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.     

Designing Authentic Learning Environments in Chemistry Lessons: Paving the Way in Pre-Service Teacher Education

Authenticity has recently become a popular term in science education. A study focusing on authenticity in the sense of making chemistry lessons better resemble chemistry practice is carried out at the University of Cologne in the Institute of Chemical Education, where prospective chemistry teachers are trained. In the long run an innovative module shall be developed, which challenges teacher students’ pre-conceptions about characteristics of chemistry practice and supports them in translating their conceptions into authentic learning environments. This paper presents the first part of the project in which course elements to stimulate reflection on students’ attitudes were evaluated. Moreover the students were given an opportunity for teacher students to create a practical activity for pupils in order to detect aspects in which the students need more support, for example possible ways for this transformation or more experience with inquiry-based learning.     

“Oh,I have a story”: narrative as a teacher's classroom model

This paper examines the teaching practices of one American Indian teacher in a high school literature class. It explores the teacher's use of narrative as an instructional strategy designed to convey abstract concepts through concrete experience. The narratives engage students in critical thinking and personal reflection, and provide them with the opportunity to make connections between social and historical contexts. In addition, the teacher uses stories to contrast multiple contexts with personal experiences, which reflects teaching strategies previously identified as those used by effective teachers. There is evidence that sharing ideas and concepts through story is an important way of encouraging social relations and helping students make connections between what they are learning in school and what they know of the world. Based on data analysis, this study presents a model of the teacher's use of narrative as a strategy to pose critical questions, frame a context for discussion, encourage students to reflect on personal perspectives, and introduce ideas and concepts. The model provides a visual representation of the teacher's use of narrative as a way of clarifying course content, contextualizing meaning, and reinforcing understanding.     

An interpretive examination of high school chemistry teachers' analogical explanations

This article reports an interpretive examination of four teachers' use of analogies to teach chemistry. The study describes why the teachers chose to use analogies, how the characteristics of the analogies employed varied from teacher to teacher, and from where the teachers derived their analogies. These teachers used analogies spontaneously, as well as on a planned basis, to explain abstract chemistry concepts both on a whole-class basis and for individual students who indicated a lack of understanding. The teachers appeared able to ascertain that the students required an alternative representation without overtly seeking evidence to this effect. The presented analogies, especially those that were of the simple-comparison type, appeared to have a motivational impact on the students. Several analogies were extended to map selected attributes, and these were believed by the teachers to be powerful explanatory devices. Pictorial analogies were frequently used to enhance analog familiarity, and further analog explanation was not uncommon, although the frequency with which the teachers stated the presence of analogical limitations was low. The article concludes by suggesting how science teacher education can be informed by case studies of teaching in context, in this instance of analogy-inclusive teaching by four experienced chemistry teachers.     

Teachers as mothers in the elementary classroom: negotiating the needs of self and other

In this paper, I interrogate the implicit and largely unexamined relationship between mothering and elementary teaching as they are informed by dominant notions of caring in the United States. In an environment where students were seen as not receiving adequate care at home, the teachers in this study felt a need to act as mothers in their professional lives. The consequences of such “deficit thinking” for students are well explored in the literature on teaching and learning. What has been less well explored are the consequences of this teacher‐as‐mother notion for teachers themselves. Drawing from the narratives of six women elementary school teachers, I suggest that assuming the role of mother to one's students not only devalues students' identity and experience, but limits teachers' ability to adequately care for themselves.     

Cooperative studyware development of organic chemistry module by experts,teachers, and students

Experts, teachers, and students took active part in a process of organic chemistry studyware development. A unique characteristic of this process was the active involvement of three different groups of people in the authoring process: science educators, chemistry teachers, and chemistry students studying towards an education certificate. The science educators—the experts—advised the team on new methods of presenting the subject matter in an appealing way, using 3D computerized molecular modeling. The in-service chemistry teachers contributed from their rich field experience to constructing the studyware. This mutual development helped maintain the balance between expert requirements and expectations from students on one hand, and the actual student capabilities, as perceived by teachers through constant contact with the students, on the other. Finally, the preservice teachers—the undergraduate chemistry students—were often zealous, enthusiastic, and willing to put in the extra time and effort needed to produce quality studyware, while following the guidelines of the experts and teachers. Feedback on the qualities and shortcomings of the studyware was obtained in two cycles. The first one was done while the studyware was still under development by peers, and the second by individual target students, serving as a beta-site. This double feedback helped improve the studyware, mainly by elaborating on portions that require more detail and explanation. The paper describes the process as well as representative parts of the studyware. The combination of experts, teachers, and students in the development team seems to have the potential to yield studyware that is appropriate for effective science education in general and chemistry teaching in particular.     

Education for disability equality through disabled people’s life stories and narratives: working and learning together in a school-based professional development programme for inclusion

This paper reports on the findings of an action research project that took place in a primary school in Cyprus. A professional development programme was devised with contributions from teachers involved in the research. The programme was aimed at helping teachers to map the difficulties they encounter when working with their students on disability-related issues (e.g. attitudes towards disabled children and adults, disabled people’s rights, disabled people’s views about social inequalities). Theoretical concepts from Inclusive Education and Disability Studies informed the design of a programme in which disabled people’s own views and narratives of their lives or significant life incidences (e.g. found in interviews and published work) were used to help teachers confront their preconceptions about disability issues and think of new approaches to discuss disability with their students. The findings suggest that this is a promising approach. These include teachers’ understanding of disability as a social rather than a medical issue, increased confidence in discussing disability issues with students and curriculum enrichment through the use of disabled people’s narratives. This discussion maps the process through which teachers learn and teach using disabled people’s life stories, and draws links with international research and theoretical standpoints.     

How a verbatim drama based on the lived experience of women casual academics in Australia resonated with its audience and transformed a narrative inquiry into an action research project

This article discusses how a performed drama based on a narrative inquiry into the lived experience of women casual academics in Australian universities is understood by an audience. The audience, principally comprised of casual and ongoing academics, described the drama as authentic and personally recognised many of the main scenarios and preoccupations re-presented. In particular, they identified that the drama’s re-presentation of casual academics’ feelings of insecurity, precarious collegial relationships, and a lack of belonging and voice strongly resonated with them. The presentation also provoked them to communicate their own lived experiences of academia, which constituted a second set of narrative data. Moreover, when the audience was invited to engage with and respond to performed data they became active and collaborative participants in the research project by sharing personal insights and narratives which extended the scope and depth of the initial research project. Therefore, a public re-presentation of narrative research can transform narrative inquiry research into an action research project if the researcher adjusts her/his research approach and accepts that the audience narrative response can function as a second phase of data gathering. Adjusting to the emergent generation of data in turn further democratises research processes and relationships.     

Limitations of language: developing arts‐based creative narrative in stories of teachers’ identities

This paper is based on a multidimensional study employing a heuristic methodology termed ‘creative narrative’ that combines arts‐based methods with narrative inquiry. Six female teachers’ narratives of identity are explored through artistic, visual images to illuminate if and how they story ‘unconscious’. The creative narratives, illuminated through a multi‐layered extract from one creative narrative, illustrate various ways in which the participants imputed meaning and power to tacit and non‐conscious influences which were emotionally potent but previously hidden from themselves and others and that continued to affect their professional identities. The paper argues that such unconscious or non‐conscious dimensions to teachers’ lives are crucial to the experience and exercise of professional identity and yet are largely absent from our understandings and outside the capture of narrative inquiry as it is presently conceptualized. Narrative inquiry should strive to extend its theoretical boundaries and incorporate non‐verbal arts‐based research methods in order to go beyond the limits of language and capture the meaning of lived experience in more holistic ways.     

Learning To Read Each Other: Black Female Graduate Students Share Their Experiences at a White Research I Institution

This paper uses Black Feminist Thought to explain the lived experiences of three Black female graduate students at a White Research I institution. Through mentoring from Black female professors, the students received instrumental and psychosocial support that helped them to navigate through their graduate level work. Common themes of identity, community service missions, and empowerment provides a thread that ties the student’s narratives together. We close by offering some suggestions for further research on the Black graduate experience and mentoring Black graduate students. Meca R. Williams, Denise N. Brewley, R. Judith Reed and Dorothy Y. White are affiliated with University of Georgia. Rachel T. Davis-Haley is affiliated with University of New Orleans.     

A phenomenological study of an international teaching practicum: Pre-service teachers' experiences of professional development

This article reports a research project planned and organized by the School of Educational Studies of Universiti Sains Malaysia to provide an international teaching practicum experience to six pre-service teachers for six weeks in Maldives. Using qualitative data from an open-ended questionnaire and reflective journals, the six pre-service teachers' experience of professional development during their international teaching practicum is examined, analysed and described. The findings show that the six students experienced beneficial and meaningful professional development. Some challenges and limitations of the international practicum are also highlighted. Based on this study, implications for teacher education/training of TESOL/TESL teachers are suggested.     

The effectiveness of teaching science subjects through English medium: A narrative analysis of teacher experiences and perceptions in Sri Lankan secondary schools

This article analyses four narratives told by four teachers teaching science subjects in four different public secondary schools in the district of Gampaha in Sri Lanka. Gampaha is the second most populous district in Sri Lanka, and is known for excellent results in General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) exams which school leavers sit at the end of the secondary school cycle. The teachers’ narratives focus on the policy and practice of teaching science subjects through English at secondary level, which was reintroduced in a small number of selected government schools in Sri Lanka in 2002. After using the two local languages, Sinhala and Tamil, for nearly half a century, the Sri Lankan education authorities decided to bring back the English medium to the teaching of science subjects at secondary level as a third language option. One of the policymakers’ reasons was an apparent decline in the English-language fluency of students at this level. To implement the new policy, science teachers (who had themselves been taught in Sinhala or Tamil) were asked to teach in English. More than a decade into the English-medium option, the author interviewed four of them. Their testimonies about their experiences in teaching science subjects offer valuable insights into the difficulties experienced by both teachers and students when teaching and learning in a foreign language such as English. The author’s analysis of his respondents’ statements reveals hidden realities which challenge the benefits of reintroducing English as a medium of instruction (MOI) for science subjects. Thus, the lived experiences of the teachers may help to inform language policy in education in Sri Lanka, and perhaps also in other countries.     

“I find it odd that people have to highlight other people’s differences – even when there are none”: Experiential learning and interculturality in teacher education

This article examines the role of experiential learning in developing intercultural competences in the context of teacher education in Finland. Local and foreign students studying to become teachers were asked to write five short narratives each about meaningful intercultural encounters they experienced prior to enrolling in an intercultural course. Based on these narratives, the author analyses the potential overlap between the way the students reflect on and interpret these encounters and an understanding of interculturality which concentrates on the construction of self–other and social justice. The discourse analysis of the students’ narratives shows that in most cases, important intercultural learning seems to have already taken place before these students embarked on the course. The article ends with a discussion of the importance of starting from this observation in teacher education and of providing the student teachers with theoretical tools and methods which can support them in expanding their understanding of interculturality in their job as teachers.     

Analogies in chemistry textbooks

Abstract

This study combines a critical analysis of analogies found in eight chemistry textbooks used by Australian senior high school students with the views of the textbook authors about analogies in chemistry textbooks and teaching. Sixty‐two analogies were identified which described abstract chemical concepts such as atomic structure and collision theory. A range of styles, including pictorial analogies, were identified and the analogies were found to have variant amounts of analogical mapping and analogue explanation. Analogical limitations were rarely identified. Authors contended that they were cautious about including analogies in textbooks as analogies require a flexibility not available when they are set in print. It was argued that analogy was best applied as a strategy for teachers in response to them perceiving that students had misunderstood an original explanation.     

Teaching as Lived Experience: The value of exploring the hidden and emotional side of teaching through reflective narratives

This article discusses a process of self-inquiry that took the form of a narrative journey of transformation. The process included reflective practice deepened by focusing on the lived experience of being a teacher, and as the process unfolded I sought to discover more about classroom events as lived experiences for teacher and students. The methodology involved dialogue with self in constructing narratives around the insights gained from written reflections, as well as dialogue with others within an established community of inquiry for guided reflection. Through this process, it was hoped that the insights developed would inform practice and transform experience. The study highlighted some of the emotional aspects of the experiences of teaching and learning, and considered the importance of a teacher focusing on subjective response in order to gain awareness of self in practice. The process also revealed some uncomfortable hidden aspects of experience, an awareness of which was considered important in developing more effective and ethical practice. The study identified the value for teacher and students in gaining an understanding of how individuals within a classroom event interact, and for considering how this might affect learning and teaching.     

项目体感式教学法在计算机课程实训中的应用

调查显示,在计算机课程实训中采用项目体感式教学方法是必要而且可行的.项目体感式教学法实施过程中,教师要缜密制定实训内容和教学计划,设计出可用来体感式操作的项目,并交给学生深入体验,让学生在训练中体验项目制作过程的快乐和兴趣,并适时激发学生进行讨论,增强学生思维的灵活性,同时建立畅通的反馈机制,让学生愿意把学习情况反馈给教师.     

Conceptualising a pedagogical cultural identity through the narrative construction of early career Aboriginal teachers' professional identities

This paper explores the concept ‘pedagogical cultural identity’ as one that embeds cultural knowledge and lived experience into pedagogical practice. Four narratives were constructed from fifteen in-depth interviews with early career Aboriginal teachers who completed their Aboriginal Studies teaching degree at the University of Sydney. The study found that these teachers enacted their habitus, harnessed their social and cultural capital, and mobilised their relationship building skills in the construction of their professional identity. Significantly, contextual power relations influenced the enactment of a pedagogical cultural identity, challenging assumptions of a presumed identity claim by exploring its potential and limitations.     

Teacher inquiry into formative assessment practices in remedial reading classrooms

Six remedial reading teachers in a large, rural school district participated in a form of professional development called Teaching as Intentional Learning, based on an inquiry process. Their topic of inquiry was formative assessment. Professional development comprised both direct instruction and inquiry learning in teachers’ own classrooms. This study describes the strategies they experimented with, their professional growth in formative assessment, and effects on students. All six teachers showed important professional growth, as indicated by their own reflections and also by their supervisor’s observations. In First Grade, at‐risk students assigned to these project teachers had increased reading readiness scores on one measure (DIBELS PSF) compared with at‐risk students assigned to non‐project teachers.