Epistemological framing and novice elementary teachers' approaches to learning and teaching engineering design

As engineering learning experiences increasingly begin in elementary school, elementary teacher preparation programs are an important site for the study of teacher development in engineering education. In this article, we argue that the stances that novice teachers adopt toward engineering learning and knowledge are consequential for the opportunities they create for students. We present a comparative case study examining the epistemological framing dynamics of two novice urban teachers, Ana and Ben, as they learned and taught engineering design during a four-week institute for new elementary teachers. Although the two teachers had very similar teacher preparation backgrounds, they interpreted the purposes of engineering design learning and teaching in meaningfully different ways. During her own engineering sessions, Ana took up the goal not only of meeting the needs of the client but also of making scientific sense of artifacts that might meet those needs. When facilitating students' engineering, she prioritized their building knowledge collaboratively about how things work. By contrast, when Ben worked on his own engineering, he took up the goal of delivering a product. When teaching engineering to students, he offered them constrained prototyping tasks to serve as hands-on contexts for reviewing scientific explanations. These findings call for teacher educators to support teachers' framing of engineering design as a knowledge building enterprise through explicit conversations about epistemology, apprenticeship in sense-making strategies, and tasks intentionally designed to encourage reasoning about design artifacts.     

Practical work in schools: An examination of teachers' stated aims and the influence of practical work according to students

In a state-wide questionnaire survey dealing with practical work in school science, science teachers (N = 257) in Tasmanian schools and matriculation colleges were required to respond to a validated list of 10 aims for practical work in order to establish a relative order of importance of aims according to practicing teachers. The aims were then rewritten as possible influences (as perceived by students) and the relative order of importance of influences established for the students (N = 724). The orientation of teachers and students towards the set of aims/influences of practical work were first examined separately and then compared. Teacher's aims are associated with a clear rank ordering of importance which shows little change over the whole grade range. The implications of this educational emphasis is discussed. It is argued that teachers aims are in some respects misguided or misjudged and when viewed against student perceptions there are some major mismatches. The instrument would appear to be a simple and useful way of evaluating the orientation of teachers and students towards the role of practical work in schools and raises many issues about the quality of the enterprise.     

Student teachers' prior knowledge as prerequisite to learn how to assess pupils' learning strategies

This study analyzed whether student teachers exhibit insufficient prior knowledge concerning learning strategies and whether different contexts lead to variations in activated knowledge. Furthermore, we investigated whether pieces of prior-knowledge and their structured-ness were associated with the assessment of pupils' learning strategies. In a within-subjects experiment (ABABAB design; N = 47 student teachers), questions about learning-strategy application referred to either (A) pupil-focused or (B) teacher-focused contexts. After a short training intervention, student teachers assessed strategies in pupils’ work. Different prior knowledge was elicited depending on contexts, suggesting “knowledge-in-pieces”. Prior-knowledge pieces, even if insufficient, served as a prerequisite to learn strategy assessment.     

Producing the evidence: Science teachers' initiations into practical work

The quantity, quality and fitness for purpose of much school practical work has come in for some criticism. This paper reports on questionnaire and interview studies with trainee science teachers. The study examined the reasons and justifications that teachers give for the way in which they conduct practical work. The particular focus is on counter-normative behaviour and what the behaviour indicates about the status of empirical work and the purpose of evidence in science classrooms. The questionnaire was completed by 40 trainee teachers. The analysis of the questionnaire determined the number of teachers who had produced results fraudulently either on their own initiative or had been initiated into it by experienced teachers and/or laboratory technicians. From the questionnaire we were able to select a small sample who we interviewed in order to unpack further the questionnaire responses. In discussing our data, a case for the re-evaluation of practical work in science education will be made and it will be argued that science teacher behaviour is best understood anthropologically. Possible implications for mentoring and school based training are mentioned briefly.     

Loose connections: The context of science teachers' work

This paper is based on an interview study with eighty science teachers in twelve secondary schools across Australia. The study was conducted as part of the Science Education Professional Development Project. The project's brief was to develop a national strategy for the professional development of science teachers and was commissioned by the Federal Government's Department of Employment, Education and Training. The aim of the interviews was to help define the problem that a national strategy needed to address and this paper reports on one theme that emerged from the interviews, the concept of “loose connections.” Loose connections reflects the weak sense of professional community we found among science teachers and their isolation from potentially beneficial influences on their work. The paper explores implications of loose connections for a national professional development strategy such as the need to strengthen areas of professional responsibility and links between professional development and career development.     

激励,调动教师工作积极性

研究表明:职业技术学校和基础教育的教师由于受工作压力的影响,情绪倦怠,致使教师的士气低落,影响了工作积极性。在学校的管理中,领导应通过突破激励误区、制定激励政策、运用多种激励方式满足教师的自我发展需求,从而进一步调动教师的工作积极性和主动性。     

Let's lunch and learn: Professional knowledge sharing in teachers' lounges and other congregational spaces

Teachers' lounges are often thought as places that breed negativity. This two-year ethnography conducted in the United States explored teachers' interactions within teachers' lounges and congregational spaces. This article discusses that an important occurrence in these spaces, professional knowledge sharing, took place instead of perpetual negativity which is the common perception. I present suggestions for how teacher education programs can highlight the importance of congregational spaces, while providing a more complete account of them.     

Voices from the ground: The emotional labour of English teachers' work

This paper examines the complex emotional work of English language teaching in Singapore secondary schools. Findings revealed the emotional burdens, tensions, and challenges associated with the teaching of English, largely attributed to the subject's value-laden content, the stresses of grading student essays, the performance pressures of high-stakes testing, and the need for culturally responsive pedagogies. Further studies of teachers' lived experiences in relation to their disciplinary domains can offer teacher educators and policymakers insights into the ways in which curriculum and policy impact on, and are impacted by, the emotional realities of teachers' work.     

Effects of a classroom discourse intervention on teachers' practice and students' motivation to learn mathematics and science

Student interest and motivation in STEM subjects has dropped significantly throughout secondary education, for which teacher–student interactions are named as a central reason. This study investigated whether a video-based teacher professional development (TPD) intervention on productive classroom discourse improved students' learning motivation and interest development over the course of a school year. The teachers' intervention group (IG; n = 6) was compared with a control group (CG; n = 4) who participated in a traditional TPD programme on classroom discourse. The teachers showed a significant increase in constructive feedback and decrease in simple feedback as a function of the treatment. Pre- and post-tests revealed that students in the IG (n = 136) significantly increased their perceived autonomy, competence and intrinsic learning motivation as compared with those in the CG (n = 90). They also showed significantly greater interest changes in the subjects compared with their peers in the CG.     

Contradictions of control: Lessons from exploring teachers' work in Botswana

Using the concept of teaching as a labour process, this paper explores the relationship between the work of teaching and the control of education by the state. Ethnographic data from Botswana is used to discuss emergent themes of teachers' certainties and uncertainties; staff divisions and cultures; accommodations and resistances to control; teachers as storekeepers of knowledge; and occupational rewards and addictions. The meaning and forms of ‘centralisation’ appear as important issues, and contradictions emerge in the exercise of control, with teachers able to recreate significant areas of professional and personal autonomy.     

How do teachers help children to learn? An analysis of teachers' interventions in computer-based activities

In British schools, educational software is normally used by children working under the supervision of a teacher, who will have set them specific tasks and organize them to work at the computer in pairs or groups. However, those theories of learning which have most influenced research into the design and use of educational software have been essentially concerned with individualized learning, and are insensitive to the nature of teaching and learning as a communicative, culturally-based process. The present paper discusses an alternative theoretical perspective, one derived from the work of Vygotsky. This is used in an analysis of interventions made by teachers in the computer-based activities of their pupils, using observational data gained from video-recordings of primary school classrooms. The usefulness of the theoretical perspective is evaluated, and implications for the development of computer-based activities are discussed.     

我国义务教育均衡发展40年: 回眸与反思——基于数据分析的视角

西部地区整体教育基础薄弱,教育发展任务较为艰巨。探讨西部地区教师主观幸福感的影响因素及其作用机制,对于提高教师队伍质量及稳定性、促使教师扎根西部、推动教育现代化发展具有重要意义。基于工作要求-资源模型和资源保存理论,对青海省1 623名义务教育阶段教师进行调查,建立结构方程模型探讨同侪支持对教师主观幸福感的影响机制。研究发现：同侪支持对教师主观幸福感有显著正向影响,“教师教学效能感→教师复原力”在两者之间起到链式中介作用,而教师复原力在其中发挥关键作用。同侪支持不仅直接关乎教师的主观幸福感,还可以促使教师在逆境或压力情境中更快恢复,较好地应对各种事件,全情投入教学。作为一种支持性条件,同侪支持也能使教师更加相信自己有能力达到期望的教育教学目标,内在地驱动其在复杂的教育情境中保持坚韧、乐观,对教师主观幸福感的提升起到重要促进作用。     

'I wasn't trained to work with them': mainstream teachers' attitudes to children with speech and language difficulties

Approximately one-eighth of early school-aged children in the UK have speech and language difficulties. Many such children are now being educated in mainstream settings. However, there is a dearth of up-to-date and valid research that considers UK (student) teachers' attitudes towards such children. Two hundred and sixty-eight trainee teachers (PGCE students) from Manchester were given two questionnaires, containing both closed and open questions, to measure their attitudes towards and experiences with children with speech and language difficulties. A range of attitudes was expressed and most concern was around the issues of resources (both time and knowledge based). Most teachers were positive about their expectations of such children. Attitudes were not significantly related to teachers' gender, teaching type/subject, previous knowledge of someone with speech and language difficulties or experience of children with such difficulties. Views on the educational placement for children with a range of communication difficulties varied. The authors consider that two-pronged action is needed to facilitate an improvement: a greater focus on the inclusion debate (not specifically tied to this group of children) and also additional knowledge and resources.     

幼儿园转岗教师工作困局及其破解策略

幼儿园转岗教师的出现是当前我国面对基础教育形势作出的有效应对之一,但转岗教师在转岗的过程中面临着岗位安置难适应、原有经验无处用、新工作所需专业知识技能明显不足的工作困局。理性分析其背后的原因主要有:角色定位有偏差、缺少幼儿教育专业培训、转岗机制不完善。为了加强转岗教师的专业素质,开展有效的幼儿园转岗教师培训是合理的解决策略,要做到准确了解培训需求,科学制定培训方案;严格管理培训过程,灵活调整培训流程;强化训后跟踪指导,做好训后总结反思。     

Student teachers' concerns and accomplishments on main school placements: what school mentors can learn from them

The article highlights the concerns and accomplishments of secondary school student teachers during their main attachment to schools. It also reports on the things school mentors do that student teachers find helpful and unhelpful. While the author does not make any ‘grand’ claims, he does offer a number of grounded good practice pointers that school mentors might want to engage.     

To learn and to construct knowledge in the context of work with adult education: a Portuguese case study

Work contexts are frequently referred to as spaces of learning and production of individual and/or collective knowledge. In such contexts specific dynamics are developed which cause the processes of learning and of knowledge production to have particularities. This paper aims at accounting for some dynamics that are associated with those processes, based on the main results of an ethnographic study on the adult educator team of a Portuguese local development association. The research identified ways of working/action rules based on the learning and knowledge production processes in the association. Mutual help, the reformulation and collectivization of practice, reflection in and about the action, and the negotiation of meaning about the practice are some of the mechanisms identified. The study also highlights how those dynamics of knowledge and learning and ways of doing may contribute to a practice which is closer to the needs of the adults to whom this team offers its education and training services.     

Recognition,responsibility, and risk: Pre-service teachers' framing and reframing of lesbian,gay, and bisexual social justice issues

This paper presumes teachers play crucial roles in making more just societies and teacher educators must decide how they will participate in and/or shape a global dialog about LGB rights with pre-service teachers. This paper utilizes Fraser's theory of justice to consider curricular change. It examines the values and experiences pre-service teachers bring to their university education that shape their interaction with curricula. Analysis of classroom dialog suggests that pre-service teachers have a more complex understanding of structure and transformation than their nascent language around sexuality allows them to articulate. These optimistic findings lead to proposals for transforming how we teach about sexuality.