Evolving through tensions: preservice teachers’ conceptions of social justice teaching

ABSTRACT

This study utilized cultural historical activity theory to explore the evolution of nine preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) conceptions of social justice teaching while enrolled in a social justice-oriented teacher education program. From three interviews conducted over one year, findings show that tensions PSTs encountered while student teaching in high-poverty schools predominantly shaped their thinking. PSTs’ conceptions of social justice teaching evolved to include navigating inequitable systems, loving students critically, and viewing social justice teaching as uniquely personal. Implications include the importance of teacher educators leveraging inevitable student-teaching tensions as learning opportunities to further PSTs’ commitment to social justice teaching.     

Preservice physical education teacher socialization through an outdoor education field experience

Outdoor education (OE) has an increased presence in physical education as it addresses the discipline’s national standards and promotes involvement lifetime physical activity. However, physical educators’ learning to teach OE is not well documented. The purpose of this study was to understand preservice physical educators’ experiences in and perspectives on an OE field experience. Participants included 13 third-year preservice physical educators (10 male, 3 female). Qualitative data were collected using focus group interviews, observations and guided reflections. Results indicated that preservice teachers (PSTs) perceived a controlling course environment that limited educational outcomes. They did, however, increase in confidence teaching OE, and applied skills learned in the teacher education program. With the exception of learning to be more adaptable, however, the PSTs did not perceive the experience as relevant to future teaching. Results are discussed within the framework of occupational socialization theory, and implications for practice are noted.     

Creating scientific dialogue through social media: exploration of Saudi pre-service science teachers

Background: This study explored how Saudi Arabian pre-service science teachers’ (PST) use of social media (SM) creates scientific dialogue.Design and method: Data were collected via (a) in-depth interviews with eight science PSTs completing their practice teaching during a field experience course (2017 academic year at a Saudi Arabia Eastern province university), (b) focus groups with 21 female science students being taught by the PSTs, and (c) an analysis of SM artifacts (i.e. PST’s students’ Tweets and Snapchat comments about their SM-based science homework).Results: Findings from content analyses indicate that the PSTs overwhelmingly perceived SM-based science teaching as providing their students with opportunities to pose critical questions, improve science learning, and engage in scientific dialogue and argumentation. Students welcomed the SM-based science learning, saying it excited them, made them want to learn science and helped with collaborative science learning. The majority (87%) of PST’s students expressed an interest in using SM to engage with science concepts. Also, findings affirmed that social media serve as mediating agents for reaching students in their learning Zone of Proximal Development; that is, SM-scaffolded science learning. The findings are considered in terms of further pre-service science teacher education and Saudi-based educational research.     

Affordances of teacher professional learning in secondary schools

It is commonly understood that teachers in secondary school should develop throughout their career in order to stay as an essential factor in student learning. Schools can offer opportunities to link teachers’ professional learning to their school practice with a positive impact on teachers’ motivation to learn and the effectiveness of their learning. In this field study, teachers, school leaders, policy-makers, educational consultants and educational scholars were asked for their perceptions of conditions for teacher learning in school and of interventions in school to enhance teacher professional learning. These conditions and interventions were understood as affordances in schools that enable and support teacher professional learning. The main affordance in school these stakeholders mentioned was an open, but critical way in which teachers share their practices, collaborate and reflect upon their teaching practice. Collaborative practices seem to stimulate many interventions of teacher professional learning in school. Two implications of this finding are discussed. First, we suggest that the maximum teaching time should be reduced, team teaching should be more implemented or classes should be scheduled in such a way that teachers can meet. Second, distributed leadership approaches match with our findings about the role of school leaders in teacher professional learning.     

Teacher Educators’ Activity Aiming to Support Inquiry Through Mathematics and Science Teacher Collaboration

This study explores teacher educators’ (TEs’) activity as they support mathematics and science teacher collaboration in co-designing and jointly implementing tasks. We view TEs’ activity through the lens of Activity Theory and expansive learning and draw evidence from data generated within the mascil project that linked mathematics and science teaching with workplace situations through inquiry-based teaching. We focus on five TEs’ actions and goals, use data from their professional development sessions with teachers and from the TEs’ interactions during their own meetings, and highlight the illuminating case of one teacher educator. We trace evidence indicating paths of actions followed by each Teacher Educator and look for indications of their professional learning. Our analysis reveals generic and content-focused actions. All TEs faced different kinds of contradictions and had difficulties handling them. In terms of professional learning, all TEs adapted their prior teacher education practices and appreciated the critical role of epistemological differences between the two disciplines.

     

教育元宇宙的应用潜力与典型场景探析

教育元宇宙的虚拟与真实、线上与线下融合特征,将极大拓展教与学的时空边界,促进教学观念与模式的变革。本研究首先从教育元宇宙的虚拟重现、虚拟仿真、虚实融合和虚实联动四个应用层次入手,分析教育元宇宙在情境化教学、个性化学习、游戏化学习和教学研训场景中的应用潜力,然后指出教育元宇宙在行业标准、信任机制和应用导向等方面面临的挑战,最后从政府部门、教育主体、行业和企业多方协同的角度,提出制定行业标准、建立管理制度和培育典型案例等推进策略。本研究从教育元宇宙的应用视角,探析其应用潜力、风险挑战及未来发展,可为我国教育元宇宙的研究与实践提供参考。     

The affordances of teacher professional learning communities: A case study of a Chinese secondary school

This study investigates the learning experiences and the trajectories of EFL teachers' professional development in Chinese secondary schools under a socio-cultural framework. The findings indicate that social and individual affordances are both essential to individual teachers’ professional development, and to the sustainable growth of the teacher learning community (TLC). The former is prerequisite to the latter, whereas the latter determines the route and pace of development. This paper also demonstrates the usefulness of activity theory in analysing the affordances of TLC, and advocates that all parties involved should understand, identify and create positive affordances for teacher professional development.     

密歇根州立大学教师教育课程述评——以初等教育专业为例

密歇根州立大学整合取向的教师教育课程,以学科教学知识为基点,强调以研究为基础的教学知识和课程知识,注重专业实习,体现了理论学习与实践反思的有机整合,同时强调高水平的学科知识标准和教育专业标准,倡导建立全纳型学习共同体,体现了专业取向与社会公正取向教师教育思想的融合。密歇根州立大学整合取向的教师教育课程理念与实践,可以为我国教师教育课程发展提供借鉴。     

当代美国教师教育课程思想的三种价值取向分析

学术取向、专业取向、社会(公正)取向共同构成了20世纪80年代以来美国教师教育课程思想的三大价值取向。专业取向教师教育课程思想以教育学科为中心,相信教育科学研究和教学知识基础的作用,在教育研究和专业评判的基础上,致力于建立专业教师队伍。学术取向教师教育课程思想以通识教育、任教科目为中心,通过教师掌握其知识结构,并把其注入教师教育课程中,完善教师的知识体系,促使教师形成良好的教育判断力。社会取向教师教育课程思想是在美国面对日益多元化的教学环境下,把教师当做转化型知识分子,赋权增能,以社会重建、改造为中心,实现教育和社会公平。三大价值取向的思想体现出了融合与多元模式的思想特征和发展趋势,构成了当代美国教师教育课程思想的基本图景。     

循证师范专业认证视域下学前教育专业本科教育实习评价标准构建研究

本研究依据我国师范专业认证标准,基于循证评估的理念,借鉴国内外相关研究,运用德尔菲法、问卷调查法、层次分析法,构建了较为科学严谨的教育实习评价标准。评价标准内容涵盖师德与理念、保教知识与能力、育人能力、自我发展能力4个一级维度,以及态度行为、师德规范、专业理念、教育情怀、生活活动、游戏活动、教育活动、激励评价、班级管理、综合育人、交流合作、反思发展12个二级维度,共计38个题项。经检验,教育实习评价标准信效度较高、权重分配合理,可用于教育实习效果评价。     

Teachers’ socio-spatial practice in innovative learning environments

ABSTRACT

Understanding the relationship between innovative learning spaces and teachers’ pedagogical and social practices is essential given the increasing investment in innovative learning spaces worldwide. This study examined the socio-spatial practices of a group of teachers at a secondary school in an innovative learning space. Interview responses from 21 teachers revealed that space and social practices co-became through the interplay of the school culture, the physical, social and curriculum structures, and individual teachers’ sense-making of the practice. The study found that the cultural and structural systems drove the initial becoming of social practices, and that the individual systems shaped the diversified nature of the becoming. The findings suggest the importance of supporting teachers’ sense-making in terms of conceptions of subject teaching, professional identity, the affordances and constraints of the space and confidence in and capacity of constructing and managing effective learning experience in the space, when effecting educational changes with space.     

Integrating the ontological,epistemological, and sociocultural aspects: a holistic view of teacher education

The three aspects of teacher change – ontological, epistemological, and sociocultural – are traditionally regarded as independent. Usually only the epistemological aspect is highlighted in formal teacher education. In this paper, I argue that a holistic and interdependent view of these aspects is needed. Thus, this paper aims to explore the process of teacher learning from a holistic perspective. Through deliberative discussions and selection, 13 ‘good’ teachers were interviewed in this study. The findings indicate that there may be a two-stage pattern (the II-VA model) that describes two different sorts of teachers. The first sort refers to those teachers who developed strong identities before beginning their teaching service and who tended to have a clearer educational vision which had a direct impact on their practices and professional development. As for the second sort, the teachers’ identities were vague in their first years of teaching, but their professional identities gradually developed within the referential community with affective and professional functions. These stages imply that we should replace ‘abstract theory’ with ‘subject reflection’ in the center of teacher education. Three kinds of reflection (theory-rationale, identity-integration and vision-accomplishment) are thus identified from a holistic view of teacher change.     

The Relationship between Pre-service Mathematics Teachers’ Focus on Student Thinking in Lesson Analysis and Lesson Planning Tasks

This study explored whether pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’) lesson analysis skills during a teacher education course in the country of Turkey were related to their skills of lesson planning. PSTs’ lesson analysis skills during fieldwork were assessed by their attention to and interpretation of student thinking and learning, and how it is influenced by the teachers’ instructional decisions. The PSTs’ lesson analysis scores were significantly and positively correlated with scores in lesson planning task focusing on student thinking. The findings contribute to the literature on whether PSTs’ lesson analysis skills may be transferred to one of the core activities of teaching.     

Transforming a Traditional Inquiry-Based Science Unit into a STEM Unit for Elementary Pre-service Teachers: A View from the Trenches

The need to prepare students with twenty-first-century skills through STEM-related teaching is strong, especially at the elementary level. However, most teacher education preparation programs do not focus on STEM education. In an attempt to provide an exemplary model of a STEM unit, we used a rapid prototyping approach to transform an inquiry-based unit on moon phases into one that integrated technology in a meaningful manner to develop technological literacy and scientific concepts for pre-service teachers (PSTs). Using qualitative case study methodology, we describe lessons learned related to the development and implementation of a STEM unit in an undergraduate elementary methods course, focusing on the impact the inquiry model had on PSTs’ perceptions of inquiry-based science instruction and how the integration of technology impacted their learning experience. Using field notes and survey data, we uncovered three overarching themes. First, we found that PSTs held absolutist beliefs and had a need for instruction on inquiry-based learning and teaching. Second, we determined that explicit examples of effective and ineffective technology use are needed to help PSTs develop an understanding of meaningful technology integration. Finally, the rapid prototyping approach resulted in a successful modification of the unit, but caused the usability of our digital instructional materials to suffer. Our findings suggest that while inquiry-based STEM units can be implemented in existing programs, creating and testing these prototypes requires significant effort to meet PSTs’ learning needs, and that iterating designs is essential to successful implementation.     

Pre-service Teachers’ Science Teaching Self-efficacy Beliefs: The Influence of a Collaborative Peer Microteaching Program

The aim of my study was to explore the nature of changes in pre-service science teachers’ (PSTs’) self-efficacy beliefs toward science teaching through a mixed-methods approach. Thirty-six participants enrolled in a science methods course that included a collaborative peer microteaching (Cope-M). Participants’ science teaching self-efficacy beliefs were measured using paired t-test procedures on Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument-B before and after the course. Additionally, structured interviews were conducted with six PSTs. After the Cope-M process, participants continued their education in two subsequent terms, spending time observing professional teaching practices and being involved in science teaching practice in a local middle school. Finally, besides administering the self-efficacy scale again, a questionnaire regarding final perceptions of science teaching and microteaching was administered. Results suggested microteaching sessions provided a supportive and rich environment to develop cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills in terms of professional teacher behaviors. Moreover, the microteaching sessions provided a supportive medium for enhancing science teaching self-efficacy beliefs.     

Educational psychology within teacher education

In a context where the role of the teacher and teacher education are undergoing considerable change, the role of educational psychology in teacher preparation is discussed within a new framework. Educational psychology is now perceived as an inherent component within teacher training and professional development, having previously been an additional course and often considered irrelevant to teaching practice. The current paper discusses the relationship between educational psychology and teacher preparation. Educational psychology's contribution to teachers' professional development is delineated through the constructs of teachers' prior beliefs about teaching, reflective practice and self‐efficacy, while its contribution to the improvement of teacher–pupil interaction is viewed through the lenses of instruction theories, social and emotional learning, special educational needs and classroom management. It is argued that through a productive dialectic dialogue between educational psychology and education, educational psychology provides the knowledge defined by its field to be utilized by teachers, whereas at the same time, teachers gain a wider reconceptualization of their practice.     

Pre-service teachers’ construction of professional identity through peer collaboration during professional experience: a case study in Australia

Much research in the area of pre-service teacher (PST) identity formation has focused on the mentoring relationship between PSTs and their supervising teachers. While this is important to identity formation, interaction with peers is another area that needs to be examined. Using Wenger’s matrix as a theoretical framework, this study aimed to explore how PSTs’ identities are formed during the process of paired placement during the professional experience. Two pairs of PSTs were followed during the four-week professional experience. Data were collected from interviews with the PSTs before, during and after the professional experience. It is clear from this case study that the identity formation of PSTs is enhanced during a paired placement on their first professional experience. This finding has implications for teacher educators who are seeking evidence of the effectiveness of paired placements on the identity formation of PSTs during professional experience.     

Prospective and Mentor Teacher Perspectives on Co-learning Events

One response to the disconnect between principle-based university methods courses and practice-oriented elementary school classrooms has been to create co-learning spaces by bringing prospective teachers (PSTs), practicing mentor teachers (MTs), and teacher educators together to explore key ideas related to teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to examine MTs’ and PSTs’ perspectives on their experiences in co-learning events designed to maximize co-construction of knowledge that might lessen the gap between theory and practice. Findings from the analysis of interviews with 16 PSTs and 22 MTs included numerous benefits of co-learning events, including opportunities for (a) MTs to learn about PSTs’ world and build relationships; (b) PSTs to learn from MTs’ practical knowledge; and (c) to foster diverse perspectives and mutually beneficial collaboration. Participants also described tensions related to positioning MTs and PSTs in collaborative roles. Implications for the design of co-learning events in teacher education are discussed.