A proficiency model for pre-service physics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)—What constitutes high-level PCK?

This study identifies proficiency levels in pre-service physics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and reveals how teacher education can promote transitions into higher proficiency. Teacher education plays a fundamental role in supporting pre-service teachers' PCK development. Proficiency levels are a powerful source when evaluating this PCK development because they characterize what learners are likely to be able to know on a specific level. Previous research has presented a model of proficiency levels in pre-service physics teachers' PCK; however, evidence for the model's validity is still lacking. According to the Refined Consensus Model of PCK, factors such as teachers' content knowledge (CK), their teaching experience, and their beliefs about teaching and learning science promote PCK development. Thus, understanding how and when pre-service physics teachers' CK, teaching experience, and beliefs contribute to their proficiency can bring insights into how teacher education can promote PCK development. To address this issue, N = 427 observations of pre-service physics teachers were analyzed. Utilizing the scale anchoring procedure, four different proficiency levels in pre-service physics teachers' PCK were identified. Analyzing these proficiency levels showed that lower levels can be characterized as remembering content-unspecific knowledge, whereas higher levels encompass content-specific strategies to structure and elaborate lessons. Additionally, logistic regression models revealed that pre-service physics teachers' CK is crucial for an increase in PCK proficiency. However, transitions into higher levels of PCK additionally require teaching experience and adequate beliefs about teaching and learning. Thus, our proficiency levels can be used to bring insights into how proficiency in PCK can be supported during teacher education. For example, teacher education should provide courses focusing on the science curriculum and the assessment of student learning to promote pre-service physics teachers' progression in PCK.     

Teacher professional identity as multidimensional: mapping its components and examining their associations with general pedagogical beliefs

Research on teachers’ professional identity integrates many constructs that are treated independently in most cases. This study described the associations between components of teacher professional identity and their association with teachers’ general pedagogical beliefs. Secondary teachers (n = 236) completed a survey about several components of their identity (self-efficacy beliefs, motivation to become a teacher, affective commitment and perceived type of expertise) and general pedagogical beliefs (constructivist and direct transmission). Multidimensional scaling revealed that the components could be mapped on two dimensions: form of motivation and degree of subject specificity. The resulting map revealed four meaningful groups of components. Furthermore, whereas direct transmission general pedagogical beliefs were found to be strongly tied to an identity grounded in the subject taught, constructivist beliefs were independent of identity components. This study provides new insight into the structure of teacher professional identity and its relevance for teaching.     

A Comparison of Student Teachers' Beliefs from Four Different Science Teaching Domains Using a Mixed Methods Design

The study presented in this paper integrates data from four combined research studies, which are both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The studies describe freshman science student teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning. These freshmen intend to become teachers in Germany in one of four science teaching domains (secondary biology, chemistry, and physics, respectively, as well as primary school science). The qualitative data from the first study are based on student teachers' drawings of themselves in teaching situations. It was formulated using Grounded Theory to test three scales: Beliefs about Classroom Organisation, Beliefs about Teaching Objectives, and Epistemological Beliefs. Three further quantitative studies give insight into student teachers' curricular beliefs, their beliefs about the nature of science itself, and about the student- and/or teacher-centredness of science teaching. This paper describes a design to integrate all these data within a mixed methods framework. The aim of the current study is to describe a broad, triangulated picture of freshman science student teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning within their respective science teaching domain. The study reveals clear tendencies between the sub-groups. The results suggest that freshman chemistry and—even more pronouncedly—freshman physics student teachers profess quite traditional beliefs about science teaching and learning. Biology and primary school student teachers express beliefs about their subjects which are more in line with modern educational theory. The mixed methods approach towards the student teachers' beliefs is reflected upon and implications for science education and science teacher education are discussed.     

Pre-service biology teachers’ perceptions on the instruction of socio-scientific issues in the curriculum

The work presented here represents a preliminary attempt to address the role of teachers in supporting students’ learning on socio-scientific issues (SSI) by characterising pre-service biology teachers’ perceptions and adaptation of curriculum and identifying factors that serve to mediate this process. A hundred and two undergraduate pre-service biology teachers took part in this study over the course of one semester. The teacher candidates (72% female) completed a questionnaire comprising Likert-type and open-ended questions. The results indicated that the teacher candidates perceived a need to address SSI positively. Pre-service teachers had moderate personal teaching efficacy beliefs related to teaching about SSI. They also identified the lack of instructional time and the unavailability of relevant materials as the primary obstacles hindering the teaching of SSI. The implications for teacher education and the design of curriculum materials with respect to SSI are discussed.     

A case study of beginning science teachers’ subject matter (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of teaching chemical reaction in Turkey

This paper describes a case study focusing on the subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and beliefs about science teaching of student teachers in Turkey at the start of their university education. The topic of interest was that of teaching chemical reactions in secondary chemistry education. A written test was developed which used the research literature on potential student misconceptions with regard to different aspects of chemical reactions. Thirty beginning science student teachers were tested, with an additional eight interviews from the student teachers in the same sample. The interviews focused on student teachers’ views about how to best teach chemical reactions in lower secondary chemistry classes. The results revealed deficits in the subject matter knowledge of the student teachers. It also became obvious that the teachers in this sample held very traditional and teacher-centred beliefs when it came to chemistry teaching at the secondary level. Their teaching attitudes were geared mainly towards the acquisition of facts by pupils, and often ignored the development of process-oriented skills. Implications for science teacher education are discussed.     

Developing different identity trajectories: lessons from the Chinese teachers

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate how three Chinese teachers developed their teacher identities in a reform context. Drawing upon data from a larger social historical study, the work-life narratives of the three teachers at different stages of their careers were used as case studies to showcase three types of teacher identity development trajectories, namely, learning to be both professional educator and subject teaching expert，learning to be subject teaching expert, and navigating to balance between educator and subject teacher. This study also investigated the factors that influence identity development trajectories of teachers and develops a conceptual framework for understanding teacher identity development in China. The framework shows that Chinese teachers’ exertion of their individual agency is embedded in the institutional context. Meanwhile, interpersonal relationships can work as a buffer to alleviate the tension between the institution and individual teachers. The study also shows the ways in which Chinese teachers’ exert their agency when developing their identities. The findings have significant implications for teacher education in terms of how to develop positive teacher identity over the course of a teacher’s career.     

Investigation of chemistry graduate teaching assistants' teacher knowledge and teacher identity

Graduate students play an integral role in undergraduate chemistry education at doctoral granting institutions where they routinely serve as instructors of laboratories and supplementary discussion sessions. Simultaneously, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) balance major research and academic responsibilities. Although GTAs have substantial instructional facetime with large numbers of undergraduate students, little is known about their conceptions of teaching or their identities as teachers. To investigate the knowledge that GTAs have regarding teaching in this unique context, their teaching identities, and how these developed, we conducted 22 interviews with graduate students from several universities at various levels in their graduate school career using a modified Teacher Beliefs Interview. Interviews were analyzed for two overarching teacher learning constructs: teacher knowledge and teacher identity. We characterized chemistry GTAs' teacher knowledge and identity and determined major influencing factors. We found that chemistry GTAs often identified as a tutor or lab manager, which hindered their self-investment in developing as teachers. The results presented herein contribute to an understanding of GTAs' teacher knowledge, teacher identity, and their teaching context, from which training can be designed to best support GTA development.     

Beliefs about learning and enacted instructional practices: An investigation in postsecondary chemistry education

While research on and development of evidence‐based instructional practices (EBIPs) in STEM education has flourished, implementation of these practices classrooms has not been as prolific. Using the teacher‐centered systemic reform model as a framework, we explore the connection between chemistry instructors’ beliefs about teaching and learning and self‐efficacy beliefs, and their enacted classroom practices. Postsecondary chemistry faculty present a unique population for the study because of their role in teaching prerequisite courses, such as general and organic chemistry, which are key to many science major fields. A measure of teacher beliefs and self‐efficacy was administered to a national survey of postsecondary chemistry faculty members. Instructional practices used in a chemistry course were also collected via self‐report. While instructional practices were not directly observed, a cluster analysis of our data mirrors patterns of instructional practices found in observation‐based studies of chemistry faculty. Significant differences are found on teacher thinking and self‐efficacy measures based on enacted instructional practices. Results support the hypothesized connection between beliefs and instructional practice on a larger scale than in previous studies of this relationship, bolstering the evidence for the importance of this relationship over previously criticized results. These results present a call for reform efforts on fostering change from its core, that is, the beliefs of those who ultimately adopt EBIPs. Dissemination and design should incorporate training and materials that highlight the process by which faculty members interpret reformed practices within their belief system, and explore belief change in the complex context of education reform.     

Teacher beliefs and the mediation of curriculum innovation in Scotland: A socio‐cultural perspective on professional development and change

The purpose of this study was to investigate socio‐cultural factors underpinning curriculum change by examining teacher beliefs in the context of professional development. Scottish teachers in the study were participating in policy implementation based on formative assessment. Teachers were selected who were positive about the formative assessment initiative, so as to examine the inter‐relationships amongst beliefs, policy, and practices when teachers intended to implement curriculum innovation. The aims of the study were to investigate: (a) the nature of teachers’ beliefs about teaching, learning, and the professional development programme; (b) how those beliefs influenced the teachers’ mediation of reform policy in their own classrooms; and (c) points of resonance or tension between teacher’s beliefs and the council’s philosophy towards and management of policy implementation. A qualitative interpretive cross‐case study approach was used with five participant teachers from different secondary subject areas. Results suggested that the unique stance of district administrators to give teachers the opportunity to create their own reform methods, a ‘bottom up’ mode of implementation, appeared to be a significant factor in promoting the reform policy.     

Beliefs systems and classroom practices: Identified typologies of elementary school teachers from the United States

In a mixed-methods study, the authors investigate teacher typologies of elementary teachers (N = 132) in the United States based on their reformed science teaching beliefs. Additionally, the identified teacher typologies were compared with respect to their science content knowledge, self-efficacy and epistemic beliefs. Results revealed three clusters of teachers with different combinations of teaching beliefs and practices. Comparative analysis indicated significant differences among teacher typologies with respect to their epistemic beliefs and teaching efficacy beliefs. Additionally, interview results enhanced the depth of understanding of participants' views for reformed science teaching and further highlighted differences in the typologies. Study implications are considered with regard to improving teacher quality and preservice teacher training.     

Special education and subject teachers’ self‐perceived readiness to teach mathematics to low‐performing middle school students

Educational reforms during the last decade have led to a more inclusive environment for students with different needs and have placed demands on teachers’ readiness to instruct diverse students in the general classroom. Previous research has ascertained that student achievement is correlated with teacher quality and teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Today, basic competence in mathematics is more important than ever for managing routine day‐to‐day activities and therefore, identifying and educationally supporting students with low performance in mathematics is necessary. The aim of the study was to investigate the perceived teacher efficacy beliefs of special education and mathematics teachers when teaching mathematics to low‐performing middle school students. Results indicated that special education teachers had higher teacher efficacy beliefs than mathematics teachers. Teacher experience, certification or gender had no effect on teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, subject teachers reported high pedagogical knowledge for teaching low‐performing students, and special education teachers reported having moderate mathematical subject knowledge.     

‘I’m teaching,but I’m not really a teacher’. Teaching assistants and the construction of professional identities in Hong Kong schools

Background: In the past decade, educational settings worldwide have experienced a significant increase in the number of school-based teaching assistants (TAs). The deployment of these TAs has been accompanied by reports of confusion and uncertainty about their roles and responsibilities within schools. While the need to reframe the role and purpose of TAs is recognised, it remains unclear how this can be best achieved.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore the ways in which one group of TAs deployed in Hong Kong schools construct their professional identities, to understand the constraints and enablements to these processes, and to consider how different stakeholders might be able to best support this identity work.

Sample: The primary participants in this study are nine English language teacher assistants employed at different schools across Hong Kong. Other participants include full-time English language teachers who have experience of working with one of these TAs, as well as students who attend English language classes in which these TAs participate.

Design and methods: A qualitative multiple case study approach is adopted. In-depth interviews with TAs, teachers and students are used to gain a contextualised interpretation of the primary participants’ experiences of constructing professional identities within schools. A multilevel, multidimensional theoretical framework, which considers identity construction as both a discursive and experiential accomplishment, is then used to understand the constraints and enablements TAs experience in constructing these identities.

Findings: Results indicate that TAs face challenges in constructing their professional identities at institutional, interpersonal and intrapersonal levels within Hong Kong schools. In addition, the TAs believe that exercising agency to contest their positionings within schools is often insufficient to place them on a trajectory towards become a teacher. The results also suggest that the identity conflicts TAs experience can lead some to question their decision to pursue a teaching career.

Conclusions: These results imply that in order to attract and retain TAs, educational authorities need to, first, problematise identity positions such as ‘TA’ and ‘teacher’ and then reconceptualise these identities in ways that allow for a multiplication of the identity positions potentially available to all stakeholders involved in teaching within Hong Kong schools.     

Pre-service and in-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning chemistry in Turkey

This paper describes beliefs held about teaching and learning chemistry by Turkish teachers and student-teachers. The study investigated different aspects of pre-service and in-service teachers’ belief structures. Part of the study examined teachers’ overall beliefs, based on participants’ drawings of classroom situations. A qualitative evaluation was employed to offer information on (student-)teachers’ beliefs about classroom organisation, their beliefs about teaching objectives, and their stance on epistemological beliefs. Beliefs ranged from very traditional, teacher-centred ideas to modern, student-centred ones. Data evaluation was triangulated using a quantitative approach, which focused on whether beliefs were characterised by either teacher-centredness or learner-centredness. Additionally, a Likert questionnaire was used to evaluate the educators` beliefs about the nature of good education. The results for the group of participants are presented and compared. Implications for chemistry teacher education in Turkey will also be addressed.     

Ambivalent attitudes about teaching children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Drawing on attitude theories from social psychology, we conducted a survey of Australian pre-service (n = 327) and in-service (n = 127) teachers’ attitudes about teaching children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This paper reports a content analysis of beliefs, affect and behaviours towards teaching children with ADHD and quantitative analyses pertaining to attitudinal ambivalence – that is, where a teacher may simultaneously report negative and positive evaluations of teaching children with ADHD. While on average, overall or global attitudes were mildly positive for both cohorts, considerable ambivalence about teaching children with ADHD was commonly experienced. Participants reported ambivalent beliefs, affect and behaviours, as well as ambivalence between these attitude components. Paradoxically, participants who knew more about ADHD and held stronger positive global attitudes about teaching children with ADHD reported less ambivalent behaviours towards these children, but reported more ambivalent beliefs. The implications for teachers’ professional development and training are discussed.     

Changes of Chinese exchange teacher candidates’ professional beliefs in the ‘reciprocal learning in teacher education and school education between Canada and China’ project

ABSTRACT

This article is based on the empirical research involving Chinese exchange teacher candidates from Southwest University in China who participated in the Reciprocal Learning in Teacher Education and School Education between Canada and China (RLTESECC) project and studied at the University of Windsor. These teachers conducted classroom observation in Canadian schools from 2010 to 2016. The research study explores changes in Chinese teacher candidates’ beliefs about their professional life, which was promoted by the project, inspired by the Teachers’ Change Model proposed by F. A. J. Korthagen and based on the concept of Reciprocal Learning as collaborative partnerships between and among cultures. A two-stage research design was guided by the Grounded Theory approach (Charmaz, 2006). The findings reveal that the reciprocal learning project created an environment, which was conducive to exchange teacher candidates’ professional development and especially introduced new perspectives to teachers’ understanding of their profession in four areas: 1) teaching, 2) learning, 3) researching and academic writing and 4) professional social life.     

The impact of physics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and motivation on students’ achievement and interest

This paper examines students’ achievement and interest and the extent to which they are predicted by teacher knowledge and motivation. Student achievement and interest are both considered desirable outcomes of school instruction. Teacher pedagogical content knowledge has been identified a major predictor of student achievement in previous research, whereas teacher motivation is considered a decisive factor influencing students’ interest. So far, however, most research either focused on knowledge or motivation (both on the students’ as well as the teachers’ side), rarely investigating them together or examining the instructional mechanisms through which the supposed effects of teacher knowledge and motivation are facilitated. In the present study, N = 77 physics teachers and their classes in Germany and Switzerland are investigated utilizing a multi‐method approach in combining data obtained from test‐instruments (teacher pedagogical content knowledge, student achievement) and questionnaires (teacher motivation, student interest, student perceived enthusiastic teaching) as well as videotaped instruction (cognitive activation rated by observers). Multi‐level structural equation modeling was used to support the assumptions that teacher pedagogical content knowledge positively predicted students’ achievement; the effect was mediated by cognitive activation. Teachers’ motivation predicted students’ interest which was mediated by enthusiastic teaching as perceived by students. Neither did teacher pedagogical content knowledge predict students’ interest, nor teacher motivation students’ achievement. This implies that in order to improve students’ cognitive as well as affective outcomes, both teachers’ knowledge but also their motivation need to be considered. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54:586–614, 2017     

Undergraduates' attitudes and beliefs about subject matter and pedagogy measured periodically in a reform‐based mathematics and science teacher preparation program

This study describes the design and use of a valid and reliable instrument to measure teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science and the teaching of those subjects. The instrument, Attitudes and Beliefs about the Nature of and the Teaching of Mathematics and Science, was developed for the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP), a statewide, standards‐based project in the National Science Foundation's Collaborative in Excellence in Teaching Preparation (CETP) Program. We report on two applications of the instrument: (a) a contrast between MCTP teacher candidates' and non‐MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science as they initially encountered reform‐based instruction in their undergraduate courses, and (b) a landscaping of how the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes toward and beliefs about mathematics and science evolved over a 2.5‐year period. In support of current reform in science and mathematics teacher education, we determined that over an extended period the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs moved substantively and significantly in the direction intended. However, we also found that the non‐MCTP teacher candidates in the same reform‐based courses did not mirror this improvement in their attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science or the teaching of those subjects. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 713–737, 2002     

Science teachers' beliefs about curriculum design

Teacher beliefs about curriculum design affect the quality of science education in schools, but science researchers know little about the interrelation of beliefs about alternative curriculum designs. This article describes a quantitative study of secondary science teachers' beliefs about curriculum design. A 33-item Science Curriculum Orientation Inventory (SCOI) was developed to measure five distinct orientations to curriculum: academic, cognitive processes, societycentred, humanistic, and technological. Data were collected from 810 integrated science, chemistry, physics, and biology teachers in Hong Kong. A confirmatory factor analysis of teacher responses to the SCOI indicated that science teachers' beliefs about curriculum design had a hierarchical structure; the five distinct curriculum orientations were positively correlated, forming a second-order curriculum, meta-orientation. Physics teachers were less society-oriented than biology, integrated science and chemistry teachers, and integrated science teachers were more humanistic than physics teachers. Although science teachers' beliefs about any of the five alternative curriculum designs did not vary with their teaching experience, the difference between beliefs about the cognitive processes orientation and the humanistic orientation increased when teachers had gained more teaching experience. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Identifying Canadian teacher candidates' needs for training in the use of inclusive classroom assessment

To identify teacher candidates' needs for training in inclusive classroom assessment, the present study investigated teacher candidates' beliefs about inclusive classroom assessments for all students educated in regular classrooms, including those with special needs and English language learners. An innovative theoretical assessment model, consisting of four concepts of assessment for, as, of learning as well as accommodations and modifications, was built to compare with questionnaire responses from a group of Canadian teacher candidates (n?=?295). Our data yielded five factors: (1) beliefs about accommodations and modifications for students with diverse needs (ACC), (2) assessment of learning, (3) assessment as learning, (4) misconceptions of inclusive assessment, and (5) negative beliefs about assessment for learning (NAFL). Contrary to expectations, assessment concepts are not fully interrelated with each other in teacher candidates' belief systems. In addition, participating teacher candidates may have some misconceptions about inclusive assessments given that they possessed positive beliefs towards them. The implications for teacher education programmes and professional development were also discussed in this study.     

How do you get pre-service teachers to become ‘good at ICT’ in their subject teaching? The views of expert practitioners

The paper reports on a particular strand of the outcomes of the English contribution to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development comparative study, ICT in Initial Teacher Training, which aimed to develop insights into how courses of initial teacher training prepare student teachers to use information and communications technology (ICT) effectively in their teaching. The paper extracts from the broader dataset the views of practitioners who were identified as being particularly ‘expert’ in their use of ICT, on what strategies and interventions are most helpful in developing teachers who are able to use ICT to enhance learning in their subject teaching, and also what it means ‘to be good at ICT’ as a subject teacher. Although some findings confirm research elsewhere on the importance of Technological and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) frameworks, other aspects of the study question some of the assumptions which have been made about teacher induction in this field in England, which may have implications for the training of pre-service teachers in other countries.