First steps into understanding teachers' visual perception of classroom events

Student-teachers struggle to become competent at classroom management. To do so, Berliner (2001) and Feldon (2007) argue for the significance of speedy and accurate recognition of relevant cues for teacher action in the classroom. However, studies investigating how teachers obtain this information from the classroom are scarce. This study employed eye-tracking methodology to investigate teachers' visual perception and detection of classroom events. Results show that experienced teachers process visual information faster, and consistently check up on pupils more regularly. Also they are able to distribute their attention evenly across the classroom. Recommendations for future research and practical implications are discussed.     

Economic aspects of citizenship education: an investigation of students' understanding

In 2002 education for citizenship will become a statutory requirement in English secondary schools for the first time. Broad guidelines which have been issued to schools include some elements of economic understanding, although this aspect of citizenship has attracted little attention in public debate. Moreover, relatively little is known about students' current thinking on these aspects of citizenship. Our article addresses this gap in current knowledge through reporting results from a large-scale (over 1000 responses) survey of 15- and 17-year-old students. A draft survey was trialled in May 2000 and revised in the light of students' responses and discussion at a research seminar in July 2000. The questionnaire focuses on students' understanding of, and attitude towards, aspects of taxation, government spending, employment and inflation. These results may usefully inform planning for programmes of citizenship education and they can also provide a point of reference for subsequent evaluation of those programmes.     

The use of language in understanding subject matter

Empirical results show that frequently the meaning of expressions used by students in expressing their understanding of subject matter does not correspond to the meaning of those expressions in the subject matter theory that the students are expected to learn. There is also often a lack of identity of meaning between the same students’ use of the same expression from one use of the expression to another, in very similar contexts. The context gives a specific meaning to any expression. This variation in context and meaning is very central to the phenomena of teaching and learning. In educational research there is a need to differentiate between specific meanings expressed in conceptualizing subject matter, on the one hand, and concepts and meanings seen as parts of cognitive systems and social languages, on the other. The contextual character of the use of language is crucial to the understanding of teaching and learning and needs to be more carefully considered. The article is a discussion of the problem of varying meanings of language expressions in relation to major traditions of research, focusing on meanings and concepts within the field of learning and teaching.     

Student teachers' ways of experiencing the objective of health education as a school subject: A phenomenographic study

The aim of this phenomenographic study was to identify student teachers' (N = 20) ways of experiencing health education as a school subject, using semi-structured interviews and essays. The findings indicated that the target phenomenon was discussed through the general objective of the subject in five ways: health education as 1) a context for delivering theoretical knowledge, 2) a channel for providing pupils with practical knowledge and skills to contribute to health-related choices, 3) a means to promote pupils' self-regulative knowledge and independent thinking, 4) a context for personal growth, and 5) a means for developing responsible behavior in society. The hierarchically-ordered categories arrived at varied along six themes of expanding awareness. The findings can be used as a basis for planning educational settings, with a view to deepening student teachers' understanding.     

The epistemological role of language use in learning: A phenomenographic intentional-expressive approach

In research on learning, one of the fundamental questions concerns issues of language and thought. A number of empirical studies have revealed the interplay between understanding of subject matter and meanings of language expressions to be more dynamic and ambiguous than is commonly acknowledged. The aim of this article is to outline an alternative intentional-expressive approach to the interplay between use of language and understanding of subject matter as a contribution to the theoretical development in research on learning. The approach is based on a conception of language that focuses on the function of learners’ language use in relation to subject matter in developing and expressing understanding. The learner is seen as an agent, and the focus is on the use of language from the learner's perspective. Four aspects of the relation between learners and subject matter are described and discussed. Conclusions concern the value of this approach as a complement and alternative to the dominant communicative and cognitive approaches to the role of language in learning.     

ESL student teachers' perceptions of a short-term overseas immersion programme

In recent years there has been an increasing demand for teachers to develop the international knowledge and skills necessary to help promote their students' global perspectives. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has seized the initiative to provide mandatory overseas immersion programmes for pre-service English teachers to enhance their language proficiency and cultural understanding. This study involved a group of Hong Kong English language student teachers who joined a six-week immersion programme in Auckland. The aim of the present investigation was to address our dearth of knowledge as to the impact of such a programme on student teachers, and the benefits that they could derive from it. Several obstacles that might hinder maximal benefits were also identified.     

Learning for professional life: Student teachers' and graduated teachers' views of learning,responsibility and collaboration

The focus of this study is on how final-semester students and newly-graduated teachers experience the formal objectives of teacher education, with a particular view of the concepts of learning, responsibility and collaboration. The ways of experiencing these concepts varied from conceptions in which only one dimension is discerned from in the student teachers group to conceptions in which several dimensions of the phenomena are discerned in the graduate teachers group.     

No Child Left Behind and the assault on teachers' professional practices and identities

This Bernsteinian analysis conceptualizes No Child Left Behind legislation in the United States as a recent and deliberate shift towards a “performance” model of official pedagogic discourse. The paper posits that this shift carries the capacity to fundamentally alter teachers' professional practices and identities. It examines particularly whether the policy shift has impacted the professional practices and identities of pre-service and early career teachers, whose training has been completed in the wake of No Child Left Behind, differently than it has impacted the professional practices and identities of their veteran counterparts.     

Student Progress in Distance Education: Kember's model re-visited

This investigation replicates Kember's [(1995) Open Learning Courses for Adults: a model of student progress (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Education Technology)] model of student progress, using students enrolled on four business courses at the Open University of the United Kingdom. Kember's model identified four key constructs: social integration, academic integration, external attribution, and academic incompatibility. Kember built these constructs, together with background characteristics, into a causal model of student progress and then tested it using path analysis. He concluded that the model was robust, accounting for 80% of the variance in adult student persistence. However, the empirical findings from the present study showed little internal consistency in the sub-scales for the key constructs in Kember's model. Furthermore, few of the causal relationships achieved statistical significance. These results suggest that Kember's path model did not fit the data derived from the present sample. While Kember's recommendations for reducing student dropout have intuitive appeal, their empirical foundations are questionable.     

从学习者角度谈比较军事教育研究

比较军事教育作为古老而新兴的学科服务于军事教育改革与军队现代化建设。从对比较军事教育认识入手,结合军队实际,形成我军特色的比较军事教育研究,从学习者角度关注比较军事教育研究中的文化研究、方法论研究、理论体系建设和文献资料工作等内容。     

Opening the black box of field experiences: How cooperating teachers' beliefs and practices shape student teachers' beliefs and practices

This study employed ethnographic methods to describe and explain changes to beginning science teachers' (n = 6) practices and beliefs during a year long internship. Teaching practices were strongly influenced by the cooperating teachers. Initially, all six interns attempted to re-enact lessons they witnessed their cooperating teachers teach, including following lesson structures and borrowing representations, anecdotes, and jokes. Later, they independently implemented instruction that emphasized similar strategies as their mentors, regardless of whether or not they were experiencing success. Interns who were successful also shifted their beliefs to match their mentors.     

Making sense of conceptual tools in student-generated cases: Student teachers' problem-solving processes

This article examines the way student teachers make sense of conceptual tools when writing cases. In order to understand the problem-solving process, an analysis of the interactions is conducted. The findings show that transforming practical experiences into theoretical reflection is not a straightforward matter. To be able to elaborate on the task it is crucial to make meaning of the tools. It is demonstrated that the institutional practices, rules and expectations must be explicit for the students. The overall aim is to demonstrate that activity theory can enhance our understanding of the interdependence between activity, task and mediating tools.     

Student teachers' experiences of participating in mixed peer mentoring groups of in-service and pre-service teachers in Finland

This article examines from the student perspective a new Finnish model of teacher development that uses the peer group mentoring (PGM) method for combining pre-service and in-service teacher education. Reflective reports of student teachers (N = 19) who participated in PGM were analyzed using the phenomenographic method. The results show that students' experiences varied from considering the activity as (1) a coffee break or (2) peer-support, to seeing it as (3) identity construction or (4) a way of participating in a professional community. In further development of the model more emphasis should be placed on the integration of theory and practice.     

中美高中教师培养计划比较研究--以北师大"4+2"培养模式和美国加州长滩分校的高师培养计划为例

以北京师范大学“4 2”模式和美国加州长滩分校的高中教师培养计划比较为例,从教育实习和课程设置方面对两所学校培养模式上的异同点进行比较。通过对中美高师培养现状的差异性比较,借鉴美国先进经验,指出目前中国高师培养中存在的问题,给中国高师新模式的探讨提出一点有价值的建议。     

信息技术教育对教师和学生传播行为的影响

信息技术运用于教育教学,丰富了我们的教学资源、教学手段和教学方法.本文在剖析信息技术教育的基础上,从教育传播学的角度,探讨了信息技术教育对教师和学生传播行为的影响.     

New peace,new teachers: Student teachers' perspectives of diversity and community relations in Northern Ireland

This paper reflects upon student teachers' conceptions of inter-community relations and the preparation they receive to address issues of diversity and mutual understanding. The study in Northern Ireland is set against a backdrop of political, social and educational change, where a shared, peaceful future appears possible. Student teachers at a Catholic institution and a predominantly Protestant institution indicated a willingness to engage with issues concerning diversity and inter-community relations, despite having a limited knowledge of the concepts. However they also demonstrated clear views about the relevance and value of the preparation they received. The findings are evaluated using multicultural theory.     

Impact of short-term study abroad program: Inservice teachers' development of intercultural competence and pedagogical beliefs

A comprehensive study abroad program is one of the most effective ways to prepare multicultural and global teachers. However, in teacher education, most of the study abroad programs are designed for preservice teachers. In this study, we detailed the design of a short-term study abroad program for inservice teachers and reported on the impact of the program not only on teachers’ intercultural competence development, but also their teaching beliefs and practices. Discussions and implications were provided for educators designing study abroad programs for teachers.     

Exploring prospective teachers' critical thinking: Case-based pedagogy and the standards of professional practice

This qualitative constructivist research study employed a unique professional case-based pedagogy to investigate how concurrent Education undergraduate students made sense of the complex dilemmas inherent in the cases and in particular, the factors that influenced their critical thinking processes. The paper identifies three core categories that emerged in participants' critical reflections. Further, it discusses the process of participant engagement as they reflected upon the complexities of each case to arrive at new levels of awareness regarding their professional conduct, responsibilities, and behaviour in view of the Standards of Professional Practice. Last, it elaborates upon the progression of participants' thinking processes via this multi-modal approach.     

Student‐to‐Student Interaction Revisited: A Case Study of Working Adult Business Students in Online Courses*

Faculty teaching in online environments are universally encouraged to incorporate a variety of student‐to‐student learning activities into their courses. Although there is a body of both theoretical and empirical work supporting this, adult professional students participating in an online MBA program at an urban business school reported being at best indifferent and often negative regarding these learning activities. A case study was performed to explore how pervasive this attitude was and the possible reasons for it. Through various sources of data and exploration, we discovered that common interactive modalities are not associated with either perceived learning or satisfaction. A content analysis of a data analysis course revealed that 64.5% of responses recalled student‐to‐student interactivities when responding to a “learned least from” query. We identified three possible reasons for these negative responses: time inefficiency, interaction dysfunction, and flexibility intrusion. We conclude that, although some working professional students probably do learn from student‐to‐student interactivity, the costs incurred may be too great. If working adult students present a different profile than those students typically represented in academic research and thus have different needs and expectations, we may need to rethink the design of online education delivered to them.     

Effects of different cue types on the accuracy of primary school teachers' judgments of students' mathematical understanding

To gain insight into how teachers' judgment accuracy can be improved, we investigated effects of cue-type availability. While thinking aloud, 21 teachers judged their fourth grade students' (n = 176) decimal magnitude understanding. Sensitivity (correctly judging what students did understand) did not improve from availability of both answer cues (students' answers to prior practice problems) and student cues (knowledge of students triggered by knowing their names), and was lower when only answer cues were available, compared to only student cues. Specificity (correctly judging what students did not understand) was higher when only answer cues were available, compared to only student cues or both student and answer cues.