Learning disciplinary literacy teaching: An examination of preservice teachers’ literacy teaching in secondary subject area classrooms

In this study, we sought to articulate observable features of literacy teaching in subject area classrooms and to explore possibilities for teacher education design focused on disciplinary literacy teaching. We analyzed video records of practice of two cohorts of secondary undergraduate teaching interns (N = 60) who were enrolled in their first semester of a three-semester university-based program. To conduct our analysis, we developed a coding scheme that reflected sociocultural theories framing inquiry and literacy as social practice. We found that interns, with support, attempted important moves related to disciplinary literacy teaching.     

The impact of direct experience on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching in inclusive classrooms

With current inclusion trends, teacher educators are challenged to redesign their programmes to prepare preservice teachers to educate a wide range of students in whole-class settings. This quantitative study examined the impact of an inclusion course and a field experience on preservice teachers' self-efficacy for teaching in inclusive classrooms. Based on data collected from 141 participants, the results indicated that both the inclusion course and the field experience produced significant gains in self-efficacy. Participants with prior experience with people with exceptional needs had significantly higher levels of self-efficacy than those without prior experience; however, both groups experienced significant gains after the course and the field experience. Also, the results showed that, during the field experience, as preservice teachers spent more time with direct, individual instruction with students with exceptional needs, and less time with observation and whole-class instruction, their self-efficacy was more likely to increase. Findings were discussed, and implications for practice and future research were suggested.     

Exploring preservice elementary teachers’ critique and adaptation of science curriculum materials in respect to socioscientific issues

The work presented here represents a preliminary effort undertaken to address the role of teachers in supporting students’ learning and decision-making about socioscientific issues (SSI) by characterizing preservice elementary teachers’ critique and adaptation of SSI-based science curriculum materials and identifying factors that serve to mediate this process. Four undergraduate preservice elementary teachers were studied over the course of one semester. Results indicate that the teachers navigated multiple learning goals, as well as their own subject-matter knowledge, informal reasoning about SSI, and role identity, in their critique and adaptation of SSI-oriented science instructional materials. Implications for science teacher education and the design of curriculum materials in respect to SSI are discussed.     

Student‐teachers’ conceptions of science,teaching and learning: a case study in preservice science education

The resort to experiment is considered to be essential for teaching physics. But it often consists of an inductivist method where students are supposed to be able to find physical laws by observing phenomena. In fact it is not as easy for the students as it is for the physicist. We propose and test another way. When studying a new phenomenon, an initial discussion is performed between students in the class. They can propose various (eventually contradictory) explanatory models. Experiments are then used to make a choice between these models. Sequences in class situation are described, with learning behaviour and results reported for pupils in French schools (grades 6 and 8, 11‐14‐year olds).     

Prospective primary teachers’ self-efficacy and emotions in science teaching

The self-efficacy of prospective primary teachers was studied, considering in particular the relationship of that construct with the emotions they expect to experience as future science teachers, differentiating between when they will be teaching the content of the ‘nature sciences’ (biology and geology) and that of the ‘hard sciences’ (physics and chemistry). The study instrument was a questionnaire completed by 188 prospective primary school teachers in their initial education at the University of Extremadura during the academic year 2009/2010. The results showed them to mostly have positive emotions towards nature sciences and negative towards the hard sciences. While their beliefs concerning their self-efficacy are significantly related to their emotions about their future teaching of the hard sciences, high self-efficacy was significantly correlated with more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions towards physics and chemistry.     

The pedagogy of argumentation in science education: science teachers’ instructional practices

ABSTRACT

Argumentation has been a prominent concern in science education research and a common goal in science curriculum in many countries over the past decade. With reference to this goal, policy documents burden responsibilities on science teachers, such as involving students in dialogues and being guides in students’ spoken or written argumentation. Consequently, teachers’ pedagogical practices regarding argumentation gain importance due to their impact on how they incorporate this practice into their classrooms. In this study, therefore, we investigated the instructional strategies adopted by science teachers for their argumentation-based science teaching. Participants were one elementary science teacher, two chemistry teachers, and four graduate students, who have a background in science education. The study took place during a graduate course, which was aimed at developing science teachers’ theory and pedagogy of argumentation. Data sources included the participants’ video-recorded classroom practices, audio-recorded reflections, post-interviews, and participants’ written materials. The findings revealed three typologies of instructional strategies towards argumentation. They are named as Basic Instructional Strategies for Argumentation, Meta-level Instructional ?St??rategies for ?Argumentation, and Meta-strategic Instructional ?St??rategies for ?Argumentation. In conclusion, the study provided a detailed coding framework for the exploration of science teachers’ instructional practices while they are implementing argumentation-based lessons.     

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of middle school students

This report shares a study that explored the perceptions pre-service teachers have of middle school students. Participants were asked to complete the Adjective Checklist (ACL) by endorsing the words they considered most characteristic of a typical middle school student. Items most frequently endorsed indicated a predominantly negative perception (e.g. “awkward”, “confused” and “emotional”). Implications for pre-service teacher training are discussed.     

The teaching of the philosophy of science in secondary classrooms: case studies of teachers’ personal theories

This study examines teachers’ philosophies of science and describes how these philosophies influence their classroom instruction. Three science teachers with very diverse views of science were interviewed and observed in their classrooms for several months. These teachers’ philosophies were found to influence laboratory instruction, the manner in which demonstrations were used, the teaching of evolution, science‐technology‐society (STS) instruction, word usage, and instructional goals. The findings are relevant to issues in teacher education as well as the institutional environment of teaching.     

The number zero: preschool teachers’ perceptions and teaching practices: a Turkish sample

Children's intuitive understanding of numbers begins early in life, and their numbers-related knowledge influences instructors’ teaching practices. The number zero is more difficult to teach and learn than other numbers. The purpose of this study was to investigate how preschool teachers perceive the number zero and design their teaching practices for it. The participants in this case study were selected through convenience sampling. The findings indicated that the majority of the participating preschool teachers perceived the number zero as a symbol and considered children's age while developing teaching practices.     

Secondary school teachers’ perspectives on teaching about topics that bridge science and religion

The question of where to locate teaching about the relationships between science and religion has produced a long-running debate. Currently, science and religious education (RE) are statutory subjects in England and are taught in secondary schools by different teachers. This paper reports on an interview study in which 16 teachers gave their perceptions of their roles and responsibilities when teaching topics that bridge science and religion and the extent to which they collaborated with teachers in the other subject areas. We found that in this sample, teachers reported very little collaboration between the curriculum areas. Although the science curriculum makes no mention of religion, all the science teachers said that their approaches to such topics were affected by their recognition that some pupils held religious beliefs. All the RE teachers reported struggling to ensure students know of a range of views about how science and religion relate. The paper concludes with a discussion about implications for curriculum design and teacher training.     

Turkish primary school teachers’ perceptions of school culture regarding ICT integration

The current study aimed at identifying Turkish primary school teachers’ perceptions of school culture regarding ICT integration in education. In addition, the current study was designed to investigate factors that might influence their perceptions. The participants were 1540 primary school teachers. The findings revealed that the teachers’ perceptions regarding school culture in both motivational and technical aspects were not positive. Gender, ownership of a personal computer, Internet access, professional experience, and weekly computer use seemed to play an important role in the perceived school culture regarding ICT integration in education.     

Studying the recontextualisation of science in pre-school classrooms: Drawing on Bernstein’s insights into teaching and learning practices

This paper explores pre-school pedagogic practices related to science, and argues for the relevance of sociology of education for such exploration. It also argues that this approach has a wider applicability in analysing the effects of changes in education policy on (pre)school practice. A basic characteristic of pre-school organization in many western societies for many decades has been its play-like activity. This has required teachers to structure the experiences of young children by acting upon the contexts of learning rather than the content. However, current policy initiatives and developments in a number of countries in the 1990s, including Greece, demand that teachers make systematic use of specialised content from science, mathematics and other subjects to structure pre-school curriculum activities. In order to analyse pedagogical practice in a systematic way, and to explore issues such trends in policy might raise, we have obtained data by video-recording school science activities in a nursery classroom, and have developed a tool of analysis based on Bernsteins conceptual framework. In demonstrating the usefulness of the analytical tool, we provide evidence to support developing concerns that the emerging discourse of pre-school teaching and learning of specialised content is in tension with dominant pre-school pedagogical practices, and that the contradictory demands placed upon teachers might lead to a narrowing of the view of learning in pre-school classrooms.     

Basic school teachers’ perspective to digital teaching and learning in Ghana

This study proposes a model for describing the situation of Digital Teaching and Learning (TD-TaL) in Ghanaian schools using the perspectives of basic school teachers. The Digital Teaching and Learning model was developed based on the theories of Valsiner’s Zone of Free Movement (ZFM) and Zone of Promoted Action (ZPA) and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The model proposes to look at the effects of ZFM in schools (comprising Digital environment factors and Personal attitudinal and Digital Culture factors) and ZPA (comprising Teacher Training factor) on the Teachers’ Digital Knowledge, Competence and Action ( TDKCA) factors to influence teachers in their Zone of Proximal Development. The model was tested in Ghana’s case using the survey data collected from 256 teachers from 45 schools across six districts in the Western Region of Ghana. The findings from Regression path analysis revealed that Personal and Digital Culture factors, but most of all teachers’ Digital Attitudes effected directly on Teachers’ Digital Activities they claimed to be doing, whereas from Environmental factors only Schools’ Digital Agenda was impacting Teachers’ Digital Action both directly and indirectly through Teachers’ Digital Training (ZPA). The model specifically highlighted that in observed Ghanaian schools the ZFM factors Digital Infrastructure and Digital Support to Digital Teaching did not associate with the ZPA factor Digital Teacher Training and overall to Teachers’ Digital Knowledge, Competence and Action factors.     

Tracing the development of preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs in teaching mathematics during fieldwork

This paper focuses on efficacy beliefs with respect to teaching mathematics; it aims at testing and validating an existing scale for measuring efficacy beliefs in the domain of mathematics, examining the development of preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs in mathematics during fieldwork, and identifying factors that contribute to the development of these beliefs. Exploratory factor analysis applied to longitudinal data collected through a questionnaire administered to almost 90 preservice teachers elicited a two-factor model, reflecting efficacy beliefs in mathematics instruction and classroom management. Using cluster analysis, we found four patterns in the development of preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs regarding these two factors. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews with eight participants representing these four patterns suggested that preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs were mainly informed by experimentation with teaching and interaction with mentors, tutors, peers, and pupils. Based on our findings, we draw implications for mathematics preservice teacher education and provide suggestions for future research.