Public reflection within learning communities: an incessant type of professional development

This article is based on a study focusing on how structured learning communities can promote reflective awareness and professional development, through collaborative analysis of professional experience. As participant–observer, the researcher used recorded observations as well as individual participants’ reflective writing as data. Of importance is the fact that all seven participants argued that they developed professionally and started to dig deeper into their experiences as the five-month study progressed. They also pointed out that this type of professional development was immediately relevant to their present needs, and this was what motivated them to further engage in reflection as a tool for professional development. Aspects such as conflict and uncertainty in teacher learning, and how collaboration promotes further reflection will also be discussed.     

Enhancing communicative spaces for fieldwork education in an inland regional Australian university

The diversity of fieldwork education models and practices ranges from mandatory to voluntary, from graded to ungraded, from paid to unpaid spectrums and they vary in length from less than a week to up to one year. Colleagues who work in the same university but in different schools, faculties or campuses are often so busy working within their discipline‐specific arena that there seems to be little opportunity to learn from and collaborate with other disciplines about fieldwork education programs. This paper provides a report on a project that trialled and evaluated an online debate with university staff about fieldwork education issues. The aims were to establish a sustainable university‐wide fieldwork education discourse, to break down profession‐specific silos, to inform the development of university‐wide fieldwork education benchmarks and to foster fieldwork education leadership through online debates. The findings demonstrate that, collectively, participants shared a wealth of experience and wisdom that remained largely untapped at a university‐wide level. Participants’ evaluation highlighted the perceived value of creating a communicative space for a fieldwork education discourse and it exposed aspects of the online environment and time constraints as its biggest barrier.     

The role of inquiry-based self-efficacy,achievement goal orientation,and learning strategies on secondary-school students’ inquiry skills

Background: In recent years, science curricula (chemistry, physics, biology, earth science, life science, etc.) in many countries have been prepared and applied according to the inquiry-based learning approach. Although the acquisition and application of the inquiry skills are one of the important objectives of the science curriculum, the inquiry skills of each student do not enhance at the same level. The inquiry level of the learning environment; the importance and value attached to the inquiry in that environment, students who have different goals when attending to the learning environments, and students who do not get involved in the learning process at the same level can be shown as the reasons of this.

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine both the direct and indirect relationships between the inquiry-based self-efficacy, the achievement goal orientation, the learning strategies, and the inquiry skills variables.

Sample: This research was conducted during the 2015-2016 school year among 498 seventh and eighth graders at public schools in Turkey’s Ayd?n province.

Design and methods: The Inquiry-based Self-Efficacy Scale, the Goal Orientation Scale, the Learning Approach Scale, and the Inquiry Skills Test were applied to the students. The analysis of data was carried out through the Multilevel Structural Equation Model (MSEM).

Results: The findings related to the first model did not provide evidence for either direct or indirect effects of the inquiry-based self-efficacy on inquiry skills, achievement goal orientation, and learning strategies. However, findings from the final models provided evidence for both direct and indirect effects of separately inquiry-based self-efficacy and the achievement goal orientation on the inquiry skills through the learning strategies.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates the potential that relations with self-efficacy, achievement goal orientation, and task value theory while improving inquiry skills.     

A double win: practice and participation in an action learning facilitators’ set

This account of practice shares insights from past and present members of a self-facilitating action learning set, where each of the members is an action learning facilitator. Motivations for joining the set encompassed the opportunity to ‘practice what you preach’ by being a set member as well as a facilitator, the potential to refine and develop facilitation practices in a safe environment and space for personal development.     

教师专业发展的路径分析与支持策略——基于教师学习的研究

教师质量是教育发展的生命线,教师学习则是提高教师质量的基本途径,开展教师学习研究对教师的专业发展具有重要意义。教师学习研究不仅要注重如何激发教师自身学习的积极性和主动性,更要高度关注和重视教师自身的专业发展问题。对教师学习的目的、内容和方法进行研究,必须立足教学反思性实践,关注教师情感需要的诉求与表达,重视对教师人格情感的关怀,通过提高教师的“情”与“行”来应对现实中出现的教师质量问题和突破教师专业发展的瓶颈,使教师成为终身学习的典范,促进教师的成长成才。     

如何支持森林学校中孩子的探究式学习

当前社会城市化进程的加快,越来越多孩子已经远离大自然,孩子在室内由于过度保护和应试压力,天性得不到释放。本文主要以广西南宁的户森校园作为研究对象,以领导力为相关理论基础,通过随机抽样进行个案描述分析探讨教师扮演的角色以及如何在户外自然环境中支持孩子的探究式学习,最后指出以询问为基础的方法切入孩子的认识边缘,可以引发孩子进行长时间的深度探索,有利于这个年龄段孩子在各方面的全面发展。     

Teacher learning： Reflective practice as a site of engagement for professional identity construction

This paper reports a qualitative study in response to the growing research interest in teacher learning. Informed by a sociocultural perspective, teacher learning is considered as a process of identity construction in the paper. This paper taps into the development of teacher identity embedded in teacher learning and views reflection as a social practice for enhancing teacher learning. Through a close analysis of a selected discussion thread, this paper aims to demonstrate that teacher-learners＇ reflective practice in the online learning community provided a site of engagement for developing their professional identity and shaping the practice of teaching in their process of learning to teach.     

单摆的研究性教学

大学教学向学生传递科学思想,培养学生科学素养.以单摆研究性教学为例,分析了单摆摆角、摆线伸长量、介质阻尼、密度等与周期的关系以及单摆的非线性等问题.通过对单摆教学内容的拓展,使学生体验发现问题、解决问题的＂研究＂过程,为将来从事科学研究奠定基础.     

Preparing teacher-students for twenty-first-century learning practices (PREP 21): a framework for enhancing collaborative problem-solving and strategic learning skills

With regard to the growing interest in developing teacher education to match the twenty-first-century skills, while many assumptions have been made, there has been less theoretical elaboration and empirical research on this topic. The aim of this article is to present our pedagogical framework for the twenty-first-century learning practices in teacher education. We will first review the current status of policy frameworks for the twenty-first-century learning skills. Based on our previous work and current understanding in the field of learning sciences, we will next elaborate the processes and strategies for collaborative problem-solving skills and strategic learning skills to specify current, rather general claims presented regarding the discussion on twenty-first-century skills. We will also provide concrete case examples facilitating strategic learning skills, collaborative problem-solving skills, and the skills to use information and communication technologies in contexts of our previous studies.     

Teacher Reflection Narratives: A poststructural approach

This study focuses on critical incident analysis in initial teacher education and the part played by the professional learning conversation. A reflection framework was used to identify changes in levels of reflective practice. Conversational skills of the supervising teacher in recognising the ‘person’ in the student teacher, and their management of the student's emotions, appear central to unlocking and increasing critical reflective practice. Dialogues that focused only on training standards, using evidence from practice to ‘sign off’ particular standards, were concerned more with the routines of teaching and less with increased and considered analysis of practice and change.     

Collaborative action research as a tool for generating formative feedback on teachers’ classroom assessment practice: the KREST project

This paper sets out to explore science teachers’ classroom assessment practices and outlines some of the tensions and synergies in changing assessment practices. It describes episodes from a collaborative action research project with science teachers designed to support the strengthening of classroom assessment practices – the King’s Researching Expertise in Science Teaching project. This paper focuses on how the collaborative action research project functioned as a tool for generating formative feedback for the teachers and how this feedback supported the teachers in making sense of and further developing their classroom assessment practices.     

论自主、合作、探究学习

新课程提倡自主、合作、探究学习。自主学习的内涵包括主动性、独立性、自控性,在实践中应处理好教师主导性和学生主体性的关系;合作学习的内涵包括交往性、互动性,在实践中应处理好合作与学习、竞争、独立的关系,教师和学生的关系;探究学习的内涵包括问题性、过程性、开放性,在实践中应处理好形和神的关系。不能把自主、合作、探究学习形式化、绝对化,要学会全面辩证地看待自主、合作、探究学习。     

Virtual Learn=ng Community as New Approach of Teacher Professional Development——Reflective Research into an eLearning Program of Intercultural Collaboration between China and UK

Among the current reform measures undertaken in Chinese K-12 education, to adopt New Curricula and to improve ICT application in teaching are both decisive, however, the lack of qualified trainers is handicapping the professional development of over 10 millions in-service teachers. One of eChina ～ UK projects in collaboration between universities from both sides is designed to develop virtual learning community （VLC） among in-service teachers and explore from pedagogic perspective how to conduct VLC. In accordance with reflective learning and collaborative learning, three online learning modules have been jointly created by Chinese and UK educational specialists, and one unit from each module has been piloted by a group of senior teachers. Through analyzing the processes of course design and pilot, supported by quantitative and qualitative research into the experiences of pilot participants, the paper identifies some core factors influencing the quality of VLC and suggests that more attention should be given to the interactive learning process within VLC rather than to create well-structured learning materials before hand. It has also analyzed VLC as a promising approach to support professional development of in-service teachers from the perspective of continuous improvement process. There is much to be researched into the approach of VLC.