Teaching Future Teachers: A Model Workshop for Doctoral Education

Doctoral student training has become focused in recent years on acquiring subject-area knowledge and research skills, rather than on teaching. This shift often leaves aspiring junior faculty feeling unprepared to address the demanding pedagogical requirements of the professoriate. In the area of social work, few programs contain a structured, required program of study that addresses issues unique to teaching in a school of social work. This article outlines a doctoral teaching workshop as a model framework for social work doctoral programs. Suggestions are provided for ways to incorporate such an effort into current social work doctoral education.     

Teaching Teachers About Technology

No abstract available for this article.     

Teaching Neuroscience to Science Teachers: Facilitating the Translation of Inquiry-Based Teaching Instruction to the Classroom

In science education, inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning provide a framework for students to building critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Teacher professional development has been an ongoing focus for promoting such educational reforms. However, despite a strong consensus regarding best practices for professional development, relatively little systematic research has documented classroom changes consequent to these experiences. This paper reports on the impact of sustained, multiyear professional development in a program that combined neuroscience content and knowledge of the neurobiology of learning with inquiry-based pedagogy on teachers’ inquiry-based practices. Classroom observations demonstrated the value of multiyear professional development in solidifying adoption of inquiry-based practices and cultivating progressive yearly growth in the cognitive environment of impacted classrooms.Current discussion about educational reform among business leaders, politicians, and educators revolves around the idea students need “21st century skills” to be successful today (Rotherham and Willingham, 2009 ). Proponents argue that to be prepared for college and to be competitive in the 21st-century workplace, students need to be able to identify issues, acquire and use new information, understand complex systems, use technologies, and apply critical and creative thinking skills (US Department of Labor, 1991 ; Bybee et al., 2007 ; Conley, 2007 ). Advocates of 21st-century skills favor student-centered methods—for example, problem-based learning and project-based learning. In science education, inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning provide one framework for students to build these critical-thinking and problem-solving skills (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1993 ; National Research Council [NRC], 2000 ; Capps et al., 2012 ).Unfortunately, in spite of the central role of inquiry in the national and state science standards, inquiry-based instruction is rarely implemented in secondary classrooms (Weiss et al., 1994 ; Bybee, 1997 ; Hudson et al., 2002 ; Smith et al., 2002 ; Capps et al., 2012 ). Guiding a classroom through planning, executing, analyzing, and evaluating open-ended investigations requires teachers to have sufficient expertise, content knowledge, and self-confidence to be able to maneuver through multiple potential roadblocks. Researchers cite myriad reasons for the lack of widespread inquiry-based instruction in schools: traditional beliefs about teaching and learning (Roehrig and Luft, 2004 ; Saad and BouJaoude, 2012 ), lack of pedagogical skills (Shulman, 1986 ; Adams and Krockover, 1997 ; Crawford, 2007 ), lack of time (Loughran, 1994 ), inadequate knowledge of the practice of science (Duschl, 1987 ; DeBoer, 2004 ; Saad and BouJaoude, 2012 ), perceived time constraints due to high-stakes testing, and inadequate preparation in science (Krajcik et al., 2000 ). Yet teachers are necessarily at the center of reform, as they make instructional and pedagogical decisions within their own classrooms (Cuban, 1990 ). Given that effectiveness of teachers’ classroom practices is critical to the success of current science education reforms, teacher professional development has been an ongoing focus for promoting educational reform (Corcoran, 1995 ; Corcoran et al., 1998 ).A review of the education research literature yields an extensive knowledge base in “best practices” for professional development (Corcoran, 1995 ; NRC, 1996 ; Loucks-Horsley and Matsumoto, 1999 ; Loucks-Horsley et al., 2009 ; Haslam and Fabiano, 2001 ; Wei et al., 2010 ). However, in spite of a strong consensus on what constitutes best practices for professional development (Desimone, 2009 ; Wei et al., 2010 ), relatively little systematic research has been conducted to support this consensus (Garet et al., 2001 ). Similarly, when specifically considering the science education literature, several studies have been published on the impact of teacher professional development on inquiry-based practices (e.g., Supovitz and Turner, 2000 ; Banilower et al., 2007 ; Capps et al., 2012 ). Unfortunately, these studies usually rely on teacher self-report data; few studies have reported empirical evidence of what actually occurs in the classroom following a professional development experience.Thus, in this study, we set out to determine through observational empirical data whether documented effective professional development does indeed change classroom practices. In this paper, we describe an extensive professional development experience for middle school biology teachers designed to develop teachers’ neuroscience content knowledge and inquiry-based pedagogical practices. We investigate the impact of professional development delivered collaboratively by experts in science and pedagogy on promoting inquiry-based instruction and an investigative classroom culture. The study was guided by the following research questions:

1. Were teachers able to increase their neuroscience content knowledge?
2. Were teachers able to effectively implement student-centered reform or inquiry-based pedagogy?
3. Would multiple years of professional development result in greater changes in teacher practices?

Current reforms in science education require fundamental changes in how students are taught science. For most teachers, this requires rethinking their own practices and developing new roles both for themselves as teachers and for their students (Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin, 1995 ). Many teachers learned to teach using a model of teaching and learning that focuses heavily on memorizing facts (Porter and Brophy, 1988 ; Cohen et al., 1993 ; Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin, 1995 ), and this traditional and didactic model of instruction still dominates instruction in U.S. classrooms. A recent national observation study found that only 14% of science lessons were of high quality, providing students an opportunity to learn important science concepts (Banilower et al., 2006 ). Shifting to an inquiry-based approach to teaching places more emphasis on conceptual understanding of subject matter, as well as an emphasis on the process of establishing and validating scientific concepts and claims (Anderson, 1989 ; Borko and Putnam, 1996 ). In effect, professional development must provide opportunities for teachers to reflect critically on their practices and to fashion new knowledge and beliefs about content, pedagogy, and learners (Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin, 1995 ; Wei et al., 2010 ). If teachers are uncomfortable with a subject or believe they cannot teach science, they may focus less time on it and impart negative feelings about the subject to their students. In this way, content knowledge influences teachers’ beliefs about teaching and personal self-efficacy (Gresham, 2008 ). Personal self-efficacy was first defined as “the conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior required to produce the outcomes” (Bandura, 1977 , p.193). Researchers have reported self-efficacy to be strongly correlated with teachers’ ability to implement reform-based practices (Mesquita and Drake, 1994 ; Marshall et al., 2009 ).Inquiry is “a multifaceted activity that involves making observations, posing questions, examining books and other sources of information, planning investigations, reviewing what is already known in light of evidence, using tools to gather, analyze and interpret data, proposing answers, explanations and predictions, and communicating the results” (NRC, 1996 , p. 23). Unfortunately, most preservice teachers rarely experience inquiry-based instruction in their undergraduate science courses. Instead, they listen to lectures on science and participate in laboratory exercises with guidelines for finding the expected answer (Gess-Newsome and Lederman, 1993 ; DeHaan, 2005 ). As such, teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about teaching and learning were developed over the many years of their own educations, through “apprenticeship of observation” (Lortie, 1975 ), in traditional lecture-based settings that they then replicate in their own classrooms. To support the implementation of inquiry in K–12 classrooms, teachers need firsthand experiences of inquiry, questioning, and experimentation within professional development programs (Gess-Newsome, 1999 ; Supovitz and Turner, 2000 ; Capps et al., 2012 ).A common criticism of professional development activities is that they are too often one-shot workshops with limited follow-up after the workshop activities (Darling-Hammond, 2005 ; Wei et al., 2010 ). The literature on teacher learning and professional development calls for professional development that is sustained over time, as the duration of professional development is related to the depth of teacher change (Shields et al., 1998 ; Weiss et al., 1998 ; Supovitz and Turner, 2000 ; Banilower et al., 2007 ). If the professional development program is too short in duration, teachers may dismiss the suggested practices or at best assimilate teaching strategies into their current repertoire with little substantive change (Tyack and Cuban, 1995 ; Coburn, 2004 ). For example, Supovitz and Turner (2000 ) found that sustained professional development (more than 80 h) was needed to create an investigative classroom culture in science, as opposed to small-scale changes in practices. Teachers need professional development that is interactive with their teaching practices; in other words, professional development programs should allow time for teachers to try out new practices, to obtain feedback on their teaching, and to reflect on these new practices. Not only is duration (total number of hours) of professional development important, but also the time span of the professional development experience (number of years across which professional hours are situated) to allow for multiple cycles of presentation and reflection on practices (Blumenfeld et al., 1991 ; Garet et al., 2001 ). Supovitz and Turner''s study (2000) suggests that it is more difficult to change classroom culture than teaching practices; the greatest changes in teaching practices occurred after 80 h of professional development, while changes in classroom investigative culture did not occur until after 160 h of professional development.Finally, research indicates that professional development that focuses on science content and how children learn is important in changing teaching practices (e.g., Corcoran, 1995 ; Desimone, 2009 ), particularly when the goal is the implementation of inquiry-like instruction designed to improve students’ conceptual understanding (Fennema et al., 1996 ; Cohen and Hill, 1998 ). The science content chosen for the professional development series described in this study was neuroscience. This content is relevant for both middle and high school science teachers and has direct connections to standards. It also is unique in that it encompasses material on the neurological basis for learning, thus allowing discussions about student learning to occur within both a scientific and pedagogical context. As a final note, it is rare for even a life science teacher to have taken any coursework in neuroscience. The inquiry-based lessons and experiments encountered by the teachers during the professional development provide an authentic learning experience, allowing teachers to truly inhabit the role of a learner in an inquiry-based setting.     

Teaching About Energy

Science & Education - In this article, we draw upon the Conceptual Profile Theory to discuss the negotiation of meanings related to the energy concept in an 11th grade physics classroom. This...     

Incorporating English Language Teaching Through Science for K-2 Teachers

English learners are faced with the dual challenge of acquiring English while learning academic content through the medium of the new language (Lee et al. in J Res Sci Teach 45(6):726?C747, 2008; Stoddart et al. in J Res Sci Teach 39(8):664?C687, 2002) and therefore need specific accommodations to achieve in both English and the content areas. Teachers require higher quality and new forms of professional development to learn and meet the needs of their students. This study examines the impact of one professional development model that explicitly embedded language learning strategies into science inquiry lessons. It also demonstrates how teachers involved in the PD program improve their self-efficacy about language instruction embedded in content and how they interpret and implement the methodology.     

谈课堂教学中的二次备课

二次备课有课前对集体备课进行修改的二次备课,也有课后通过教学实践和效果反馈后的二次备课,还有课堂教学中根据偶发事件进行的二次备课。由于在课堂教学实际中教师的预设和学生的生成并不是统一的,教师需要及时收集学生反馈,从而根据实际的变化调整教学设计,这就是课堂教学中的二次备课。在传统课堂上,教师在满堂灌的教学活动中没有二次备课的时间和空间;在现在的课堂中,教师把学习的主动权交给了学生,就为教师进行二次备课提供了充分的时间和空间。     

论教师教学效能感

教学效能感是教学心理学的一个重要内容,它能促进教师专业发展和学生学业成绩。本文对教学效能感的概念、相关影响因素和教学效能感的功能做了简单的述评,并对教学效能感的培养提出了建议。     

The Impact of an Inquiry-Based Geoscience Field Course on Pre-service Teachers

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the effects of a field-based, inquiry-focused course on pre-service teachers?? geoscience content knowledge, attitude toward science, confidence in teaching science, and inquiry understanding and skills. The field-based course was designed to provide students with opportunities to observe, compare, and investigate geological structures in their natural environment and to gain an understanding of inquiry via hands-on learning activities designed to immerse students in authentic scientific investigation. ANCOVA and MANCOVA analyses examining differences in outcome measures between students in the field experience (n?=?25) and education students enrolled in the traditional, classroom-based course (n?=?37) showed that students in the field course generally had significantly higher scores. Results provide evidence of the value of the field and inquiry-based approach in helping pre-service teachers develop the needed skills and knowledge to create effective inquiry-based science lessons.     

K-8 Educators Perceptions and Preparedness for Teaching Evolution Topics

Many science education standards mandate teaching evolution concepts in the K-8 curriculum. Yet, not all K-8 certified educators embrace the notion of teaching evolution content Factors influencing K-8 teacher engagement with evolution curriculum include evolution familiarity and personal beliefs conflicts. With this in mind, we investigated the perceptions and beliefs about evolution of educators who had completed a science and mathematics education master’s degree. Our quantitative and qualitative data indicate some participants did not feel prepared or responsible for teaching evolution content. The discussion of our study results and implications was done in the context of achieving science learning standards.     

The Intersection of Inquiry-Based Science and Language: Preparing Teachers for ELL Classrooms

As teacher educators, we are tasked with preparing prospective teachers to enter a field that has undergone significant changes in student population and policy since we were K-12 teachers. With the emphasis placed on connections, mathematics integration, and communication by the New Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (Achieve in Next generation science standards, 2012), more research is needed on how teachers can accomplish this integration (Bunch in Rev Res Educ 37:298–341, 2013; Lee et al. in Educ Res 42(4):223–233, 2013). Science teacher educators, in response to the NGSS, recognize that it is necessary for pre-service and in-service teachers to know more about how instructional strategies in language and science can complement one another. Our purpose in this study was to explore a model of integration that can be used in classrooms. To do this, we examined the change in science content knowledge and academic vocabulary for English language learners (ELLs) as they engaged in inquiry-based science experience utilizing the 5R Instructional Model. Two units, erosion and wind turbines, were developed using the 5R Instructional Model and taught during two different years in a summer school program for ELLs. We analyzed data from interviews to assess change in conceptual understanding and science academic vocabulary over the 60 h of instruction. The statistics show a clear trend of growth supporting our claim that ELLs did construct more sophisticated understanding of the topics and use more language to communicate their knowledge. As science teacher educators seek ways to prepare elementary teachers to help preK-12 students to learn science and develop the language of science, the 5R Instructional Model is one pathway.     

Developing Biology Lessons Aimed at Teaching for Understanding: A Domain-specific Heuristic for Student Teachers

Teaching for understanding requires teachers to organize thought-demanding activities which continually challenge students to apply and extend their prior knowledge. Research shows that student teachers often are unable to develop lessons in teaching for understanding. We explored how a domain-specific heuristic can assist student biology teachers in developing problem-posing lessons according to teaching for understanding. Worksheets of lesson plans were analyzed according to criteria for problem-posing lessons. Furthermore, student teachers’ perceptions of the design heuristic’s usefulness were categorized in a cyclical process. In general, the heuristic appeared helpful to most student teachers for designing problem-posing lessons satisfactory according to the criteria. Furthermore, teachers indicated that using the heuristic deepened their subject matter knowledge and their awareness of pupils’ prior knowledge.     

Improved Student Reasoning About Carbon-Transforming Processes Through Inquiry-Based Learning Activities Derived from an Empirically Validated Learning Progression

This paper reports on our use of a fine-grained learning progression to assess secondary students’ reasoning through carbon-transforming processes (photosynthesis, respiration, biosynthesis). Based on previous studies, we developed a learning progression with four progress variables: explaining mass changes, explaining energy transformations, explaining subsystems, and explaining large-scale systems. For this study, we developed a 2-week teaching module integrating these progress variables. Students were assessed before and after instruction, with the learning progression framework driving data analysis. Our work revealed significant overall learning gains for all students, with the mean post-test person proficiency estimates higher by 0.6 logits than the pre-test proficiency estimates. Further, instructional effects were statistically similar across all grades included in the study (7th–12th) with students in the lowest third of initial proficiency evidencing the largest learning gains. Students showed significant gains in explaining the processes of photosynthesis and respiration and in explaining transformations of mass and energy, areas where prior research has shown that student misconceptions are prevalent. Student gains on items about large-scale systems were higher than with other variables (although absolute proficiency was still lower). Gains across each of the biological processes tested were similar, despite the different levels of emphasis each had in the teaching unit. Together, these results indicate that students can benefit from instruction addressing these processes more explicitly. This requires pedagogical design quite different from that usually practiced with students at this level.     

学生课程自主与教师教学质量提升——赴玄奘大学研修之悟

实施课程多元化,增加选修课的学分比重,给学生更多的课程选择空间,是现阶段高校普遍推崇的一种做法。目前,在选修课的开设和教学中还存在诸多问题,而解决这些问题的关键在于提升教师教学质量。从教师自身素质的提升、教学方法的改革等五个方面提出了解决问题的途径。     

Making the Hidden Explicit: Learning About Equity in K-8 Preservice Science Education

Preservice teachers in a K–8 science methods course used guided video reflection to examine their interactions with children during science teaching. This inquiry approach helped preservice teachers identify and respond to gaps between their beliefs and intentions about teaching all children and their enactment of those beliefs. The experience of teaching a science lesson and then viewing it multiple times through a critical framework provided an opportunity for preservice teachers to recognize hidden assumptions, unexamined behaviors, and the unintentional meanings they may have conveyed to children. This encouraged them to think more critically about their roles as teachers in creating spaces where all children have access to quality science learning experiences.

Lessons Learned About Post-tenure Review from the AAHE Peer Review of Teaching Project

Although most institutions seem to have in place a formal mechanism for evaluating faculty activities annually for the purpose of merit and promotion, a post-tenure review process is relatively new. Faculty facing a post-tenure review, which calls for both a backward review of what has been accomplished over a multi-year period and a forward projection of what is planned, may not have sufficient guides to know what to include and what to omit. As a result of my exposure to the American Association for Higher Education's (AAHE) Peer Review of Teaching Project I tried to adapt one of their strategies to provide the backward and forward view for my post-tenure review. The strategy was the reflective memo; and it proved to be adaptable as a guide in the review of research, teaching, and service. I hope the process that I describe and the lessons that I learned will be helpful to others facing a similar process.     

K-12 Students’ Online Learning Experiences during COVID-19: Lessons from China

Online learning has become the new educational pattern during the COVID-19 pandemic and is likely to supplement conventional schooling in the post-pandemic world. Lacking prior online learning experiences, the population of K-12 students deserves our special attention. Using purposeful sampling, this study investigated K-12 online learning experiences in China based on a large-scale survey (N = 118,589). Leveraging both quantitative and qualitative evidence, this study supported online learning as a flexible alternative to conventional schooling in emergency situations with a discussion of its benefits and limitations, and revealed key findings regarding K-12 students’ online learning pattern, experiences, and engagement, as well as the influencing factors. The research findings can inform the future design and implementation of online learning programs in primary and secondary schools.     

有效的教师及有效教学--国外中小学教师在职培训的教学理论研究述要

有效的教师和有效教学理论提出了有效的教师3个假定：有效的教师必须清楚地了解并积极地努力实现其目标，有效的教师的教学目标是与或应当与学生的学习有着直接的或间接的联系，教学目标的水平和学生学习态度、性向及能力是影响有效教学的因素。评价有效教学可以从学习的机会和作业、课堂环境、班级的组织与管理、课的结构、师生间的交流、学生的参与和学生的成功、教师的教学改革热情等七个方面进行。