Characteristics of teaching and students’ emotions in the classroom: Investigating differences across domains

This study investigated the relations between eight characteristics of teaching and students’ academic emotions (enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, helplessness and boredom) across four academic domains (mathematics, physics, German, and English). 121 students (50% female; 8th and 11th graders) were asked about their perceptions of teaching characteristics and their academic emotions using the experience sampling method (real-time approach) for a period of 10 school days, with intraindividual analyses conducted using a multilevel approach. Multilevel exploratory factor analysis revealed that the eight teaching characteristics (understandability, illustration, enthusiasm, fostering attention, lack of clarity, difficulty, pace, level of expectation) represented two factors, labeled supportive presentation style (e.g., comprising understandability) and excessive lesson demands (e.g., comprising difficulty). In line with our hypothesis, we found clear relations on the intraindividual level between the two factors of teaching characteristics and students’ academic emotions in the classroom (e.g., supportive presentation style positively related to students’ enjoyment and negatively related to their boredom). Further, and supporting the universality assumption of teaching characteristics/academic emotions relations, the strength of relations between the two factors of teaching characteristics and academic emotions was very similar across the four academic domains. Implications for future research and educational practice are discussed.     

The structure of teaching practices across countries: A combination of factor analysis and network analysis

Teaching practices are pivotal for student learning. Due to pedagogical traditions and national cultures, the structure of teaching practices may differ across countries. This study investigates the structure of teaching practices across 12 countries grouped into four major linguistic/cultural clusters. First, factor analysis is applied to investigate if the theoretical distinction between teacher-directed and student-centred practices is generalizable across countries. Then, network analysis is used to explore how individual classroom assessment practices relate to either teacher-directed or student-centred practices. Main findings include that: (1) teacher-directed and student-centred practices are two distinct factors across countries; (2) the overall structure and connectivity of teaching practices differs across countries, with smaller differences within linguistic/cultural clusters; and (3) assessment practices with the aim to structure and guide learning strongly relate to teacher-directed practices, whereas assessment practices with the aim to individualize instruction more relate to student-centred practices. We discuss the global patterning and implications.     

Content teaching: innovative and traditional practices

Innovative teaching is sometimes perceived as opposite of traditional teaching, since it is regarded as student-centred and takes on the form of guided construction. This distinguishing feature led to an expectation that traditional teaching practices will be replaced with innovative ones for the purpose of fostering learning. The goal of the present research is to examine this issue by taking a closer look at teaching practices within an innovative learning environment, and their implications for teachers and teacher educators. Our qualitative research was conducted in a secondary school which has implemented such a learning environment. The data analysis is based on sociolinguistic discourse analysis. The findings reveal a variety of teaching practices, which allows teachers to choose the most suitable one for a particular learning requirement. We conclude in proposing to adopt a more complex approach to teaching, and to relinquish the dichotomy between traditional and innovative teaching practices. Theoretical and practical implications of this proposal are presented in the discussion.     

Real-world connections in secondary mathematics teaching

The mathematics-education community stresses the importance of real-world connections in teaching. The extant literature suggests that in actual classrooms this practice is infrequent and cursory, but few studies have specifically examined whether, how, and why teachers connect mathematics to the real world. In this study, I surveyed 62 secondary mathematics teachers about their understanding and use of real-world connections, their purposes for making connections in teaching, and factors that support and constrain this practice. I also observed 5 teachers making real-world connections in their classrooms and I conducted follow-up interviews; these qualitative data are used to illuminate findings from the survey data. The results offer an initial portrayal of the use of real-world connections in secondary mathematics classes and raise critical issues for more targeted research, particularly in the area of teacher beliefs about how to help different kinds of students learn mathematics.

The cross-lagged associations between classroom interactions and children’s achievement behaviors

This study examined the cross-lagged associations between the quality of classroom interactions and children’s behaviors in achievement situations. The achievement behaviors in challenging test situations of 166 Finnish children from 70 classrooms were rated by trained testers in grades 1 and 2. The quality of classroom interactions in terms of emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support were observed in 25 classrooms (out of 70) in grades 1 and 2. The results of multilevel modeling showed that classroom teachers’ low emotional support predicted children’s subsequent high passive avoidance, whereas high classroom organization and instructional support predicted children’s high social dependence. Furthermore, the more children showed active task avoidance, the more emotional and instructional support and classroom organization teachers showed later on in the classroom. The findings emphasize the importance of warm and supportive classroom interactions for children’s adaptive achievement behaviors. The results also suggest that teachers adapt their classroom interactions with respect to children’s active task avoidance.     

浅谈数学教学中的情趣教学

教学作为一门主要课程伴随着众位学子,这门课程即是重点又是难点.本文针对学生在学习数学的过程中遇到的问题,提出情境设问、设疑重难点、设疑结尾、布置作业等方法来解决,以提高学生学习数学的兴趣.     

Predictors of mothers' and fathers' teaching of reading and mathematics during kindergarten and Grade 1

The aim of the present longitudinal study was to investigate factors contributing to mothers' and fathers' teaching of reading and mathematics to their children during kindergarten and Grade 1. It was assumed that mothers' and fathers' teaching during kindergarten would be influenced by their socioeconomic status and their own learning difficulties, whereas during Grade 1 by their children's academic performance. A total of 189 mothers and 165 fathers filled in questionnaires regarding their teaching of reading and mathematics twice, once in kindergarten and once in Grade 1. Children's reading and mathematics performance was also examined twice, once in kindergarten and once in Grade 1. The results showed that the lower the socioeconomic status of mothers and fathers, the more teaching of reading and mathematics they reported. Moreover, the lower the children's academic performance in reading and mathematics in the beginning of Grade 1, the more teaching by mothers and fathers reported later on. Overall, the results suggest that mothers and fathers adjust their teaching to the actual skill level of their children when their children enter primary school.     

Scaffolding learning for independence: Clarifying teacher and teaching assistant roles for children with special educational needs

Support for children with special educational needs (SEN) in inclusive classrooms, in many countries, continues to be provided by teaching assistants (TAs). Whilst they frequently take responsibility for instruction, they are rarely adequately trained and prepared. As TAs have ample opportunities for individualised and group interactions, this paper recommends scaffolding as the key theory to inform their practice. From a large dataset of interactions in mathematics and literacy lessons, episodes of TA scaffolding were selected. Using conversation analysis, three scaffolding roles emerged: 1) a support role that maintained learner engagement, on-task behaviour and motivation; 2) a repair function that focused on learning and fostered independence when children were in difficulty; and c) a heuristic role that encouraged students to use their own learning strategies. The paper concludes with implications for trainers and managers and how teachers can support TAs in implementing each role.     

体育课堂教学艺术性的研究

体育课堂教学是在一个复杂多变的动态环境中进行的。教学中的不确定性因素较多,教师的教学行为具有很大的主观能动性,这为教师实现艺术性教学创造了有利的条件。同时,体育教学中,教学行为与学习行为是同步作用的,这就要求整个过程中,各教学要素必须达到最优化的结合,从而发挥各种教学艺术的综合效益,取得最佳的教学效果。     

电子教案在课堂教学中有效运用探究

电子教案作为一种现代化的教学手段,在课堂教学中已经得到广泛的运用,但其在运用中仍然存在一些问题,有些运用的效果也不明显。鉴于此,文章从电子教案的制作和使用两方面探究了如何有效地运用电子教案,希望能够对教师在课堂教学中更好地运用电子教案有所帮助。     

Mothers’ trust toward teachers in relation to teaching practices

This study examined the extent to which mothers’ trust toward the classroom teacher of their child in first grade is related to observed teaching practices in Finland and Estonia. Sixty-six teachers (32 in Finland, 34 in Estonia) were observed using the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (ECCOM; Stipek & Byler, 2004). Mothers in Finland (n = 266) and in Estonia (n = 348) filled in questionnaires measuring their trust in their child's first grade teacher. The connection between mothers’ education, child gender, and classroom size in relation to mothers’ trust was also investigated. The results of multilevel modeling showed that mothers in both countries trusted more in teachers who were characterized by a higher level of child-centered teaching practices than teacher-directed teaching practices. Furthermore, Estonian mothers showed greater trust in more experienced teachers. The results emphasize the importance of teaching practices in promoting mothers’ trust in their child's teacher.     

Teaching practices and student engagement in early adolescence: A longitudinal study using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System

Student engagement in schoolwork is crucial for positive academic adjustment, particularly during early adolescence. We investigated how observations of teaching practices predicted change in student behavioral and emotional engagement. In the fall, we examined teacher behavior in 54 fifth and sixth grade classrooms through external observers' reports of 11 dimensions of teachers’ practices (Classroom Assessment Scoring System, CLASS). Students reported on their behavioral and emotional engagement in the fall and spring. We found quality feedback was the strongest predictor of behavioral engagement and regard for student perspective was the strongest emotional engagement. Our findings were more nuanced for what predicts behavioral engagement, as there is evidence that other teaching practices work in conjunction with quality feedback to predict behavioral engagement.     

The effect of phonics instruction on the reading comprehension of beginning readers

This study investigated whether two groups of6-year-old beginning readers taught to read by aphonics and by a ``book experience' non-phonicsapproach would differ in reading comprehension as wellas the processes of word recognition. The two groupswere matched for word recognition but despite this, thephonics taught children had higher readingcomprehension. Phonics taught children produced morecontextually appropriate errors, and in both singleword and text reading made more spoken attempts atreading unknown words. The non-phonics taught childrenhad much faster reading reaction times to familiarwords but they scored less in phoneme segmentation andnonword reading tasks. Compared with the nonphonicsgroup, the phonics group spent more time in attemptsat identifying unknown words and this included usingcontextual information, which apparently resulted inmore rehearsal of the meaning of the story text andhence better reading comprehension performance.     

高职数学教学初探

结合近几年的教学实践,从整合教学内容,运用多媒体技术,加强教学的实践性应用等环节来探讨提高高职数学教学质量的方法.     

The role of teacher instructional practices in student collaboration

Prior research on collaborative learning identifies student behaviors that significantly predict student achievement, such as giving explanations of one’s thinking. Less often studied is the role of teachers’ instructional practices in collaboration among students. This article investigates the extent to which teachers engage in practices that support students’ explanations of their thinking, and how these teacher practices might be related to the nature of explanations that students give when asked by the teacher to collaborate with each other. The teachers observed here, all of whom received specific instruction in eliciting the details of student thinking, varied significantly in the extent to which they asked students to elaborate on their suggestions. This variation corresponded to variation across classrooms in the nature and extent of student explanations during collaborative conversations and to differences in student achievement.     

文科高等数学课程分层教学的初探

本文分析了对文科高等数学教学进行分层教学的必要性,在此基础上提出了分层教学的分层方法和实施方案,以期为文科高等数学的教学提供一点参考。     

The development of reading interest and its relation to reading ability

The development of interest in reading and its relationship to reading ability was examined longitudinally in 117 children in Grades 1–3. Interest in reading was measured by eight items from the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey. Less able readers had lower interest in reading, but their development was parallel to that of more able readers. Interest in reading in Grade 1 was weakly correlated with Grade 3 reading ability, but correlations were lower for interest measured in Grades 2 and 3. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated weak and inconsistent effects of reading interest on reading ability after controlling general cognitive ability, SES, phonological awareness and naming speed. It is concluded that interest in reading has only a weak relationship to reading ability in the early elementary years, and that much of that relationship overlaps with the effects of other more powerful predictors.     

Using Dialogic Writing Assessment to Support the Development of Historical Literacy

Though discipline-specific approaches to literacy instruction can support adolescents' academic literacy and identity development, scant attention has been paid to ways of targeting such instruction to address individual student needs. Dialogic writing assessment is an approach to conducting writing conferences that foregrounds students' composing process so that teachers can assess and support that process with instructional feedback. Because such feedback is immediate, teachers can observe how students take it up. While dialogic assessment has shown promise as an approach to revealing and supporting students' writing processes in English Language Arts classrooms, it remains to be explored how this approach can support developing writers in other subject areas. This paper offers an analytic narrative account of how a high school social studies teacher used this method to support the writing process of one student, exploring what the method revealed about the challenges the student faced in writing about history, the gaps and misconceptions in their understanding of history and the intersection between the two. We discuss how certain ‘mediational moves’ the teacher employed enabled the student to compose collaboratively with the teacher, and in this collaborative composing, to capture ideas that she later used in her independent writing.     

The role of interest and text structure in professional reading

Students can be regarded as professional readers: they have to attend to, comprehend and remember the most important information in instructional texts, often about topics they are not readily interested in. Optimising such instructional texts has been the subject of much reading research. This research has shown robust effects for the influence of text structure: information highlighted by a strongly organising structure is retained better than seemingly less important information. Hidi and Baird (1986) suggest that such effects of structure are artefacts, because of the dullness of texts used in such experiments. They argue that readers mainly use interest instead of structure as their guide for attention and learning. In this article three related experiments using Dutch instructional texts are reported. Both interest and text structure were manipulated as within-item factors, and on-line as well as off-line methods were used to measure effects on the reading process and product. The outcomes show no support for the hypothesis of Hidi and Baird: students learn better from texts that are well structured, regardless of the interest of the text or its topic.