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     

Exploring pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical capacity for formative assessment through analyses of student answers

Background: There has been an increasing emphasis on empowering pre-service and in-service science teachers to attend student reasoning and use formative assessments to guide student learning in recent years. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical capacity for formative assessment. Sample: This study took place in Turkey. The participants include 53 pre-service science teachers in their final year of schooling. All but two of the participants are female. Design and methods: We used a mixed-methods methodology in pursing this inquiry. Participants analyzed 28 responses to seven two-tiered questions given by four students of different ability levels. We explored their ability to identify the strengths and weaknesses in students’ answers. We paid particular attention to the things that the pre-service science teachers noticed in students’ explanations, the types of inferences they made about students’ conceptual understanding, and the affordances of pedagogical decisions they made. Results: The results show that the majority of participants made an evaluative judgment (i.e. the answer is correct or incorrect) in their analyses of students’ answers. Similarly, the majority of the participants recognized the type of mistake that the students made. However, they failed to successfully elaborate on fallacies, limitations, or strengths in student reasoning. We also asked the participants to make pedagogical decisions related to what needs to be done next in order to help the students to achieve academic objectives. Results show that 8% of the recommended instructional strategies were of no affordance, 64% of low-affordance, and 28% were of high affordance in terms of helping students achieve the academic objectives. Conclusion: If our goal is to improve pre-service science teachers’ noticing skills, and the affordance of feedback that they provide, engaging them in activities that asks them to attend to students’ ideas and reasoning may be useful.     

Insights into teacher learning about pedagogy from an international group of teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities

This article examines teacher professional learning about pedagogy for teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities within broader teacher education and pedagogical frameworks for this group of learners. The article presents and discusses findings from a USA–England research project, involving classroom observations and interviews with nine teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities from four specialist public school settings, intended to explore teachers’ pedagogical decision-making and learning. The theoretical lens of situated learning and the conceptual lens of evidence-based practice are used to contextualise and examine the teachers’ views about the what, how and when they learn about pedagogical approaches and strategies. Teachers emphasised the situated and interactional nature of their learning, particularly highlighting the personal responses of students and their relationship with these students. They use this knowledge and understanding to adapt evidence-based strategies and programmes and inform their pedagogical decisions. This affords the concepts of ‘situated generalization’ and ‘practice based evidence’ an influential role in how teachers engage in the process of pedagogical decision-making. An implication for teacher educators is the need to support teachers in making connections of new pedagogical understandings and skills with the individual learning profiles and responses of their students with severe intellectual disabilities.     

Who’s asking the questions in classrooms? Exploring teacher practice and student engagement in generating engaging and intellectually challenging questions

Student engagement that leads to enhanced learning outcomes involves three interdependent facets: behaviour, emotion and cognition. As such, learning activities that encourage deep learning and the intellectual challenging of minds should provide opportunities for reasoning and critical and creative thinking. An approach that resonates strongly with student engagement involves fostering student voice in the classroom, and the generation and utilization of students’ questions is one means of achieving this. Implicit in this approach is the need for both teachers and students to pose questions that engage and intellectually challenge thinking. In this pilot case study, eight volunteer teachers from one school chose to investigate their own practice by either focusing on their own questioning skills to foster student engagement in the classroom or, on how they could support their students to generate intellectually challenging questions that lead to increasing student voice, engagement and deeper learning in the classroom. Key findings were that who does the questioning is not an either-or dichotomy, and that significant pedagogical shifting requires a long-term focus. This shift is influenced by teachers’ commitment to using questioning as a pedagogical approach for enhancing student learning.     

Student‐teachers’ Use of Computers during Teaching Practice in Primary Classrooms

It is argued that teacher readiness is crucial to the realisation of national goals for educational computer use and that the preparation of student teachers can make an important contribution. This study investigated student‐teachers’ dispositions towards computers and their use of computers in primary‐school classrooms during a final‐year practicum. The student teachers generally viewed computers positively but lacked confidence in their knowledge of computers. While they were nervous about using computers in classrooms, almost two‐thirds did use a computer at least once during a four‐week practicum and were more likely to do so if the supervising teacher modelled such use. The most frequently experienced problems in using computers were organisational. Based on the findings of this study it is suggested that preservice courses should focus on the pedagogical issues associated with computer use and they should provide students with opportunities to observe and practise classroom computing.     

Inquiry-Based Whole-Class Teaching with Computer Simulations in Physics

In this study we investigated the pedagogical context of whole-class teaching with computer simulations. We examined relations between the attitudes and learning goals of teachers and their students regarding the use of simulations in whole-class teaching, and how teachers implement these simulations in their teaching practices. We observed lessons presented by 24 physics teachers in which they used computer simulations. Students completed questionnaires about the lesson, and each teacher was interviewed afterwards. These three data sources captured implementation by the teacher, and the learning goals and attitudes of students and their teachers regarding teaching with computer simulations. For each teacher, we calculated an Inquiry-Cycle-Score (ICS) based on the occurrence and order of the inquiry activities of predicting, observing and explaining during teaching, and a Student-Response-Rate (SRR) reflecting the level of active student participation. Statistical analyses revealed positive correlations between the inquiry-based character of the teaching approach and students’ attitudes regarding its contribution to their motivation and insight, a negative correlation between the SRR and the ICS, and a positive correlation between teachers’ attitudes about inquiry-based teaching with computer simulations and learning goal congruence between the teacher and his/her students. This means that active student participation is likely to be lower when the instruction more closely resembles the inquiry cycle, and that teachers with a positive attitude about inquiry-based teaching with computer simulations realize the importance of learning goal congruence.     

Student teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for teaching systems thinking: effects of different interventions

ABSTRACT

Systems’ thinking has become increasingly relevant not only in education for sustainable development but also in everyday life. Even if teachers know the dynamics and complexity of living systems in biology and geography, they might not be able to effectively explain it to students. Teachers need an understanding of systems and their behaviour (content knowledge), and they also need to know how systems thinking can be fostered in students (pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)). But the effective development of teachers’ professional knowledge in teaching systems thinking is empirically uncertain. From a larger study (SysThema) that investigated teaching systems thinking, this article reports the effects of the three different interventions (technical course, didactic course and mixed course) in student teachers’ PCK for teaching systems thinking. The results show that student teachers’ PCK for teaching systems thinking can be promoted in teacher education. The conclusion to be drawn from our findings is that a technically orientated course without didactical aspects seems to be less effective in fostering student teachers’ PCK for teaching systems thinking. The results inform educators in enhancing curricula of future academic track and non-academic track teacher education.     

Teacher Educators,Student Teachers and Biographical Influences: implications for teacher education

The importance of acknowledging the influence of biography in understanding teachers’ work is well established in recent literature. Drawing upon data arising from a study of teacher educators and their students, we consider the influence of biography on the work of teacher educators and student teachers. We draw comparisons between the ways in which they make connections with their demographic characteristics, their personal and educational histories and their understanding of their work. We evaluate the data against two major positions in the literature on biography and draw some implications for teacher education.     

Learning with and from: positioning school students as advisors in pre-service teacher education

This article reports on an innovative pedagogical approach within the Learning Partnerships program in which school students help to ‘teach the teachers’ within pre-service teacher education. Classes of school students join with classes of pre-service teachers to provide input on how teachers can enhance school students’ engagement and wellbeing. The article draws on data collected from 125 students (aged 13–16) and 120 pre-service teachers in these workshops. Findings generated from a mixed methods study combining pre-workshop focus groups (n = Students: 38, Teachers: 33) and post-workshop focus groups (n = Students: 69, Teachers: 15) and post-workshop surveys (n = Students: 96; Teachers: 101) demonstrated that the workshops were mutually beneficial for both students and pre-service teachers. Participants found that workshopping together enhanced their belief in the possibility of positive student–teacher relationships. The pre-service teachers reported greater confidence in communicating with young people about the issues that affect student engagement and wellbeing. The school students reported that they were more willing to use teachers as a source of help. Implications include the need for increased attention to a ‘third space’ for learning in teacher development which provides opportunity for learning with and from young people about how to foster their engagement and wellbeing.     

Novice mathematics teachers create themselves

This study presents a qualitative research based on three narratives written by novice mathematics teachers. We examine their unique professional world during their first year of work. The methodology of narrative framework, on which this article is based, helps to gain better understanding of the need for novice mathematics teachers to have pedagogical knowledge. Findings reveal three themes of pedagogical knowledge: the attitude of novice teachers toward students with difficulties in mathematics; parents’ expectations of and involvement with novice mathematics teachers; teacher–student relations. The implications of the findings show that novice mathematics teachers are required to have not only content knowledge of mathematics but also, and above all, pedagogical knowledge. The implications of this study enable reassessment of emphases required in training mathematics teachers, as well as the assistance and support they need, especially as they launch their careers.     

Facilitating student well-being: relationships do matter

Background: Alongside academic and vocational goals, schools are increasingly being called upon to address student well-being. Existing evidence suggests that strong relationships and a sense of connectedness in school communities are important for fostering subjective well-being. However, identifying the specific nature of such relational dynamics, and accommodating the ‘personal’ within school cultures increasingly dominated by ‘performance’ narratives, remains a problematic task.

Purpose: This paper draws on Honneth’s recognition theory to offer fresh insight into how relationships act to facilitate and limit the experience of well-being at school. We suggest that such an approach holds considerable potential for developing teachers’ understanding of the tacit and explicit ways they and their students experience being cared for, respected and valued and the ways in which such actions impact on well-being.

Design and methods: The paper reports the qualitative findings from a large mixed-method study, involving students and staff across primary and secondary schools in three regions of Australia. The qualitative phase involved focus groups with 606 primary and secondary students and individual interviews with 89 teachers and principals.

Results: Across the focus groups and interviews, students and teachers placed substantial emphasis on the importance of relationships, while reporting differences in their views about which relationships support well-being. Alongside this, there were differences in the importance teachers and students placed on each of the three strands of Honneth’s recognition theory (translated for this study as being cared for, respected and valued) for influencing student well-being.

Conclusions: The findings affirm the critical role that relationships play in promoting well-being in the context of schools. Using recognition theory to analyse students’ and teachers’ views and experiences of well-being provides much greater insight into how these relationships are enacted – this being through the mutual experience of being cared for, respected and valued – within the context of schools.     

The contribution of non-formal learning in higher education to student teachers’ professional competence

This article reports a mixed methods study on the contribution of various aspects of pre-service student teachers’ learning in initial teacher education (ITE) to their professional competence in a Five-year Bachelor of Education Programme in Hong Kong. Special attention is given to how student teachers’ non-formal learning in higher education contributes to their professional competence, an under-researched area in teacher education. A total of 282 student teachers participated in the quantitative survey, 18 of whom were interviewed. Although  Undergraduate Learning Experience: Formal Learning and Non-formal Learning was not the most highly rated factor, multiple regression indicated that it was the only ITE professional learning factor that significantly predicted all dimensions of professional competence. This supports the hypothesis that non-formal learning as a part of learning in higher education makes a significant contribution to student teachers’ professional competence. The qualitative findings showed that non-formal learning provided opportunities for service learning, co-curricular activities, and student exchange programmes with different objects of engagement. Student teachers constructed pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, and knowledge of context through hands-on experiences, professional dialogue with practitioners, and observations of others’ practice. Such knowledge contributed to their competence in classroom teaching and to work in schools. Implications for ITE are discussed.     

Crossing the boundaries of imagination: The role of a public library exhibition in global learning for student teachers and teacher educators

In this paper, we utilise the theoretical concept of ‘boundary crossing’ to explore how, as Australian university teacher educators, we worked with library curators and a class of student teachers to mount a public exhibition of their group work. We consider how the students crossed ‘boundaries of imagination’ in symbolic representation and critical analysis by creating artistic installations to express global education themes. We reflect on what we, the university educators, learned about crossing institutional and pedagogical boundaries to mutually facilitate new learning. We argue for the importance of shared public pedagogy as offering new avenues for teacher education and of connecting with local communities.     

Who is the ideal teacher? Am I? Similarity and difference in perception of students of education regarding the qualities of a good teacher and of their own qualities as teachers

This research examines two images of teachers as seen by students of education: the ideal teacher and their own self‐image as teachers. The research compares the students’ perceptions of these two images using two sub‐groups of students of education: students at an academic teachers’ college who will be referred to as student teachers and beginning teachers, who, while teaching, are completing their academic degrees at teachers’ colleges or regional academic colleges. Data were collected from 89 students at the two colleges by means of a questionnaire that included open‐ended questions which were analyzed qualitatively. The findings of the research indicate that there are two major categories that comprise perceptions of the ideal teacher: first, personal qualities; and second, knowledge of the subject taught as well as didactic knowledge. Both groups of students similarly attributed great importance to the personal qualities of the ideal teacher, but there is a difference in their perception of the importance of knowledge: the beginning teachers attributed great importance to knowledge and perceived it as a quality similar in importance to personal characteristics, while the student teachers, who had not begun their teaching careers, attributed less importance to knowledge as a characteristic of the ideal teacher. A quality which was less prominent when profiling the ideal teacher is general education and wide perspectives. The teacher as a socializing agent, a person who promotes social goals, was not mentioned at all. Students maintained that, during their studies, they had improved their qualities as ‘empathetic and attentive’ teachers, ‘knowledgeable in teaching methods’, and in ‘leadership’. But they had hardly improved their knowledge of the subject they taught or their level of general knowledge. The discussion of knowledge and the desirable personal qualities of a teacher is relevant to the current debate regarding the relative merits of disciplinary education in contrast to pedagogical education in preparation for teaching as a profession. The clear preference for disciplinary education by policy makers in Israel and elsewhere in the field of teacher education is contradictory to the emphasis placed on the personal development of future teachers and their pedagogical education by the students of education who participated in this research.     

“Bigger number means you plus!”—Teachers learning to use clinical interviews to understand students’ mathematical thinking

This paper examines the perceptions and understandings of ten grades 1 and 2 Singapore mathematics teachers as they learned to use clinical interviews (Ginsburg, Human Development 52:109–128, 2009) to understand students’ mathematical thinking. This study challenged teachers’ pedagogical assumptions about what it means to teach for student understanding. Clinical task-based interviews opened a window into students’ knowledge, problem-solving and reasoning, and helped teachers reflect on their teaching and assessment of student learning. Teachers also learnt about what it means to establish a culture of thoughtful questioning in the classroom and developed an emerging awareness that this requires a readiness to hear students’ ideas and connect informal or invented strategies with classroom mathematics.     

Videobased lesson analysis: Effective science PD for teacher and student learning

The Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) project is a videobased analysis‐of‐practice PD program aimed at improving teacher and student learning at the upper elementary level. The PD program developed and utilized two “lenses,” a Science Content Storyline Lens and a Student Thinking Lens, to help teachers analyze science teaching and learning and to improve teaching practices in this year‐long program. Participants included 48 teachers (n = 32 experimental, n = 16 control) and 1,490 students. The STeLLA program significantly improved teachers' science content knowledge and their ability to analyze science teaching. Notably, the STeLLA teachers further increased their classroom use of science teaching strategies associated with both lenses while their students increased their science content knowledge. Multi‐level HLM analyses linked higher average gains in student learning with teachers' science content knowledge, teachers' pedagogical content knowledge about student thinking, and teaching practices aimed at improving the coherence of the science content storyline. This paper highlights the importance of the science content storyline in the STeLLA program and discusses its potential significance in science teaching and professional development more broadly. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., J Res Sci Teach 48: 117–148, 2011     

Differences in pedagogical understanding among student–teachers in a four-year initial teacher education programme

As teacher educators, preparing student–teachers who are able to address diverse student needs is our main concern. It has been suggested in the literature that teachers who are adaptive to students’ needs are those who possess adequate pedagogical content knowledge or pedagogical understanding. However, it is not uncommon for teacher educators to find student–teachers with diverse pedagogical understandings even at the point of graduation from the teacher education programme. This paper aims to explain and analyse the development of pedagogical understanding among student–teachers in an initial teacher education programme. The findings are drawn from a study conducted at the Hong Kong Institute of Education where in-depth interviews were carried out during the four-year programme. The findings from the three selected cases provide an explanation for why some individual student–teachers show continuous development, whereas others remain confused in their pedagogical understanding throughout the teacher education programme. While acknowledging individual differences in pedagogical understanding, we attempt to explain such differences by investigating the relationship between different dimensions of the student–teachers’ learning such as the integration of pedagogical understanding with the teaching contexts, integration of feedback from lecturers and supporting teachers, and their focus of concern. The findings reveal that the three cases demonstrate different levels of pedagogical understanding and possess varying ‘senses of agency’. Of the three cases, the first one, Peggy has the strongest sense of agency. Despite influences related to classroom management, diverse learning ability among pupils, and the teaching methods which pupils were accustomed to previously, she actively introduced rhythmic movements into her lessons, developed pupils’ ability to learn gradually and achieved an impact on pupils’ learning which was also recognized by her supporting teacher. The analysis suggests that the second case, Lilian has a weaker sense of agency as she was severely limited by influences in the teaching context in her first teaching practice and resorted to teacher-centered teaching strategies. She improved later on in the programme and started to plan her own learning, drawing on the feedback she received as well as learning from other taught modules, from feedback from various sources, and from her pupils’ responses to her teaching and her own evaluation of her teaching. The third case, Stephanie remained confused throughout the programme and struggled with the implementation of student-centered teaching strategies. The ability to practice one’s own convictions and demonstrate an active sense of agency distinguishes the student–teacher who achieves better pedagogical understanding. Drawing on the findings, the paper concludes that it is crucial for teacher educators to identify ways to nurture a sense of agency among student–teachers. Implications for teacher education programmes are discussed, including providing opportunities for student–teachers to be able to articulate and integrate their pedagogical understandings, as well as negotiate how to accomplish their learning and teaching targets despite complex classroom situations.     

The professional stance of ethics and religious culture teachers in Québec

In September 2008, a new Ethics and Religious Culture programme was implemented in Québec’s elementary and secondary schools. One of the main pedagogical challenges of this new course has been the requirement that teachers adopt a professional stance of impartiality. Teachers must refrain from sharing their points of view, so as not to influence students as they develop their own positions. This paper deals with the requirements related to this new professional stance, namely that teachers maintain a critical distance from their own convictions and values, respect the student’s freedom of conscience and religion to avoid any indoctrination, and play the role of a cultural mediator. This new requirement has not gone over without question. For instance, some educators believe that, in the name of authenticity, it is preferable for teachers to freely express their own beliefs, thus ensuring a transparent relationship with students. For others, as teachers are in position of authority in the classroom, it is very important that students feel free to develop their own personal viewpoint on ethical and religious questions without being unduly influenced. This article examines these different issues.