Collaborative learning practices: teacher and student perceived obstacles to effective student collaboration

While the educational literature mentions several obstacles affecting the effectiveness of collaborative learning (CL), they have often been investigated through the perceptions of only one actor, either teachers or students. Therefore, some sources of obstacles that teachers and students encounter may not have been revealed. In this study, 19 teachers and 23 students in different disciplines at a pre-service teacher education faculty at a university in Vietnam were interviewed. In total, 47% of the teachers taught science subjects and 53% taught social subjects; 35% of the students majored in science subjects, 57% in social subjects, and 8% in primary education. With regard to study cohorts, 22% of the students were in the first and second year while 78% were in the third and fourth year of their four-year bachelor’s programme. These programmes produce qualified teachers for primary and secondary schools nationwide. Based on grounded theory analysis, four common obstacles to collaboration were identified: students’ lack of collaborative skills, free-riding, competence status, and friendship. Furthermore, the results showed three interrelated antecedents that contribute to these obstacles. Central to the antecedents is the strong focus of the teachers on the cognitive aspects of CL, which led the participating teachers to neglect the collaborative aspects of CL. These antecedents were demonstrated in the ways teachers set CL goals, provided instruction, and assessed student collaboration. This study may be useful for educators, designers, and researchers to foster the quality of student collaboration.     

Beginning literacy: links among teacher knowledge, teacher practice, and student learning

Although the importance of phonological awareness has been discussed widely in the research literature, the concept is not well understood by many classroom teachers. In the study described here, we worked with groups of kindergarten and first-grade teachers (the experimental group) during a 2-week summer institute and throughout the school year. We shared with them research about learning disabilities and effective instruction, stressing the importance of explicit instruction in phonological and orthographic awareness. We followed the experimental group and a control group into their classrooms for a year, assessing teachers' classroom practices and their students' (n = 779) learning. The study yielded three major findings: We can deepen teachers' own knowledge of the role of phonological and orthographic information in literacy instruction; teachers can use that knowledge to change classroom practice; and changes in teacher knowledge and classroom practice can improve student learning.     

Overarching professional identity themes in student teacher workplace learning

ABSTRACT

This study reports on how student teachers learn in the workplace. Data from 10 student teachers were collected by means of digital logs and in-depth interviews. By reconstructing data into stories and unravelling these stories, it became clear that the learning process of each student teacher was dominated by one specific theme, such as student-centred teaching or creating a positive learning climate. These themes could be typified as professional identity themes, because all appeared to be both personal and professional. Five student teachers experienced their workplace learning process as continuous: they integrated their teaching experiences relatively easily into their personal conceptual framework. The other five experienced their workplace learning process as discontinuous: they experienced tensions caused by frictions between personal and professional aspects of becoming a teacher. Both types of learning can stimulate and hinder student teachers’ professional development. The findings indicate that reconstructing data into stories and unravelling these stories is a useful technique for understanding student teacher workplace learning as a result of the interaction between personal and professional aspects of becoming a teacher.     

Effects of the learning cycle upon student and classroom teacher performance

A great deal of research has been done regarding science in-service education and the conclusion can be drawn that positive results were generally achieved in workshop-participant attitude and implementation of instructional approaches into the classroom. One of the most important effects of an in-service workshop is upon the students of the teachers participating in an in-service program, but rarely, if ever, is this parameter assessed in the in-service evaluation design. This study investigated the relationships among (1) teacher's attitudes and implementation of in-service workshop developed science materials (learning cycles) and (2) elementary school student's conservation reasoning and language used to describe properties of objects. Data were gathered from over 100 students from grades K-5 and 16 teachers who had participated in an in-service program. A representative comparison group of students and teachers was selected which generally matched the teachers participating in the in-service workshop except for one variable–-the comparison group taught science traditionally, that is, by exposition. Data from the research indicated that the teachers involved in the science in-service workshop implemented the workshop-developed learning cycles into their science classes. Significantly greater gains in conservation reasoning and language usage occurred with the students of the teachers participating in the science in-service workshop as compared to students in the exposition classrooms.     

Student behaviors, teacher reinforcement, student ability, and learning

Ninety-eight children were observed for 6-min periods on each of 10 days during 50-min, small-group classes in either mathematics, science, geography, or language usage. Two student behaviors (on-task behavior and accuracy of responding to teacher-directed questions) and three types of teacher reinforcement (verbal reinforcement for on-task behavior and accurate responding and tangible reinforcers) were coded during each observation period. A post-test of achievement, directly related to the content of the lessons, was administered at the end of the 10 days of instruction. The causal effects of student behaviors, teacher reinforcement, and student ability (reading achievement and intelligence) on achievement were evaluated using path analysis. The strongest effects were from student ability measures, with accurate responding by students and teacher reinforcement of accurate responding exhibiting smaller, but significant effects. Findings are discussed to qualify the relationship between overt classroom behaviors and degree of learning and the mediating effects of student ability.     

Effects of teacher professional learning activities on student achievement growth

The authors examined the effects of six types of teacher professional learning activities on student achievement growth over 4 years using statewide longitudinal survey data collected from 467 middle school mathematics teachers in 91 schools merged with 11,192 middle school students' mathematics scores in a standardized assessment in Missouri. The data showed that teacher-centered collaborative activities to learn about mathematics teaching and learning (teacher collaboration and informal communication) seem to be more effective in improving student mathematics achievement than learning activities that do not necessarily involve such teacher-centered collaborative opportunities (professional development programs, university courses, individual learning activities). Teacher-driven research activities through professional conference presentation and participation were also found to be associated with student achievement growth in mathematics. The districts and schools may benefit from investing their professional development funds and resources in facilitating teacher-centered collaborative and research-based learning activities in order to improve student learning.     

Achievement and engagement: How student characteristics influence teacher judgments

Teachers' judgments of student characteristics are affected not only by the characteristic in question, but also by other factors. This article presents three studies examining whether students' achievement influences teachers' judgments of their engagement (as a proxy for motivation) and vice versa. First, a field study was conducted with N = 52 teachers and N = 1135 students. Structural equation modeling revealed an effect of student achievement on teacher judgments of student engagement and an effect of student engagement on teacher judgments of student achievement—above and beyond the association of each student characteristic with teacher judgments of that characteristic. These results were then replicated in two experimental studies involving a computer simulation of an instructional situation, the Simulated Classroom, with N = 40 and N = 181 teacher candidates, respectively. The psychological determinants of the effects observed are discussed, as are their practical implications.     

Videobased lesson analysis: Effective science PD for teacher and student learning

The Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) project is a videobased analysis‐of‐practice PD program aimed at improving teacher and student learning at the upper elementary level. The PD program developed and utilized two “lenses,” a Science Content Storyline Lens and a Student Thinking Lens, to help teachers analyze science teaching and learning and to improve teaching practices in this year‐long program. Participants included 48 teachers (n = 32 experimental, n = 16 control) and 1,490 students. The STeLLA program significantly improved teachers' science content knowledge and their ability to analyze science teaching. Notably, the STeLLA teachers further increased their classroom use of science teaching strategies associated with both lenses while their students increased their science content knowledge. Multi‐level HLM analyses linked higher average gains in student learning with teachers' science content knowledge, teachers' pedagogical content knowledge about student thinking, and teaching practices aimed at improving the coherence of the science content storyline. This paper highlights the importance of the science content storyline in the STeLLA program and discusses its potential significance in science teaching and professional development more broadly. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., J Res Sci Teach 48: 117–148, 2011     

Science teacher characteristics by teacher behavior and by student outcome: A meta-analysis of research

A meta-analysis was conducted of studies which addressed characteristics (gender, course-work, IQ, etc.) as the independent factor, and: (1) their teaching behavior in the classroom (questioning behavior, teaching orientation, etc.); and (2) student outcome characteristics (achievement, attitude toward science, etc.) as the two dependent factors. The population under study was science classes, ranging from kindergarten through twelfth grade, located in the United States, and the teachers of these classes. The studies integrated were reported in dissertations, journal articles, and other forms. Relationship data obtained from the studies were converted to Pearson product moment correlations. In general, quite low relationships were found between teacher background characteristics and (1) their touching behavior in the classroom and (2) student outcome characteristics. Summary tables showing the relationships are presented along with discussion of the strongest relationships.     

Linkage within teacher education: cooperative learning of teachers and student teachers

The close linkage between different institutions is widely recognized as a method of improving teacher education. This paper introduces an attempt to link university teacher training programmes with further teacher education thereby showing the benefits of the approach and factors influencing its success. To enable teachers and student teachers to participate, a blended learning course programme was designed. The findings presented in this article are based on a course evaluation comprising data from 19 teachers and 88 student teachers. The findings indicate that teachers and student teachers benefit in many ways through cooperative learning. For example, both groups appreciated having multiple perspectives and the opportunity to exchange their experiences and opinions. Communication and interaction between teachers and student teachers is significant to make cooperative learning successful. Adequate communication and interaction, satisfying for both participant groups, are crucial for the success of this approach.     

The effects of student location and teacher role on learning from ITV

Summary and Conclusions Earlier research found a relationship between the location of a student or viewer with respect to a motion picture or television screen and his learning from or performance with respect to ma terial presented thereon. This relationship has most often been attributed to visual acuity factors. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that social psychological factors account for part or all of the relationship under certain condi tions. The hypothesis was supported by the findings. The writer gratefully acknowledges the counsel of Dr. Edwin Parker of Stanford University, who was the principal adviser for the dissertation from which this report was drawn, and the assistance of the Santa Clara County (California) Office of Education, whose Internship in the Newer Instructional Media was held by the author while he conducted the experiment reported here.     

Teachers learn about student learning assessment through a teacher education process

This study aims to understand the extent to which university professors adopt new pedagogical voices in their learning assessment practices through a teacher education process. Participants (N = 32) were interviewed before and after the teacher education process, and data were analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods. The results of the study demonstrated, first, that teachers renamed their educational discourse about learning assessment significantly, increasing it in assessment for learning practices, particularly in the themes of timing and agents, and reducing it in all themes referred to the assessment of learning practices. And second, three clusters of faculty were identified, which differed in terms of the way they merge both learning assessment practices: professors with a slight prevalence of the assessment for learning conceptual voice, professors with a slight prevalence of the assessment for learning practical voice, and professors with a strong prevalence of the assessment for learning voice.     

Talk about student learning: Promoting professional growth among teacher educators

Talk about student learning (TASL) in the professional development of teacher educators shifts the focus from teaching to a more productive emphasis on learning. This study examines characteristics of TASL among teacher educators in community and its functions for their learning. The research was based on professional learning communities in which discourse was analyzed. Three genres were found: managing understanding, advisory talk and meta-analytic talk. The functions of TASL included an inquiry and research orientation, awareness of the connection between teaching and learning, and awareness of their own learning process. TASL was found to improve teaching through these functions.     

The effects of sustained classroom-embedded teacher professional learning on teacher efficacy and related student achievement

This paper reports on the impact of a classroom-embedded professional learning (PL) program for mathematics teaching in two contrasting districts in Canada, and investigates the relationship between teacher efficacy and student achievement. Before the PL, District A had lower teacher efficacy and student achievement than District B, but after the PL, this situation was reversed. Qualitative analysis revealed that the two districts reported learning very different things from the PL opportunity. The complexities of context, prior learning experiences, goal setting, and persistence of participants all factored into what and how teachers learned.     

The impact of student characteristics and teacher efficacy on teachers’ predictions of student success

This study examined how the interaction between student and teacher characteristics affects teachers’ predictions of students’ academic and social success. Three hundred and eighty-four general education teachers responded to (a) one of 32 possible case studies describing a student, in which gender, reading achievement, social behavior, and attentiveness were manipulated experimentally and (b) to a 16-item teacher-efficacy scale. Results showed that (1) teachers with high efficacy make less negative predictions about students, and seem to adjust their predictions when student characteristics change, while low efficacy teachers seem to be paying attention to a single characteristic when making their predictions. (2) All teachers respond similarly to students who exhibit a combination of aggressive and inattentive behaviors, that is, if students are friendly, inattentiveness is tolerated more than if they are aggressive. (3) All teachers make higher predictions of academic success for students reading on grade level even when they are aggressive, than for students reading below grade level even when they are friendly. The authors discuss the importance of attending to the complexity of characteristics each student brings in to the classroom.     

A phenomenographic investigation of teacher conceptions of student engagement in learning

Internationally, educational stakeholders are concerned with the high levels of student disengagement, evidenced by early school leaving, poor student behaviour, and low levels of academic achievement. The solution, student engagement, is a contested concept, theorised in a variety of different ways within academic literature. To further understand this concept, a phenomenographic study was conducted to map secondary school teachers’ conceptions of student engagement. Six qualitatively different ways of understanding student engagement were found. This research indicates that teachers do not hold similar understandings of what student engagement means. If the concept of engagement is to become educationally fruitful, the term must be more explicitly defined in educational research and government policy documents to promote shared understandings amongst stakeholder groups.