is grounded in ideology. The article discusses the ideologies of two research perspectives: a functionalist perspective, common in much social scientific research, and a critical interpretive perspective, currently emerging in disciplines other than our own. The article sets recent discussions of research in professional communication within a functionalist framework, then posits that a critical interpretive ideology provides an alternative. The interests advanced by both perspectives are discussed, and the viability of critical interpretive research in professional communication is supported.     

A Mental Model of the Learner: Teaching the Basic Science of Educational Psychology to Future Teachers

Although most teacher education programs include instruction in the basic science of psychology, practicing teachers report that this preparation has low utility. Researchers have considered what sort of information from psychology about children's thinking, emotion, and motivation would be useful for teachers' practice. Here, I take a different tack. I begin by considering three varieties of statements in basic science: empirical observations, theoretical statements, and epistemic assumptions. I suggest that the first of these can support classroom application, but the latter two cannot. I use that conclusion as a starting point for considering the instruction of prospective teachers in psychology.     

Forty years later,a systematic literature review on inclusion in physical education (1975–2015): A teacher perspective

The first objective of this work is to systematically list the international studies about the inclusion of students with disabilities in physical education (PE) from the teachers' perspective. Sixty studies met our selection criteria and are listed. The second objective is to analyse the content of the literature according to the inductive and thematic approach of Thomas and Harden (2008). Our thematic analysis highlights: a) the factors that influence PE teachers' positive or negative attitudes and predispositions towards the inclusion of students with disabilities and b) the factors that can positively influence the inclusion of students with disabilities in PE classes, according to the teachers' representations. Based on these sets of factors, we propose some adapted PE training content for PE teachers. These training content proposals form the basis of research perspectives.     

Measuring teacher perceptions of the “how” and “why” of student motivation

In the field of educational psychology, there is diverse and active research in motivation for learning and achievement. Many instruments exist for assessing students' motivation, primarily as self-report. Fewer instruments are available for assessing teachers' perceptions of their students' motivation, and fewer still for assessing teachers' perceptions of reasons for students' lack of motivation. Teachers' intervention strategies for motivation are linked to their causal perceptions. Therefore, it is important to assess those causal perceptions. In this paper, we offer evidence for the Perceptions of Student Motivation questionnaire, a new measure that offers evidence of validity and reliability for this purpose among high school teachers. It offers potential to increase efficiency and clarity of findings regarding teachers' perceptions of students' motivation.     

Case studies of teachers' understandings of the pedagogy of classroom talk: some critical moments explored

This case study research is informed by Vygotsky's view that talk is essential to organise our thoughts and extend our thinking and that, as Barnes suggested, the teacher needs to use the social situation effectively in the classroom to promote talk for learning. This article focuses on pedagogy and teachers' understandings of how talk works in the classroom, as I sought to illuminate teachers' intuitions and insights and their views of what they find challenging in organising classroom talk. Three case studies of ‘critical moments’ in a lesson suggest that teacher knowledge about talk is located in concrete practices. The three teachers viewed a recorded lesson and chose a moment they defined as ‘critical’ because the moment helped them to learn something about the way they use talk in the classroom. They then discussed this moment with me. These collaborative but critically evaluative processes are particularly useful for exploring and probing teachers' knowledge about talk for learning, an area of pedagogy that has proved so resistant to change over quite a long period. These three teachers suggest that such talk is becoming more marginal under the impact of performativity and the new cultural restorationist English curriculum.     

Response and the social construction of error

Although the subject of error has been the focus of considerable scholarly inquiry, little is known about the effects of error on teachers' responses to students' writing. This article offers a prolegomenon to further research on response to error from a social constructivist perspective. Three areas for investigation are suggested and illustrated with more specific focuses: the effects of error on teachers' processing of student writing; the relationship between error and the and the teachers' construction of the writer's persona; and the relationship between the changing status of socially constructed norms of language use and response to error. Acknowledging the general disjunction between scholarship and teaching practices, the second half of the article turns to another kind of needed inquiry within the “scholarship of teaching.” Greater focus on reflective practice allows teachers to develop more sophisticated approaches to error in the classroom, especially in the relationship between instruction and response to students' writing.     

Is It a Challenge or a Threat? A Dual-Process Model of Teachers' Cognition and Appraisal Processes During Conceptual Change

What accounts for well-meaning teachers' lack of implementation of subject-matter reforms, such as making one's classroom centered on problem solving, even when they positively value the reform and believe they are implementing it in their classrooms? Teachers' subject-matter beliefs may constrain them from adopting practices that conflict with those beliefs. The purpose of this article is to propose a theoretical model, the Cognitive–Affective Model of Conceptual Change, that integrates key findings from overly cognitive models of belief change with motivational and affective factors found in social psychology theory and research. This model explains why teachers' beliefs about instruction are resistant to reforms that challenge their existing beliefs, and it provides a conceptual framework within which to devise a better means of advancing teachers' beliefs and supporting them in the process of implementation.     

Spatial thinking in science,technology, engineering,and mathematics: Elementary teachers' beliefs,perceptions, and self-efficacy

Fostering students' spatial thinking skills holds great promise for improving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Recent efforts have focused on the development of classroom interventions to build students' spatial skills, yet these interventions will be implemented by teachers, and their beliefs and perceptions about spatial thinking influence the effectiveness of such interventions. However, our understanding of elementary school teachers' beliefs and perceptions around spatial thinking and STEM is in its infancy. Thus, we created novel measures to survey elementary teachers' anxiety in solving spatial problems, beliefs in the importance of spatial thinking skills for students' academic success, and self-efficacy in cultivating students' spatial skills during science instruction. All measures exhibited high internal consistency and showed that elementary teachers experience low anxiety when solving spatial problems and feel strongly that their skills can improve with practice. Teachers were able to identify educational problems that rely on spatial problem-solving and believed that spatial skills are more important for older compared to younger students. Despite reporting high efficacy in their general teaching and science teaching, teachers reported significantly lower efficacy in their capacities to cultivate students' spatial skills during science instruction. Results were fairly consistent across teacher characteristics (e.g., years of experience and teaching role as generalist or specialist) with the exception that only years of teaching science was related to teachers' efficacy in cultivating students' spatial thinking skills during science instruction. Results are discussed within the broader context of teacher beliefs, self-efficacy, and implications for professional development research.     

An exploration of the role of gratitude in enhancing teacher–student relationships

Flourishing relationships are at the core of teachers' work and effective pedagogy. This paper presents an exploratory case study of 59 secondary schoolteachers to investigate the role that gratitude may have in enhancing teacher–student relationships. Although the potential of gratitude has been gaining international attention in the areas of positive and social psychology, there have only been a few studies on the effect of teachers' gratitude. The paper presents a conceptual framework that postulates the meaning and significance of gratitude in this context and then describes a qualitative case study. Results indicate that gratitude impacted positively on the teachers, classroom and school environment.     

Scaffolding Science Talk: The role of teachers' questions in the inquiry classroom

Teachers' questions in the inquiry classroom not only explore and make student thinking explicit in the class but also serve to guide and scaffold it. Several studies analysing teachers' questions and their categories have been reported; however the need for a fine-grained analysis has been felt, especially in the inquiry setting. This study attempts a fine-grained analysis of the rich variety of teachers' questions and their roles in an inquiry science classroom, which are illustrated with vignettes from our classes. We present a sequential typology of teachers' questions that emerged from this empirical study, one that brings out their progression in an inquiry class. We juxtapose them with the ones asked during traditional teaching. We also examine, through teachers' self-reports, their motivations for questioning. This work leads towards a characterisation of the complex process of teaching science as an inquiry that teachers interested in moving towards more constructivist teaching practices in their classrooms may find helpful.     

Teachers interacting with students: an important (and potentially overlooked) domain for academic development during times of impact

ABSTRACT

This article is situated in the context of an intensified discourse within which academic developers are being asked to provide evidence of impact, and argues that theoretical models currently used are imprecise and fail to capture the variation in outcomes from professional development activities. Through reference to previous research on how teachers' thinking can be described in relation to various thinking-zones, and how teachers notice and respond to signs of student learning, we suggest a more fine-grained perspective. Furthermore, we argue that improved models for design and evaluation of professional development might prove crucial for academic development as a profession.     

Participants' Roles in the Context of a Video Club

This study examines the nature of teacher participation in the context of a video club. Video clubs are professional development meetings in which teachers watch and discuss excerpts of video from their classrooms. In this study, I adopt a situative perspective to examine how teachers develop in their participation to accomplish the goals of the video club. In particular, I examine the roles participants play and explore teachers' participation in four roles that correspond with key goals of the video club. Analysis revealed that teachers' participation shifted in qualitatively different ways over time, with the teachers coming to prompt the group to discuss student mathematical thinking, to propose a variety of interpretations of student ideas, to build on one another's ideas, and to challenge one another's thinking in order to advance the group's conversations. This analysis suggests that the group learned how to participate in roles central to accomplishing the goals of the video club. Studying teacher learning through a lens of participation provides insight into the ways in which teachers coordinate themselves to engage with the goals of professional development and has implications for designing professional development that helps teachers develop practices for teaching mathematics for understanding.     

Preservice Primary Teachers' Geometric Thinking: Is Pre-Tertiary Mathematics Education Building Sufficiently Strong Foundations?

Teacher knowledge is a critical focus of educational research in light of the potential impact of teacher knowledge on student learning. The dearth of research exploring entry-level preservice teachers' geometric knowledge poses an onerous challenge for mathematics educators in initial teacher education (ITE) when designing experiences that develop preservice teachers' geometric knowledge to support the task of teaching. This study examines the geometric thinking levels of entry-level Irish preservice primary teachers (N = 381). Participants' geometric thinking levels were determined through a multiple-choice geometry test (van Hiele Geometry Test) prior to commencing a Geometry course within their ITE program. The findings reveal limited geometric thinking among half of the cohort and question the extent to which pre-tertiary experiences develop appropriate foundations to facilitate a smooth transition into ITE mathematics programs. The study also examines the nature of misconceptions among those with limited geometric thinking and presents suggestions to enhance the geometric understandings of preservice teachers.