Challenging teacher beliefs about student engagement in mathematics

This study explored the beliefs about student engagement in mathematics of three Year 5 and 6 teachers, focusing on the shifts that occurred during a 10-week intervention. Data obtained from teacher surveys, interviews, video-recorded workshop observations and artefacts from teachers’ classrooms reveal variations in their reactions to the professional learning experiences. Teacher responses were mediated by personal and contextual elements including teacher efficacy beliefs, teacher confidence in mathematics and their conceptions of student engagement. Theories of teacher conceptual change are used to account for variations to teacher beliefs.     

Exploring student beliefs and understanding in elementary science and mathematics

This study had the goal of investigating the association among elementary students' (N = 276) science and math beliefs and the relationship between those beliefs and teachers' ratings of mathematical and science understanding. Results of structural path analysis indicate that in science, intellectual risk‐taking (IRT; the willingness to share tentative ideas, ask questions, attempting to do, and learn new things) was positively related to teachers' ratings of science understanding, while creative self‐efficacy (CSE) beliefs (i.e., students' confidence in their ability to generate ideas and solutions in science) were indirectly related (working through IRT). Results also indicate that students' scientific certainty beliefs (i.e., the belief that science knowledge is stable, fixed, and represented by correct answers) were negatively related to teachers' ratings of science understanding. With respect to math, results indicate that students' CSE beliefs were positively related to teachers' ratings of math understanding; whereas students' mathematical source beliefs (i.e., believing that math knowledge originates from external sources) were negatively related. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 942–960, 2012     

The effect of same-gender teacher assignment on student achievement in the elementary and secondary grades: Evidence from panel data

We utilize information from a rich administrative panel dataset following the universe of test-taking public school students in Florida over a period of five years to estimate the relationship between same-gender teacher assignment and student achievement. We estimate how a student's achievement changes as he/she is assigned to teachers of different genders throughout his/her academic career, holding constant both observed and unobserved factors related to academic outcomes. We also provide estimates from models that evaluate how the relative performance of male and female student assigned to the same teacher or in the same classroom relates to the gender of the teacher. We find no statistically distinguishable relationship between same-gender teacher assignments and student math or reading achievement in elementary school. We find a statistically significant relationship between being assigned to a female teacher and student achievement in middle and high school, however the magnitude of the effect is small.     

From student to teacher: changes in preservice teacher educational beliefs throughout the learning-to-teach journey

Preservice teachers enter programs with beliefs about teaching and learning, constructed from prior schooling experiences. This longitudinal study examines preservice teachers’ K–12 memories, their initial educational beliefs, and the changes in those beliefs over their teacher education program. Analysis of questionnaires, interviews, work samples, and observations from six preservice teachers collected over a two-year period revealed that they initially believed that students were similar to themselves, that teaching was simple and autonomous, that students perform uniformly within grade levels, and that teaching ensures learning. At program’s end, however, they believed that students differ from one another and from themselves, that teaching is complex, that classroom freedom has limits, that differentiation is essential, and that teaching does not ensure learning. The data suggested a common progression from initial idealism, to cognitive dissonance, to a search for an authentic teaching persona, and finally, to confidence in their new role as teacher.     

Becoming a history teacher: observations on the beliefs and growth of student teachers

This article reports on history student teachers’ development and their beliefs about teaching and good teachers. The data consist of several essays of 18 respondents written during their education, and interviews with five students. Most respondents had become interested in the subject very early, and independently of formal school education. Models adopted during early school years, however, did influence their attitudes towards teaching and teacher's role. Typically the student teachers’ concentration was self-centred or focused on their own classroom behaviour. They tended to overestimate lesson content and resorted to content expertise and minute lesson plans as a reaction to teaching problems.     

An analysis of scientific understandings of preservice elementary teacher education students

This article reports an investigation of the intuitive scientific ideas and understandings of 321 preservice elementary teacher education students enrolled in the 2nd year of a 3-year program. The sample completed a physical science concept challenge instrument by responding, in writing, to open-ended questions about the concepts of floating/sinking, the nature of matter, air pressure and its effects, and the balance beam. Subjects' responses and explanations were analyzed, and response categories established. The results reveal that the majority of subjects, with the exception of a high proportion of those who had a successful senior high school background in physics and chemistry, have misunderstandings in these basic concept areas. It is argued that teachers should have a sound conceptual knowledge base in order to implement effective problem-solving strategies in the elementary science classroom. The importance of teaching science in elementary schools is widely acknowledged, therefore, teacher educators must identify and implement more effective strategies for science instruction in preservice teacher education courses that will enable all students to construct scientifically accurate concept knowledge.     

Integrating social justice with mathematics and science: An analysis of student teacher lessons

Student teachers have difficulty planning lessons that fully integrate social justice with mathematics/science content. This study was a content analysis of 26 poster presentations of mathematics or science lessons incorporating social justice issues made by student teachers (20F, 6M) at a mid-sized college in central New York State. The presented lessons applied four pedagogical approaches to integration (data collection followed by graphing analysis; discussion of text/video; modeling; library/internet investigation) and addressed three major social justice themes (diversity, system disparities in human communities, and in stewardship of earth). Deeper content knowledge, faculty lesson modeling/reflection and practice delivering lessons are recommended.     

Relationships between student scientific epistemological beliefs and perceptions of constructivist learning environments

This study was conducted to explore the interplay between students’ scientific epistemological beliefs and their perceptions of constructivist learning environments. Through analysing 1,176 Taiwanese tenth-graders’ (16-year-olds) questionnaire responses, this study found that students tended to perceive that actual learning environments were less constructivist orientated than what they preferred. Students having epistemological beliefs more orientated to constructivist views of science (as opposed to empiricist views about science) tended to have a view that actual learning environments did not provide sufficient opportunities for social negotiations (p < 0.01) and prior knowledge integration (p < 0.01); and moreover, they show significantly stronger preferences to learn in the constructivist learning environments where they could (1) interact and negotiate meanings with others (p < 0.001), (2) integrate their prior knowledge and experiences with newly constructed knowledge (p < 0.001) and (3) meaningfully control their learning activities (p < 0.001). The main thrust of the findings drawn from this study indicates that teachers need to be very aware of students’ epistemological orientation towards scientific knowledge, and to complement these preferences when designing learning experiences, especially to provide constructivist-based lessons to enhance science learning for students who are epistemologically constructivist orientated.     

Gender differences in self-confidence and educational beliefs among secondary teacher candidates

This longitudinal study examined gender differences among secondary teacher candidates across three categories of criterion measures: (a) levels of self-confidence in teaching, (b) anticipated sources of professional knowledge, and (c) educational orientations and beliefs. Relative to males, females entered teacher preparation programs with lower levels of confidence in themselves as teachers and higher expectations for what they would gain from education courses and practical experiences related to teaching. Females were also more likely to favor student-centered approaches to instruction and to believe that instructional strategies have limited generalizability. These differences in self-confidence and educational beliefs persisted to program completion.     

The role of teacher, student and ICT in enhancing student engagement in multiuser virtual environments

This paper reviews the teaching and learning practices and processes that were adopted in a study that incorporated multi-user virtual environments to support General Paper teaching and learning. The paper discusses the roles of the teacher, student and ICT in facilitating engaged learning. As this project is the first of its kind for the subject in Singapore, the paper seeks to highlight strategies that were adopted or could have been adopted to facilitate the enactment of such teacher and student roles as well as ensure effective deployment of ICT to support engaged learning.     

An analysis of four ways of assessing student beliefs about sts topics

The study investigated the degree of ambiguity harbored by four different response modes used to monitor student beliefs about science-technology-society topics: Likert-type, written paragraph, semistrue tured interview, and empirically developed multiple choice. The study also explored the sources of those beliefs. Grade-12 students in a Canadian urban setting responded, in each of the four modes, to statements from Views on Science-Technology-Society. It was discovered that TV had far more influence on what students believed about science and its social, technological context than did numerous science courses. The challenge to science educators is to use the media effectively in combating naive views about science. Regarding ambiguity in student assessment, the Likert-type responses were the most inaccurate, offering only a guess at student beliefs. Such guesswork calls into question the use of Likert-type standardized tests that claim to assess student views about science. Student paragraph responses contained significant ambiguities in about 50% of the cases. The empirically developed multiple choices, however, reduced the ambiguity to the 20% level. Predictably, the semistructured interview was the least ambiguous of all four response modes, but it required the most time to administer. These findings encourage researchers to develop instruments grounded in the empirical data of student viewpoints, rather than relying solely on instruments structured by the philosophical stances of science educators.     

Understanding teacher learning in secondary education: The relations of teacher activities to changed beliefs about teaching and learning

In this study, relations between learning activities of teachers and changes in their beliefs were examined. Thirty-four teachers in Dutch secondary education were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their beliefs about teaching and learning on two occasions. They were also asked to report on learning activities that they undertook. Teachers who had changed their beliefs in a direction congruent with the aims of recent educational reforms often reported experimentation with colleagues' teaching methods. Teachers who changed their beliefs in a direction that was not congruent with the reform often reported experimentation with alternative methods due to discontent with the effectiveness of current methods.     

An empirical analysis of teacher spillover effects in secondary school

This paper examines whether educational production in secondary school involves joint production among teachers across subjects. In doing so, it also provides insights into the reliability of value-added modeling. Teacher value-added to reading test scores is estimated for four different teacher types: English, math, science and social-studies. The initial results indicate that reading output is jointly produced by math and English teachers. However, while falsification tests confirm the English-teacher effects, they cast some doubt about whether the math-teacher effects are free from sorting bias. The results offer a mixed review of the value-added methodology, suggesting that it can be useful but should be implemented cautiously.     

Linking university mathematics classroom environments to student achievement: The mediation of mathematics beliefs

This study examined the relationships between university mathematics classroom environments, mathematics beliefs, and achievement in the context of mainland China. As a type of affect in mathematics learning, mathematics beliefs including mathematics conceptions and efficacy were examined as mediators. Based on analysis of a sample of 1443 undergraduate students from a university in northern China, the study not only found that the mathematics classroom environment was associated with both affective and cognitive mathematics outcomes, but also confirmed the mediating role of mathematics beliefs. Specifically, a desirable classroom environment was related to students’ cohesive conceptions, enhanced self-efficacy, and higher mathematics achievement. In contrast, students’ perceived difficulty of learning mathematics was connected to their fragmented conceptions, reduced self-efficacy and lower mathematics achievement. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Research on teacher–student relationships and learning environments: Context,retrospect and prospect

The program of research on teacher–student relationships described in this issue is an important part of the field of classroom learning environments, although it has its own distinctive and significant features. The questionnaire on teacher interaction (QTI), the main instrument used in this research, follows the strong tradition in learning environments research of using the perceptions of the participants in the classroom. Although this research program originated in the Netherlands, it now is truly international and the QTI has been translated into and validated in over a dozen languages. Not only has past research consistently replicated the advantages of positive teacher–student relationships in terms of promoting improved student outcomes, but positive teacher–student relationships also are worthwhile process goals of education. In the future, it would be desirable for the QTI to be used more frequently by teachers as a feedback instrument for guiding improvements in their classroom relationships with their students, and that qualitative data-collection methods are used more often in conjunction with the use of the QTI in research on teacher–student interaction.     

Measuring teacher regulating activities concerning student learning in secondary education classrooms: Reliability and validity of student perceptions

.This article describes the use and validation of the Pedagogical Practices Inventory, which uses student perceptions arranged into five subscales to measure teacher activities concerning the regulation of student learning in secondary education. To determine the reliability and validity of the instrument, an inventory study (N = 2128) and a study in which observational data (N = 11) and inventory data (N = 201) were combined, were carried out. Analysis of the inventory data showed internal subscale reliabilities between .83 and .90, indicating consistency of the PPI subscale scores. Correlations between inventory and observational data showed significant relations for three of the five subscales, indicating that the PPI is suitable to tap teacher regulating activities in classroom contexts.     

Connecting teacher and student motivation: Student-perceived teacher need-supportive practices and student need satisfaction

According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), teacher motivation affects student motivation indirectly via teaching practices that support the satisfaction of students’ basic psychological needs, but studies have not shown evidence of this entire sequence. We tested the complete model: teacher motivation (autonomous, controlled, and amotivation) → perceived need-supportive practices (autonomy support, structure, and involvement) → student need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) → student motivation (autonomous, controlled, and amotivation) → student academic achievement. South Korean 5th and 6th graders (N = 697) and their 35 teachers participated in this study. A multi-level structural equation model showed evidence supporting: 1) a positive link between teacher and student autonomous motivation, and, 2) its mediation by student perceived need-supportive practices and student autonomy and competence. We discussed further conceptual and empirical consideration with the results..     

Teaching teachers: An investigation of beliefs in teacher education students

Influenced by work on learner-centred education, teacher efficacy and teachers’ concerns, we conducted an investigation of the influence of 185 preservice teachers’ teacher efficacy and concerns on their learner-centred beliefs. Learner-centred beliefs were selected for the purposes of this study as the best indicator of future teaching actions because these preservice teachers had not yet entered the classroom or engaged in teaching practices. Preservice teacher efficacy and concerns, individually and collectively, significantly influenced learner-centred beliefs. These findings indicate that teacher education can facilitate the development of learner-centred beliefs by addressing these trainable characteristics and demonstrate the need to further explore both teacher efficacy and concerns as they relate to learner-centred education within teacher education programs.