Effects of Integrating Hypermedia into Elementary Science Professional Development on Science Content Knowledge

Past research has indicated that a number of problems in the teaching of science in elementary classrooms are rooted in the preparation of inservice teachers. One continuing concern is elementary teachers' lack of science content knowledge. As indicated by numerous research studies reporting positive results, one method of addressing these problems is through inservice teacher professional development workshops. While improved content knowledge has been reported as a positive result of professional development workshops, elementary science workshops have not resulted in the same success levels as other subject areas. One method of addressing some of the deficiencies in elementary science professional development workshops is with the integration of hypermedia into the professional development environment. This study examined whether the integration of hypermedia into elementary science professional development workshops resulted in greater increases in the science content knowledge of elementary teachers of science than traditional methods of elementary science professional development workshops. Workshops that integrated hypermedia into the professional development environment resulted in a significant increase in inservice elementary teachers' science content knowledge, when compared to the control group. However, when compared to the experimental group that participated in workshops without hypermedia, however, there was no significant difference in increases of science content knowledge. Implications of these outcomes are discussed.     

非正式学习与教师专业发展

非正式学习是教师专业发展的重要途径。为了促进教师进行非正式学习应当采用以下策略：创设教师进行非正式学习的氛围、搭建促进非正式学习的基础设施、帮助教师提高学习能力和整合非正式学习与正式学习。     

Both Sides Now: Examining Transformative Learning and Professional Development of Educators

The purpose of this mixed method research is to understand and support educators' continuing learning and growth better by using a lens of transformative learning to examine their experience and professional development practice and responsibility. Data from 58 participants and the course professor are analyzed to consider the occurrence of transformative learning and the related needs that emerged. This article also presents trends across the learning experiences and recommendations for practice and responsibility. Additionally, there are implications of the research for higher education professors, administrators, and developers reflecting on their concepts and planning of formal professional development.     

论教师教育者及其专业发展

教师教育者在教师教育乃至整个教育发展中发挥着至关重要的作用。他们是专门从事教师教育工作的人,是帮助师范生实现正式社会化的人,是教师教育实践者和教师教育研究者的统一。教师教育者应该根据自身劳动任务的基础性和艰巨性、劳动对象的成人性和期待性、劳动过程的复杂性和创造性、劳动方式的师范性和示范性、劳动价值的潜在性和长效性等方面特点,通过树立专业理想增进身份认同、开展自我研究融合教学和科研、增进合作交流创建教师教育者发展共同体等方式积极促进专业发展。     

自我导向性学习与教师专业发展

教师专业发展具有个体性、主动性、内在性等特征，而自我导向性学习则能很好地适应教师专业发展的这些特点。文章在介绍自我导向性学习的含义与特点的基础上，对自我导向性学习与教师专业发展的关系以及如何促进教师的自我导向性学习进行了阐述。     

The Role of Heads of Department in the Professional Development of Educators: A Distributed Leadership Perspective

The qualitative study reported on was, undertaken from a distributed leadership perspective, and was an attempt to provide understanding of how heads of department (HoDs) develop educators within the organisational context of different schools and subject departments. The findings are related to the current policy framework for professional development in South African schools. Two fee-paying and two non-fee-paying schools were selected and interviews were conducted with HoDs from single subject (unitary) and multi-subject (federal or confederate) departments in each school. The data was transcribed, coded, analysed and related to the research question. The findings confirmed that HoDs are a key link between principals and the educators in their classrooms. This supports the view that HoDs have formal responsibilities and accountabilities and they wield a horizontal and a vertical influence. Recommendations are made to improve professional development practice by HoDs in particular and in the education system in general.     

学科教学知识：一个教师专业发展的新视角

学科教学知识概念的提出，对教师教育的理论与实践产生了重大影响。文章在探讨了学科教学知识的内涵、特征、建构等问题，并分析了学科教学知识对教师专业发展的意义的基础上，进而提出以学科教学知识概念指导我国教师教育改革的若干对策。     

专业化发展视域下高校思想政治理论课教师队伍建设研究

专业化发展能增强高校思想政治理论课教师的职业认同感、归属感与思想政治理论课的教学效果。当前,在高校思想政治理论课教师队伍建设中,普遍存在规范科学的管理机制缺乏、结构不合理、教师教学科研整体水平偏低、部分教师职业道德素质缺失等问题,我们可通过建立教师任职资格准入制度、建立健全培训体系、加强思想政治理论课学科建设、建立思想政治理论课教学科研机构、健全管理机制、落实保障措施来积极推动高校思想政治理论课教师专业化发展。     

Problem-Based Learning as an Effective Strategy for Science Teacher Professional Development

Abstract

The Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Project for Teachers included three days of professional development using PBL to deepen teachers’ content knowledge. Teachers identified the content area in which they wished to work from a list of choices. They worked in facilitated groups of from five to nine participants to solve rich, ill-structured problems. Content knowledge was assessed based on teachers’ written responses to at least one general question and one application question in which they explained some everyday phenomena. Teachers responded to these questions two months before and at the end of the professional development; 80.5 percent of the 41 middle and high school teachers who participated showed improved content knowledge. We also examined the patterns in teachers’ incoming content knowledge and changes in content knowledge. The data indicate that the PBL approach used here was effective in improving the content knowledge of teachers independent of demographic factors and type and degree of incoming content knowledge.     

默会性知识与教师专业发展

传统的教师教育只注重显性知识的灌输,而忽视了存在于教师教育教学实践中的大量默会性知识。这些默会性知识是教师专业发展的基础。从默会性知识的概念、生成、获得来分析默会性知识的有关特征,并阐明其对教师专业发展的意义,最后指出默会性知识生成的几种策略。     

缄默知识视野中的教师专业发展

人类有两种知识即显性知识与缄默知识。由于种种原因,人们对缄默知识及其作用普遍贬低与忽视,但缄默知识却是认识的重要来源。教师专业发展依赖于教师的实践知识,实践知识中绝大部分是教师的缄默知识,教师的缄默知识就成为教师专业发展的关键所在。     

Beginning Elementary Science Teachers: Developing Professional Knowledge During a Limited Mentoring Experience

The professional development project reported on in this paper, the Beginning Elementary Science Teachers' (BEST) project, was based on the premise that the first years of elementary science teaching can be very important in the development of long-term quality science teaching. Specifically, we report on project experiences that allowed 13 beginning teachers to interact with experienced teachers in a university seminar and during school visits. Results show that these limited mentoring experiences can support the development of professional knowledge and discussion centers on factors that facilitate knowledge growth. Conclusions are presented that compare benefits of these limited mentoring experiences to those reported to be achieved in long-term mentoring programs.     

Teaching Knowledge Application: Advances in Theoretical Conceptions and their Professional Implications

We describe and examine a view of knowledge application in schooling developed from aspects of contemporary learning theory. To situate our perspective in contemporary practice, we establish the significance of the issue of knowledge application as an educational challenge. We then review some enduring theoretical conceptions of the problem and their educational ramifications following which we introduce some developments in educational learning theory and consider their implications for teaching knowledge application.     

教学案例与教师发展

教学案例是教学过程中的故事，它描述的是“意料之外，情理之中的事”。教学案例在促进教师成长过程中是必要的：教师编写教学案例就是促进教师自身发展的过程，教师的专业水平在分析教学案例的过程中必定能得到发展。总之，教学案例的作用在于引起阅读案例的人反思实践，深入思考教学实践中的问题。通过对案例的分析促进教师的发展已经成为教师教育的手段。     

Facilitating Professional Development during International Practicum: Understanding our Work as Teacher Educators through Critical Incidents

This collaborative self-study details the experiences of an Australian teacher educator and a Canadian teacher educator, who led teacher candidates on international practicum placements to the Cook Islands and Kenya respectively. Focusing on critical incidents, they collaboratively analyzed dilemmas that occurred when providing professional development sessions for local teachers during these placements. These dilemmas required the teacher educators to think deeply about their beliefs and practices in these contexts. Findings from the study included the teacher educator’s tendency to make assumptions about good teaching and learning practices that were reflective of their personal pedagogical values and beliefs; their discomfort with their perceptions of some neo‐colonial practices within these international practicum sites and uncertainty about how to navigate the resultant tensions; and, the need to view the work of teacher educators though a new cultural lens when working in transnational contexts. Implications for teacher educators working with local hosting teachers during international placements include the need to understand and acknowledge the complexity of this dimension of teacher educators’ work, and for teacher educators to engage in parallel learning journeys with the teacher candidates they accompany. This involves critically reflecting on the experiences, assumptions, and beliefs that they bring to their new contexts, as well as adopting a global perspective and a deep consciousness of how one is perceived by others who are culturally, racially, or linguistically different.     

Professional Supervision as a Mean of Learning and Development of Counselors

Supervision can be understood as onemethod of fieldwork education and staffdevelopment that enables counselors to acquirenew professional and personal insights throughtheir own experiences. In this paper dimensionsof learning activities of Walter and Marks aswell as other psychological concepts oflearning and development (Piaget, Kolb) asapplied to the learning process in supervisionare discussed. Special emphasis is given to theexplanation of interdependence of personal andprofessional development in supervision andtheir integration into a so calledprofessional self (Kessel and Haan).     

Professional Development of Multi-experienced Educators through a Book Study: Fostering Mentoring Relationships

A mentorship professional development model was provided to a group of educators at various stages in their career paths, ranging from pre-service teachers to in-service teachers to teacher leaders. We were interested in exploring how participants’ interactions during a book study influenced their perceptions of practice, with a specific aim at understanding what they noticed from these interactions and how they conceptualized their thoughts from the mentorship experience. Findings indicated that participants situated themselves with a receiver, neutral, or giver perspective, which influenced how they interacted with others. In the process, participants valued the security fostered from the relationships, generated new relationships with others with varying experiences, engaged in reflective practice, and considered exposure to other perspectives to be beneficial.     

The Effects of a Kit-Based Science Curriculum and Intensive Science Professional Development on Elementary Student Science Achievement

The science achievement of 226 5th graders from districts that have a kit-based inquiry science curriculum supported by intensive professional development (PD) is compared with data from a group of 173 5th graders from other districts that use nonkit science materials and do not have systematic science PD for teachers. Within the kit-based project, the sample of project teachers is stratified to select teachers with a high number of science PD hours versus those with few hours. While there were no significant differences in the mean total scores for kit-based students with low PD versus high PD teachers, the kit-based classrooms scored significantly higher than students in nonkit classrooms on both the pretest and posttest, though there were significantly more minutes of science instruction in the nonkit classrooms. Finally, nonkit teachers taught more units of shorter length and reported lower levels of preparedness to use reform pedagogical approaches.     

继续教育与专业发展

继续教育是北京教育学院一项一以贯之的重要工作,对学院、特别是对承担继教任务的一线教师也始终是一个重大的挑战。教师必须加强对专业基础理论和专业基础知识、继续教育的理论和实践、中小学教育教学的学习和研究,不断提高自己的专业素养,不断推进自己的专业发展,从而把继续教育工作搞得又快又好。     

知识分享与教师专业发展

知识分享是知识拥有者通过沟通的方式将知识传播给知识重建者的过程。学校教师的知识分享成为教师专业发展的重要手段、过程与目的。在这一过程中,知识分享的双方都得到专业提升。知识分享对于教师的专业发展具有重要的作用,本文在界定对教师知识分享内涵基础上,分析了中小学教师知识分享的困难、机制、类型及其对策,试图回答中小学教师知识分享的可能性与可行性。