What and how do student teachers learn during school-based teacher education

This study looks at how student teachers learn to teach during school-based teacher education. It explores the changes that occurred in the practical theories of the student teachers and how the student teachers made these modifications. Eight student teachers were closely monitored during their training. The study's findings show that all student teachers developed broad, well-structured practical theories that focused on pupils' learning processes. Their learning processes displayed considerable individual variation. As a result of these findings, several questions have been formulated for further research concerning the impact of learning style on learning outcomes and learning in a work-based context.     

女子院校的教师礼仪探析

教师是人类灵魂的工程师,担负教书育人、为人师表的神圣职责。在传承文明的同时,自己的言行也于无形中影响、熏陶着学生,成为为学生传道、授业、解惑的楷模。认真组织全体教师学习教师基本礼仪规范,端正教师的教学态度,提升教师的文明礼仪水平,让教师用自己的人格魅力去感染学生,让学生从中汲取文明礼仪的养分,使教师在校园内成为学生学习的榜样,真正达到教书育人的良好效果。     

Learning to teach science for all in the elementary grades: What do preservice teachers bring?

Implicit in the goal of recent reforms is the question: What does it mean to prepare teachers to teach “science for all”? Through a teacher research study, I have encountered characteristics that may assist prospective elementary teachers in developing effective, inclusive science instruction. I describe these strengths, link them to requirements for teaching, and suggest how science teacher educators might draw on the strengths of their own students to support teaching practices aimed at universal scientific literacy. My conceptual framework is constructed from scholarship concerning best practice in elementary science education, as well as that which describes the dispositions of successful teachers of diverse learners. This study is based on a model of teacher research framed by the concept of “research as praxis” and phenomenological research methodology. The findings describe the research participants' strengths thematically as propensity for inquiry, attention to children, and awareness of school/society relationships. I view these as potentially productive aspects of knowledge and dispositions about science and about children that I could draw on to further students' development as elementary science teachers. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 845–869, 2002     

Performance in e-learning: online participation and student grades

The beneficial effects of learners interacting in online programmes have been widely reported. Indeed, online discussion is argued to promote student‐centred learning. It is therefore reasonable to suggest that the benefits of online discussion should translate into improved student performance. The current study examined the frequency of online interaction of 122 undergraduates and compared this with their grades at the end of the year. The findings revealed that greater online interaction did not lead to significantly higher performance for students achieving passing grades; however, students who failed in their courses tended to interact less frequently. Other factors that may be salient in online interactions are discussed.     

Understanding student behavioral engagement: Importance of student interaction with peers and teachers

Recent theoretical conceptualizations of student engagement have raised questions about how to measure student engagement and how engagement varies not only across schools, but also within school and within classrooms. The authors build on existing research on student behavioral engagement and extend this research to emphasize a continuum of disengagement, active engagement, and passive engagement. They review common approaches to measuring engagement and highlight areas where new theoretical conceptualizations of engagement require new approaches to measurement. The authors analyze how student behavioral engagement changed depending on the context and demonstrate the need of a finer scale of engagement. They find there was not a uniform association of higher behavioral engagement and student interaction with peers, but it was the interaction with other students and the teacher that was predictive of increased engagement. Their work suggests that disaggregating behavioral engagement into disengagement, active engagement, and passive engagement has important research and conceptual implications.     

Engaging student teachers in meaningful reflective practice

This paper examines the use of peer-videoing in the classroom as a tool to promote reflective practice among student teachers. Twenty pre-service teachers from a variety of subject disciplines participating in a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education programme in an Irish university participated in the study. The practice of encouraging student teachers working in the same school to participate in structured video analysis avoids the impact of external observers whose role is largely evaluative and endorses a collaborative model that promotes dialogue and shared learning. This practice promotes a culture of observation and critical dialogue in a profession which has traditionally been characterised by isolation, while at the same time fostering and validating the voice and experience of the student teacher. Locating the discussion within the framework of the theoretical literature on reflective practice, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the international debate over best practice in supporting, encouraging and scaffolding reflective practice. It comments on the implications of reflective dialogue for the modernisation of teacher education and offers guidelines on how best to scaffold and promote reflectivity.     

Pedagogical influence of interaction with cooperating teachers on the efficacy beliefs of student teachers

Abstract

Cooperating teachers are often identified as some of the most important figures in the preparation of new teachers, and the reasons are not difficult to understand. Surprisingly, however, very little research has been conducted to quantify the effects of cooperating teachers on student teachers. This study examines the impact of student teachers' perceived interactions with their cooperating teachers and the influence that interaction has on student teachers' self‐efficacy for teaching. Results indicate a moderate correlation between perceptions of teaching efficacy and cooperating teacher‐student teacher interactions. Differences were found in the frequency of interaction based on the certification level of the student teacher, with elementary level student teachers perceiving a greater amount of interaction with their cooperating teachers. However, no differences based on certification level were detected in perceived efficacy. Student teachers' perceptions of the level of guidance offered by their cooperating teachers provided the most reliable predictor for their efficacy belief.     

Living with CATE: the case of reflective student teachers

This paper considers the effect of the introduction of market forces into teacher education both in terms of the loss of autonomy on the part of the providers, the teacher educators, and in terms of the growth of ownership by the consumers, the student teachers, of their learning. Specifically it identifies the paradigms of teacher education which are absent from the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CATE) criteria, such as enquiry‐oriented teacher education, but which are important for promoting professional self‐awareness amongst teachers. This paper describes and evaluates an exercise undertaken by student teachers on a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) course which both promotes self‐reflection and meets some of the criteria set by CATE. It concludes that it is possible to promote self‐reflective teaching within the confines of the CATE criteria so long as certain procedures are followed.     

Weblog-based electronic portfolios for student teachers in Taiwan

This paper explored how the use of weblogs within the portfolio framework affected portfolio production and development for student teachers, and how the weblog-based electronic portfolio (WBEP) shaped student teachers’ reflective practice during the student teaching practicum. The individuals participating in this study consisted of 31 elementary school student teachers from a national university’s teacher education program in Taiwan. Qualitative data analysis revealed that about half the participants’ WBEP maturation level were at Level 2, the Curriculum Vitae WBEP. The two most prominent features of the WBEP platform on participants’ reflective practice were personal editorship and dialogues with others. Additionally, blog publicity promoted mandated dossier-like portfolios with which to evaluate performance with respect to external evaluation requirements. Thus, the reflective themes of most WBEP contents were rather uniform in the study.     

Preparing student teachers for alternative assessment in science

This material is based upon work supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation California State University Student Teaching Development Project (DOE-9250027) and the W. M. Keck Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding ordanizations.     

“Before teaching this I'd do a lot of reading” preparing primary student teachers to teach science

The subject knowledge primary teachers have as a basis for their teaching of science has become a major concern in preservice and inservice education in many countries, including Australia, the UK and the USA. There are differing views among policy makers, teacher educators and student teachers about precisely what primary teachers need to know and how they are best prepared for teaching science. This article reports an investigation into the science content and pedagogic content knowledge of student teachers a university in the UK. Many students said that when approaching a real teaching situation they would be able to prepare themselves adequately by independent research using published sources. The data from this study revealed that half the group of students were able to do so with guidance although their initial background knowledge of science was weak. Implications for the preparation of primary student teachers are discussed.     

Student trust in teachers and student perceptions of safety: positive predictors of student identification with school

This study examined the effects of student trust in teacher and student perceptions of safety on identification with school. Data were collected from one large urban district in an eastern state. Participants included 5441 students in 3rd through 12th grades from 49 schools. Students responded to surveys that assessed student trust in teachers, safety and identification with school. Free and Reduced Lunch (a proxy for SES), school level and ethnicity were included as control variables. Two hypotheses guided the study. Hypothesis 1 stated that student trust, safety and identification with school would positively covary. Hypothesis 2 predicted that student trust in teachers and perceptions of safety were school properties that would individually and collectively explain differences among schools in student identification with school. Both hypotheses were confirmed. The results of the hierarchical linear model indicated that student trust in teachers and school safety accounted for 98% of the 22% of variance that exists among schools in student identification. SES, school level and ethnicity were not significant predictors of identification with school. Findings suggest that student trust in teachers and perceptions of safety may significantly contribute to student identification above the effects of SES, ethnicity and school level.