Teacher Actions to Maximize Mathematics Learning Opportunities in Heterogeneous Classrooms

The basic unit of school based mathematics teaching is the lesson. This article is a contribution to understanding teacher actions that facilitate successful lessons, defined as those that engage all students, especially those who may sometimes feel alienated from mathematics and schooling, in productive and successful mathematical thinking and learning. An underlying assumption is that lessons can seek to build a sense in the students that their experience has elements in common with the rest of the class and that this can be done through attention to particular aspects of the mathematical and socio-mathematical goals. We examine three teacher actions that address the mathematical goals: using open-ended tasks, preparing prompts to support students experiencing difficulty, and posing extension tasks to students who finish the set tasks quickly; as well as actions that address the socio-mathematical goals by making classroom processes explicit. To illustrate and elaborate these actions, we describe a particular lesson taught to a heterogeneous upper primary (age 11–12) class.     

Development of Instruments to Assess Teacher and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Experiences in Science Classrooms

This study describes the development of two instruments to investigate the extent to which students are engaged in scientific inquiry. As a result of the instrument development process employed, each finalized instrument consisted of 20-items separated into five categories. Both instruments were found to be internally consistent, with high reliability estimates. Factor analysis showed two factors for each instrument that, while not clustering the items into the five categories, did show item clustering that is consistent with research literature about students’ engagement in inquiry experiences. Based on the analyses completed, the instruments appear to be useful instruments for use in comprehensive assessment packages for assessing the extent to which students are experiencing inquiry in science classrooms.     

First-Grade Teacher Behaviors and Children's Prosocial Actions in Classrooms

Research Findings: This study examines whether specific teacher instructional practices in early education are associated with children's engagement in prosocial behavior. Teachers’ verbal encouragement of prosocial behavior and empathy, emotional warmth, positive behavior management, vocabulary instruction, and encouragement of expressive language were explored in relation to children's classroom prosocial behavior. We also examined whether increased prosociability was evident in the classrooms of teachers who both encouraged prosocial behavior and empathy and demonstrated emotional warmth. We observed 124 first-grade classrooms that included 2,098 children. Results indicated that teachers’ verbal encouragement of prosocial behavior and empathy was most strongly associated with classroom prosocial behavior. There was also a significant association between encouragement of expressive language and prosocial behavior. Emotional warmth, positive behavior management, vocabulary instruction, and the joint effect of teacher emotional warmth and encouragement of prosocial behavior and empathy was not associated with prosocial behavior. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest that teachers’ more deliberate encouragement of prosocial and empathic behavior and their creation of a positive, interactive social environment may support students’ prosocial behavior. The implications of these findings are particularly important for young children learning to engage with others.     

The Relationship Between Teacher Behaviours and Student Talk in Promoting Quality Learning in Science Classrooms

This paper distils 24 years of classroom research into promoting quality learning in science classrooms to develop an overall framework for better understanding and describing both the learning and the teaching approaches that stimulate and support it. For me, quality learning is characterised by adjectives such as informed, purposeful, reflective, intellectually active, metacognitive and independent. Central to quality learning is the role of talk, and central to promoting talk which promotes quality learning are certain teacher behaviours. I first focus on the ways that teachers behave in the classroom in order to promote, react to and use student talk. These behaviours are summed up in a list of twelve principles for quality teaching. Each of these principles requires, as well as appropriate teacher behaviours, the use of effective teaching procedures. I then focus on four kinds of student talk that exemplify informed, purposeful, reflective and intellectually active thinking. These variously involve students’ existing ideas and explanations; increasing student ownership of practical activities; constructive challenges to the teacher (or text’s) idea, and lateral, reflective ‘thinking’ questions.     

Teacher Roles of Questioning in Early Elementary Science Classrooms: A Framework Promoting Student Cognitive Complexities in Argumentation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the various roles that early elementary teachers adopt when questioning, to scaffold dialogic interaction and students’ cognitive responses for argumentative practices over time. Teacher questioning is a pivotal contributing factor that shapes the role teachers play in promoting dialogic interaction in argumentative practice and that different roles serve different functions for promoting students’ conceptual understanding. The multiple-case study was designed as a follow-up study after a 4-year professional development program that emphasized an argument-based inquiry approach. Data sources included 30 lessons focusing on whole class discussion from three early elementary teachers’ classes. Data were analyzed through two approaches: (1) constant comparative method and (2) enumerative approach. This study conceptualized four critical roles of teacher questioning—dispenser, moderator, coach, and participant—in light of the ownership of ideas and activities. The findings revealed two salient changes in teachers’ use of questions and the relationships between teachers’ question-asking and students’ cognitive responses: (1) teachers increasingly used multiple roles in establishing argumentative discourse as they persistently implemented an argument-based inquiry approach, and (2) as teachers used multiple roles in establishing patterns of questioning and framing classroom interactions, higher levels of student cognitive responses were promoted. This study suggests that an essential component of teacher professional development should include the study of the various roles that teachers can play when questioning for establishing dialogic interaction in argumentation and that this development should consist of ongoing training with systematic support.     

Patterns of Teacher‐Student Interaction in Inclusive Elementary Classrooms and Correlates with Student Self-Concept

The efficacy of placing students with special needs in inclusive classrooms may depend in part on how instructional factors contribute to student outcomes. Differences in frequencies and levels of cognitive engagement of interactions among nine teachers in inclusive elementary classrooms were related to three other variables: teachers' ratings on the Pathognomonic-Interventionist (PATH/INT) Scale, students' designation either as exceptional or at-risk (EX/AR) or as typically achieving (TA), and students' scores on the Piers Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. Teachers with PATH beliefs, who attribute learning difficulties to permanent characteristics of the student that are beyond the teacher's mandate, interacted infrequently with their EX/AR students at low levels of cognitive engagement. Teachers with INT beliefs, who see themselves as responsible for the achievement of all their students irrespective of their disabilities, interacted with all students more frequently, and at higher levels of cognitive engagement. In contrast to the PATH teachers, their EX/AR students received more instructional interactions than their TA students. As expected, the EX/AR students in all classrooms had lower Piers Harris Self-Concept Total Scale scores than typically achieving students. However, both TA and EX/AR students had lower Self-Concept Total Scale scores in the classrooms of teachers with PATH beliefs, compared to students in the classrooms of INT teachers. The relationship is discussed between teachers' beliefs, their different patterns of instructional interactions with students with and without disabilities in inclusive classrooms, and the possible impact of instructional interventions on students' self-concept.     

A High-School Science Teacher Views Industry-Education Cooperation

Teachers actively engaged in the classroom do not agree that today's science education is a failure. Schools are expressions of our culture, and their deficiencies have much deeper roots than most current analyses recognize. Fundamental rather than superficial remedies are indicated. Industry, in its approach to education must recognize the central importance of the teacher himself as an expert in the job to be done, and try to adjust its efforts to the special conditions of the classroom. Certain of the steps now being taken by industry in the field of secondary education are noted, and suggestions for their improvement are offered. It is necessary to put intellectual interests in a favorable competitive position with respect to more glamorous teen-age activities, and a possible action in this direction is suggested. Improvement of the economic and social status of the teaching profession would be the single most powerful development in bringing about better secondary education.     

Teacher Education Objectives: A Survey of Student Views

This article is a summary of the Survey of Teacher Education Objectives: The Views of Diploma in Education Students published as a monograph in 1982. A report of the previous study was published in 1981 and a summary of the report appeared in Vol. 4 No. 1 of this Journal.     

Student Teachers' Views of Pupil Misbehaviour in Classrooms: A Norwegian and an English setting compared

This paper examines how student teachers in Norway and England perceive pupil misbehaviour. The data are based on an opportunistic questionnaire survey of 86 student teachers in Kristiansand and 100 student teachers in York. Student teachers' perceptions of the seriousness of infractions were significantly different with regard to 7 of the items, with the students in Norway being relatively more tolerant. There were a few differences linked to sex and age. A principal components analysis identified 6 factors that were labelled: aggression towards other pupils, delinquent behaviour, oppositional behaviour, passive deviance, anti‐social behaviour, and off‐task behaviour. With few exceptions, student teachers in Norway and England regarded serious aggressive, delinquent and anti‐social behaviour as totally unacceptable. This suggests that it is appropriate to encourage student teachers (and their school mentors) to consistently censure these kinds of pupil misbehaviour.     

In‐school Experience Designed to Meet Individual Needs

Current policies at both the state and national levels emphasise the need for increased attention to teaching children with special needs and more extensive school‐based experience in teacher education courses. This paper reports an in‐school experience which was an integral part of an on‐campus subject that focused upon teaching children with special needs. It also addressed a range of issues currently of concern in pre‐service teacher education, including the nature of the in‐school experience, managing the needs of children with learning difficulties in an integrated classroom, overcoming the socialising effect of block practice teaching, reinforcing the relevance of campus‐based subjects, maintaining a balance between the formal teaching expectations and the nurturing roles of teachers, providing teacher educators with recent and relevant in‐school experience, and producing reflective teachers with an understanding and appreciation of the ‘art’ and the ‘science’ of teaching.     

Science and Language Integration in Elementary Classrooms: Instructional Enactments and Student Learning Outcomes

Research in Science Education - While some students will pursue careers in science, all will engage with multimodal science-based texts. The effective use of language skills is essential to support...     

Teacher Education Reforms in Albania

Albania is a society undergoing many changes as it moves from the former communist system of strong centralised control towards a more democratic system with more autonomy for institutions. Drawing on insights gained from teacher educators and government representatives in Albania, the paper examines the process of change and the types of reform-modernisation, structural and systemic. The paper also discusses the initial implementation in Albania of one of the reforms, that directed at the balance and role of school experience and analyses differences in its implementation for primary and secondary teacher training. L'Albanie est une société qui subit de nombreux changements à mesure qu'elle se transforme d'un ancien système communiste avec un puissant contrôle centralisé vers un système plus démocratique avec davantage d'autonomie pour ses institutions. A partir des observations des formateurs d'enseignants et des représentants du gouvernement en Albanie, cet article examine le processus d'évolution et des types de réforme-la modernisation structurelle et systémique. Cet article considère la mise en place initiale en Albanie de l'une des réformes, celle qui concerne l'équilibre et le rôle des stages pratiques dans les écoles. Enfin il analyse aussi les différences concernant sa mise en place dans le primaire et le secondaire. Albania es una sociedad que está sufriendo muchos cambios, al pasar de un sistema comunista caracterizado por un fuerte control centralizado, hacia un sistema democra ´tico con más autonomía institucional. Basándose en observaciones de educadores y funcionarios en Albania, este artículo examina el proceso de cambio y los tipos de reforma como la modernización tanto de las estructuras como del sistema. Este artículo trata igualmente de la ejecución de una de las reformas aquella que busca poner en práctica un equilibrio entre el papel y la experiencia de la escuela, y analiza los distintos impactos de la implementación de la reforma para la formación del docente tanto de primaria como de secundaria. Aufgrund der Umwandlung von einem stark zentralisierten, kommunistischen System in ein demokratischeres System, in dem Institutionen mehr Autonomie besitzen, finden in der albanischen Gesellschaft viele Veränderungen statt. Der Artikel stützt sich auf die Erfahrungen sowohl von Lehrausbildern als auch von Vertretern der albanischen Regierung und untersucht den Umwandlungsprozeß und die verschiedenen Reformversuche, das heißt strukturelle und systemische Modernisierung. Der Artikel befaßt sich mit dem Anfangsstadium einer der Reformen in Albanien, durch die die Länge und Bedeutung des Lehrpraktikums bestimmt werden soll. In der Analyse werden unter anderem Unterschiede in der Durchführung der Ausbildung für Grundschullehrer und Oberschullehrer aufgezeigt.     

The Interplay of Teacher and Student Actions in the Teaching and Learning of Geometric Proof

Proof and reasoning are fundamental aspects of mathematics. Yet, how to help students develop the skills they need to engage in this type of higher-order thinking remains elusive. In order to contribute to the dialogue on this subject, we share results from a classroom-based interpretive study of teaching and learning proof in geometry. The goal of this research was to identify factors that may be related to the development of proof understanding. In this paper, we identify and interpret students' actions, teacher's actions, and social aspects that are evident in a classroom in which students discuss mathematical conjectures, justification processes and student-generated proofs. We conclude that pedagogical choices made by the teacher, as manifested in the teacher's actions, are key to the type of classroom environment that is established and, hence, to students' opportunities to hone their proof and reasoning skills. More specifically, the teacher's choice to pose open-ended tasks (tasks which are not limited to one specific solution or solution strategy), engage in dialogue that places responsibility for reasoning on the students, analyze student arguments, and coach students as they reason, creates an environment in which participating students make conjectures, provide justifications, and build chains of reasoning. In this environment, students who actively participate in the classroom discourse are supported as they engage in proof development activities. By examining connections between teacher and student actions within a social context, we offer a first step in linking teachers' practice to students' understanding of proof.     

A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Student Resistance in College Classrooms: The Effects of Teacher Misbehaviors and Credibility

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships of teacher misbehaviors and credibility with student resistance in U.S. and Chinese college classrooms. Findings indicate that Chinese college students report a higher level of resistance than U.S. college students. Teacher misbehaviors and credibility have differing associations with student resistance in the U.S. and Chinese college classrooms. Specifically among the 3 dimensions of teacher misbehaviors, in the United States, teacher indolence and incompetence contribute the most to student resistance, explaining 27% of the variance in student resistance; but in China, teacher offensiveness is the only source of student resistance, accounting for 10% of the variance in student resistance. Among the 3 dimensions of teacher credibility, in the United States, teacher trustworthiness and competence are the effective predictors of student resistance, explaining 19% of the variance in student resistance; whereas in China, teacher trustworthiness is the only predictor of student resistance, accounting for 6% of the variance in student resistance.     

Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Undergraduate Student Views of the Nature of Science

Past studies investigating university level students' views of nature of science (NOS) were relatively few and most of them were conducted in Western countries. This paper focuses upon comparing the quantitative patterns in Western (US Caucasian and African-American) and non-Western (Taiwanese) students' views of NOS (VNOS) by adopting a survey instrument. This analysis combined with qualitative data begin to uncover details of potential cultural differences in patterns specifically in the US educational context by comparing Caucasian and African-American student responses to a question from a commonly used assessment of VNOS. Results show different patterns of views along the four dimensions of NOS (social negotiation, invented/creative NOS, cultural impacts, and changing/tentative feature of science) according to student major, student gender, and student ethnicity. These differences and similarities have the potential to impact undergraduate education and underrepresentation of cultural minorities in science careers and call for further research into NOS views in the context of diverse student groups.     

Through the Looking Glass: The History of Aquarium Views and their Potential to Improve Learning in Science Classrooms

Aquarium views, or AqViews, offer a glimpse into a split-phase aquatic system that is not normally afforded to terrestrial viewers. Although geologist Henry De la Beche created the AqView prototype two decades before the advent of the aquarium, this graphic type did not become popular until after the Victorian aquarium craze. We investigate the historical development and construct a comprehensive typology of AqViews that can be used by science teachers. We identify variations on the AqView, as well as a broader category encompassing non-aquatic systems, the PhaseView. Our research indicates that horizontal, cross-sectional representation of underwater scenes now appears to be the default position for some textbook authors, artists, and students. In spite of this, we believe AqViews are currently untapped resources for learning in science classrooms, and offer potential for enhancing science instruction, assessment, and visual literacy.