The influence of teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning on their technology acceptance

Prior research has attempted to incorporate different personal variables within extant theories of technology acceptance models (TAMs). This study further extends TAM by incorporating teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning (CoTL) in two forms: constructivist and traditional conceptions. The moderating effects of teachers’ demographic variables including age, gender, teaching experience, teaching level, and technology experience were tested. Our findings demonstrated that incorporating CoTL could provide a richer and more nuanced understanding of technology acceptance, although no moderating effects on any demographic variables were found.     

Pre-service teachers’ cultural and teaching experiences abroad

This study investigates Turkish pre-service teachers’ experiences related to a two-month international teaching and cultural experience in the United States of America. In total, 289 graduate students from Turkey participated in a collaborative project from 2001 to 2010. The experience included an orientation week, six weeks of student teaching in a high school, seminars and projects at Iowa State University and cultural visits. The data were collected through a pre-service teacher questionnaire and their reflective journals. The results showed that pre-service teachers perceived the international teaching experience helped them develop professionally and personally. Through cross-cultural exchanges with their mentors along with other students and their community, the pre-service teachers expanded their knowledge of a new culture and adapted to a new working environment.     

Trainee teachers’ experiences of teaching practicum: Issues,challenges, and new possibilities

Abstract

This paper focuses on a qualitative case study concerned with teaching practicum as a pivotal component of teacher education in Malawi. It addresses some of the issues and concerns associated with workload, ill-defined mentoring support, and implementation of certain pedagogical orientations during teaching practicum placement. Purposive sampling was used to select participants. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that trainee teachers undergo varied and often challenging experiences during teaching practicum. To counter some of the concerns, suggestions are made to improve certain aspects of teaching practicum. There is need for authentic school – college partnerships, improved structures of school-based professional support, and a deeper awareness of the complexity of learner-centred pedagogy. It is imperative that teacher educators engage with these findings to further improve the design of teaching practicum and the overall quality of teacher education and teaching in Malawi.     

The influence of teaching experience and professional development on Greek teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion

On the assumption that the successful implementation of any inclusive policy is largely dependent on educators being positive about it, a survey was undertaken into the attitudes of Greek teachers to inclusion. The 155 respondents were general education primary teachers drawn from one region of Northern Greece, with a proportion deliberately selected from schools identified as actively implementing inclusive programmes. The analysis revealed positive attitudes towards the general concept of inclusion but variable views on the difficulty of accommodating different types of disabilities in mainstream classrooms. Teachers who had been actively involved in teaching pupils with SEN held significantly more positive attitudes than their counterparts with little or no such experience. The analysis also demonstrated the importance of substantive long‐term training in the formation of positive teacher attitudes towards inclusion. The paper concludes with recommendations for developing critical professional development courses that can result in attitudinal change and the formulation of genuinely inclusive practices.     

Student teachers’ emotional teaching experiences in relation to different teaching methods

The role of emotional experiences in teacher training is acknowledged, but the role of emotions during first experiences of classroom teaching has not been examined in large samples. This study examines the teaching methods used by student teachers in early teaching practice and the relationship between these methods and emotions experienced. We modified the Academic Emotions Questionnaire for the assessment of emotions and used an abridged version of the Instructional Approaches Questionnaire for the assessment of teaching methods. The results indicate that good preparation and a willingness to use constructivist pupil-oriented methods reduce student teachers’ negative experiences and promote learning about teaching.     

Mathematics teaching life histories in the study of teachers’ perceptions of change

The aim of this paper is to discuss teachers’ perceptions of change in their thought and/or practice over time and their perceptions of what kind of experiences or challenges might have influenced those changes. Two mathematics teaching life histories of Brazilian teachers are examined, considering a context of curriculum development in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Reflection on teachers’ thought and practice and interest in their own development, including interest in their own learning of mathematics, seemed to be the most important internal aspects influencing change and development. Close support seemed to be the most important external aspect. The retrospective analysis put a good face on personal change and development.     

Self‐regulated pupils in teaching: teachers’ experiences

This article outlines in a theoretical and practical way the concepts of self‐regulated learning, learning strategies and metacognition by looking at concrete examples in the classroom. The teachers presented in the article were taking part in a research and development (R&D) work project in which they were cooperating both with each other and a researcher who was facilitating their way through the development processes. The article focuses on how the teachers introduced learning strategies, how the strategies were adapted to the pupils, how the strategies were connected to various tasks and what the use of strategies means for the pupils’ learning in the studied context. The overall aim of the article is to illuminate how the teachers experienced the pupils’ use of strategies in their learning work. Findings from the study indicate that teachers have to adapt the introduction and use of strategies to the pupils’ development levels and that pupils from 13 to 16 years of age need help from their teachers, both in learning and in controlling their own learning processes.     

The Relationship between Understanding of the Nature of Science and Practice: The influence of teachers’ beliefs about education,teaching and learning

This paper reports the relationship between four English primary teachers’ understanding of the nature of science and their practice. Action research was included as a major part of the research design in order to explore the dialectical interplay between various factors at work in the teachers’ practice. The influences of both tacit and espoused understandings of the nature of science were considered alongside the teachers’ beliefs about education, teaching, and learning. These beliefs were found to be the determining factor in the teachers’ decisions about classroom strategies. In arguing for a dialectical perspective on teachers’ practice, the research suggests that teachers’ espoused understanding of the nature of science may also be at least partially formed by the influence of these beliefs, raising the possibility that influence may run from teaching to theoretical understanding and not the other way round.     

Pre-service teachers’ experiences of ICT in daily life and in educational contexts and their proto-technological pedagogical knowledge

Many pre-service teachers are members of the net generation and are expected to be familiar with different ICTs, yet several studies have indicated that they are not necessarily able to use them for teaching and learning. The notion of teachers’ technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) is central to this concern. In this study we use the responses of 146 pre-service teachers to open-ended questions about the experiences and knowledge of ICT and pedagogy they brought with them when they entered university teacher training. The data were analysed qualitatively with content analysis based on an integrative framework generated from a number of theoretical perspectives. Derived categories and subcategories were used to construct a framework for ‘proto-TPK’ as a basis for establishing a starting point for the coordinated development of TPK with students in their university training and early careers.     

Microteaching and pre-service teachers’ sense of self-efficacy in teaching

This study examined the effect of microteaching on pre-service teachers’ sense of self-efficacy in teaching using a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design. The sample of the study consisted of 70 pre-service teachers on a special education teacher preparation programme. The pre-service teachers in the experimental group were exposed to microteaching training for one semester. The Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale was administered to all pre-service teachers as a pre-test at the beginning and as a post-test at the end of the semester. The results revealed that the pre-service teachers in the experimental group showed statistically significant greater progress in terms of sense of self-efficacy in teaching than those in the control group. In addition, the results highlighted that microteaching had a positive impact on developing pre-service teachers’ sense of self-efficacy in teaching.     

Does undergraduate education influence teachers’ perceptions of learning and teaching? The case of the Republic of Slovenia

In the first part of the paper, different models of teacher education are presented and analysed: the pre‐technocratic model or the model of training master craftsmen; the technocratic model or the model of applied science; and the post‐technocratic model or the reflexive model. In the second part of the paper, the results of the empirical research are presented. The aim of the empirical research was to determine the influence of undergraduate teacher education on teachers’ perceptions of learning and teaching and, consequently, on teachers’ actions. In Slovenia, teachers’ education was carried out following two main models: the pre‐technocratic model or model of training master craftsmen, which was typical for the Academy of Education, and the technocratic model or the so‐called model of applied science, which is used at the education faculties nowadays. Because of this dualism in teachers’ education models, there exist differences between teachers and their perception and actions as well.     

The relationship between engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning and students’ course experiences

While there has been a good deal of discussion about the scholarship of teaching and learning, and models have been developed to understand its scope, the effects on students’ learning of academics engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning are unclear. In the context of initiatives to develop the scholarship of teaching and learning in a large research‐intensive university in Australia, this paper discusses the relationship between faculty performance on a set of scholarly accomplishments in relation to teaching and learning from 2002 to 2004, and changes in students’ course experiences from 2001 to 2005. The paper provides evidence of the relationship between the scholarship of teaching and learning and students’ course experiences and demonstrates the effectiveness of institutional strategies to encourage the scholarship of teaching and learning.     

The influence of video clubs on teachers’ thinking and practice

This article examines a model of professional development called “video clubs” in which teachers watch and discuss excerpts of videos from their classrooms. We investigate how participation in a video club influences teachers’ thinking and practice by exploring three related contexts: (a) teachers’ comments during video-club meetings, (b) teachers’ self-reports of the effects of the video club, and (c) teachers’ instruction across the year. Data analysis revealed changes in all three contexts. In the video-club meetings, teachers paid increased attention to student mathematical thinking over the course of the year. In interviews, teachers reported having learned about students’ mathematical thinking, about the importance of attending to student ideas during instruction, and about their school’s mathematics curriculum. Finally, shifts were also uncovered in the teachers’ instruction. By the end of the year, teachers increasingly made space for student thinking to emerge in the classroom, probed students’ underlying understandings, and learned from their students while teaching.     

Institutional traditions in teachers’ manners of teaching

The aim of this article is to make a close case study of one teacher’s teaching in relation to established traditions within science education in Sweden. The teacher’s manner of teaching is analysed with the help of an epistemological move analysis. The moves made by the teacher are then compared in a context of educational philosophy and selective tradition. In the analyses the focus is to study the process of teaching and learning in action in institutionalised and socially shared practices. The empirical material consists of video recordings of four lessons with the same group of students and the same teacher. The students are all in Year 7 in a Swedish 9-year compulsory school. During these lessons the students work with a subject area called “Properties of materials”. The results show that the teacher makes a number of different moves with regard to how to proceed and come to a conclusion about what the substances are. Many of these moves are special in that they indicate that the students need to be able to handle the procedural level of school science. These moves do not deal directly with the knowledge production process, but with methodological aspects. The function of the moves turns the students’ attention from one source of knowledge to another. The moves are aimed at helping the students to help themselves, since it is through their own activity and their own thinking that learning takes place. This is characteristic in the teacher’s manner of teaching. When compared in a context of educational philosophy, this manner of teaching has similarities with progressentialism; a mixture of essentialism and progressivism. This educational philosophy is a central aspect of what is called the academic tradition—a selective tradition common in science education in Sweden between 1960 and 1990.     

University students’ and teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning in the biosciences

In this study we compare university teachers’ and first-year students’ conceptions of teaching and learning at the Faculty of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The conceptions were analysed using data from open-ended questionnaires. The results showed that at the beginning of studies the gap between teachers’ and students’ conceptions of teaching and learning is substantial. This finding has important implications for the educational process. In order to enhance successful studying from the beginning of students’ university careers, it is important for teachers to become aware of the differences between students’ and teachers’ conceptions of learning.     

The influence of motivation and adaptation on students’ subjective well-being,meaning in life and academic performance

High rates of mental illness among students and discontinuation with university studies are regularly reported. The current study sought to explore relationships between motivation, university adaptation and indicators of mental health and well-being and academic performance of 184 first-year university students (73% female, mean age?=?19.3 years). As expected, intrinsic motivation was associated with greater subjective well-being, meaning in life and academic performance. Extrinsic motivations showed few relationships to outcome variables, while amotivation was consistently associated with poor outcomes. Hierarchical regression revealed that after accounting for adjustment, motivational orientations provided a small, though significant, contribution to the prediction of outcomes. These results are discussed in relation to Self-Determination Theory, the eudaimonic/hedonic dichotomy and implications for career counselling and teaching.     

Why volunteer? The complexities of international pre-service teachers’ intercultural adjustment experiences through community service engagement

Anecdotal evidence suggests that pre-service teachers who have volunteered in schools demonstrate greater awareness of the general operational aspects of a school and, thus, are better prepared for the teaching practicum. However, there is little documented evidence about the cross-cultural challenges of international pre-service teachers volunteering in the host community. Drawing on the preliminary findings of a larger study, this paper offers a hermeneutic view of the adjustment experiences of five international pre-service teachers who have volunteered to be tutors in schools and unpaid helpers within local community centres. The findings highlight a range of cultural and personal dimensions associated with the process of pre-service teacher professional development and their intercultural engagement with members in the host society. Hence, adjustment through community service engagement is viewed as an opportunity to increase the intercultural and intracultural awareness of the international pre-service teachers.