Disciplinary Differences and the Integration of Technology into Teaching

ABSTRACT

The preparation of teachers involves academics from across the disciplinary spectrum but research on the differences between academic disciplines has revealed that a faculty member's discipline is a major factor in shaping the several aspects of course planning and teaching. The purpose of this paper is to present a model for investigating disciplinary differences as they may relate to teaching with technology, thereby enabling more effective integration of technology into the curriculum. Components of the model include: the structure and ethos of the discipline; preparation for, and experience as, a teacher; faculty assumptions about students; faculty beliefs and perceptions about technology; and the environmental context.     

What is the role of constructivist teachers within faculty communication networks?

Using the biology faculty of one high school (n = 9) and the mathematics faculty of another (n = 16), this study tested the hypothesis that constructivist teachers play an active role within teacher communication networks (the constructivist‐teacher hypothesis). This hypothesis contrasts with the view that constructivist teachers operate alone and largely severed from communications among colleagues. Two types of representations of communication patterns among faculty members (i.e., sociographs) were created and analyzed for each faculty. One type of sociograph plotted communications concerning content/pedagogical issues while the other type plotted social/informal communications. Trained raters assessed constructivist‐teaching practices using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP). Positive relationships were found between constructivist‐teaching practices and the frequency and significance of communications within both faculties—more so for content/pedagogical issues than for social/informal communications. Importantly, peers sought out constructivist teachers more often than they did traditional teachers, presumably seeking advice regarding teaching practice. Results support the constructivist‐teacher hypothesis and indicate that constructivist teachers are not isolated from their peers. Instead, they appear to play an active role, particularly when colleagues are discussing issues related to content and pedagogy. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 490–505, 2007     

A Methodology for Evaluating College Teaching Effectiveness

SUMMARY In this paper a multidimensional model for evaluating college teaching effectiveness is developed to select the best faculty member for a teaching award. The model is based on the assumption that teaching effectiveness is a linear function of five variables: (a) students’ evaluation; (b) graduating students’ evaluation; (c) chairman's input; (d) colleagues’ input; (e) course file. These variables have been quantified to obtain teaching effectiveness scores for the faculty members eligible for the award contest. The scores of the five variables are standardized prior to differential weighting. The reason for incorporating these five standardized weighted variables into the model is to ensure the fairness and objectivity of this evaluation process. The model has been implemented in a college to select a faculty for an outstanding teacher award.     

MAKING THE CONNECTION THROUGH STAFFING: MECHANISMS TO INCREASE CONSISTENCY BETWEEN UNIVERSITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION COURSES AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LAB SCHOOL PRACTICES

Abstract

A team of early childhood teacher education faculty developed the 3‐D talent development model of teacher education, blending theory and research from many sources. These sources include research on talent development, nonuniversal development, and roles of teachers and their professional growth. The faculty integrated constructs from these sources into a program rooted in principles of social constructivism. Using the 3‐D model, the faculty team identified their task as taking students of teaching through the phases of discovery, discipline, and divergence. Assessments that we developed needed to correspond to this conceptual framework, moving us away from traditional types of student assessment. In this article we offer a synopsis of the talent development model; review five of the approaches to student assessment we use, including alternative assessment activities, “Employmee” feedback forms, electronic portfolios, state teacher evaluation frameworks, and action research projects; and articulate the linkages between our approach to assessment and the talent development model of teacher education.     

Assessing Beliefs of Preservice Early Childhood Education Teachers Using Q-Sort Methodology

The purpose of this study was to assess the beliefs of students and faculty in a 4-year birth–kindergarten teacher preparation program using the Teacher Belief Q-Sort (TBQ). Data were collected over one academic year from a total of 63 students, 35 students at the beginning of their coursework and 28 students at the end of their program, completing their student teaching experience. The faculty (n = 8) in the program completed the TBQ to provide a criterion sort as well as to assess the consistency in philosophy across faculty members who teach preservice teachers. Compilations of rankings are presented to describe beliefs related to children, discipline, and teaching practices held by students who are at different points in their education program. Criterion comparison results indicate that student teachers at the end of their education program report beliefs more similar to faculty beliefs than students at the beginning of their education program. However, findings suggest that the student teaching experience does not appear to significantly alter beliefs about children, discipline and teaching practices. These results are discussed in terms of child-directed versus teacher-directed styles of preservice teachers and implications of assessing beliefs for teacher preparation programs.     

Relationship Between Reflective Disposition Toward Teaching and Effective Teaching

Abstract

The author demonstrated that a reflective disposition toward teaching was related to effective teaching especially in the domains of instructional behavior, classroom organization, and teacher expectation. Data used to test the hypothesis were composed of reflective disposition scores earned by teacher candidates (N = 55) and effective teaching scores given teacher candidates by their field instructors. Reflective disposition consisted of 6 components: the composite of reflective disposition and the composite of effective teaching, reflection on what teachers should know and be able to do, reflection on teaching, reflection on learning, reflection on the relationship between learning and teaching, and reflection on what it would be like to be a teacher in the classroom. Effective teaching consisted of 5 components: the composite of effective teaching, classroom management, instructional behavior, classroom organization, and teacher expectations.     

Factors that predict pre-service teachers’ teaching performance

Understanding the factors that contribute to an effective teacher has the potential to influence selection and preparation of pre-service teachers and may influence student outcomes. Prior research suggests a relationship between teacher characteristics (academic achievement, verbal ability, gender) and teacher effectiveness, however, these factors explain only a fraction of the overall variance in the effectiveness of teachers. Guided by the What Works Clearinghouse protocol for Teacher Training, Evaluation and Compensation, this study involving pre-service teachers (N = 400) used teacher performance rankings resulting from classroom observations and explored factors that may contribute to varying levels of teacher performance. Pre-service teachers’ prior teaching performance, personality characteristics and previous academic achievement were assessed as predictive factors of teacher performance. Results indicate that no significant relationship was identified between personality traits and the outcome variable teaching performance in this study. However, previous teaching performance in addition to academic achievement scores emerged as significant predictors of teaching performance.     

Academic achievement and personality traits of faculty members of Indian agricultural universities: their effect on teaching and research performance

Purpose: The present study was undertaken to assess academic achievement, teaching aptitude and research attitude of Indian agricultural universities’ faculty, to predict indicators for successful teachers and researchers, and thereby enhancing the quality of higher agricultural education. Methodology: Five hundred faculty members were selected to elicit information on academic, teaching and research achievements. Teaching aptitude and attitude of faculty towards research were measured through standard psychometric tests. Correlation and regression analysis was carried out to establish the relationship among selected variables. Findings: Combination of academic achievement and teaching aptitude was a superior predictor for the teaching achievement compared to either of them alone. Similarly, research achievement of faculty was predicted better by the combination of academic achievement and research attitude. Practical Implications: The study showed the need for training faculty members in interpersonal relationships for effective teaching, and in research methodology and research processes for improving research attitude of faculty. Theoretical Implications: The expectancy-value model provides a useful framework to understand the role of attitude/aptitude in better prediction of research and teaching behavior. Originality/Value: The present study showed that teaching aptitude and research attitude be considered along with academic achievements for promoting quality teaching and research and hence the educational programmes.     

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the Internet and online courses: the case of an American Pacific Island University

Offerings of online courses continue to increase in higher education settings, as institutions attempt to meet students’ (and faculty members’) increasing demands for online access. How do pre-service teachers perceive online education? This paper reports the results of a questionnaire-based survey addressing this issue. The questionnaire focused on the degree to which teacher candidates consider the Internet useful for coursework, and their level of preparedness for taking online courses. The participants were pre-service teachers (N = 237) enrolled in education foundation courses at the University of Guam. This paper discusses educational implications of the results, and makes recommendations for future research. The results from this study may guide teacher education and its efforts to optimise online courses and, at the same time, support the University’s commitment to ensure that teacher education prepares its pre-service teachers to apply and integrate technology in their own future teaching.     

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.     

Critical Thinking Ability and Teacher Effectiveness

Research on teacher thinking in the last fifteen years supports the hypothesis that being an effective critical thinker (as defined by Ennis) would make a major contribution to being an effective teacher. Ennis’ conception of critical thinking incorporates various dispositions and abilities, while his Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X provides a measure of four crucial abilites. The teacher thinking research suggests that each of these four abilities is central to effective teaching. The four abilities are: (1) inductive thinking; (2) judging credibility of observation reports; (3) deductive thinking; and (4) assumption identification. Research findings about teacher thinking fall into three main categories: (a) implicit theories; (b) planning and reflection; and (c) dilemmas and uncertainty.

The first half of the paper shows how a teacher's performance and capacity to deal effectively with (a)‐(c) depend significantly on using the abilities (1)‐(4). If this is so then highly effective teachers should score significantly better on Ennis’ Cornell Critical Thinking Test (Level X) than do teachers as a whole. Hence scores on this test for a large sample of vocational teachers were compared with the scores of vocational teachers whose teaching performance has been judged as excellent by their teacher educators. The second half of the paper reports and discusses the results of testing the hypothesis and the implications for teacher education.     

Relationship between teaching motivation and teaching behaviour of secondary education teachers in Indonesia (Relación entre la motivación docente y el comportamiento docente en profesores de educación secundaria en Indonesia)

ABSTRACT

Research on teacher motivation is increasing substantially. Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between the motivation and teaching behaviour of teachers. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the perceived motivation of teachers and their actual teaching behaviour in the context of secondary education. A survey on teacher motivation yielded responses from 315 teachers from 28 schools across 13 provinces in Indonesia. These teachers were observed in their classrooms by trained observers using a validated observation scheme. Results of a multilevel analysis indicate that: (1) perceived controlled motivation does not predict actual teaching behaviour; (2) perceived autonomous motivation is a positive predictor of at least some domains of actual teaching behaviour. Higher levels of perceived autonomous motivation are associated with higher scores on classroom management and clarity of instruction. There is also a slight tendency (p < .10) for autonomous motivation to explain differences in other domains of teaching behaviour, with the exception of activating teaching. This study highlights the importance of autonomous motivation in relation to teaching quality.     

Implementation of a Course Focused on Language and Literacy Within Teacher–Child Interactions: Instructor and Student Perspectives Across Three Institutions of Higher Education

Research suggests that teachers' interactions with preschool-age children have a significant influence on what children learn and the skills they develop. Additional research is needed to systematically determine the types of professional development that can help teachers learn effective teaching practices. This study is part of a larger effort to document the impact of a professional development model in which teachers learn how to implement effective teaching practices operationalized using the CLASS observation measure. A course developed by the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education (NCRECE) was implemented in three higher education teacher preparation programs. This article describes the process of implementing the course and documents instructor and student perspectives on course delivery, content, and their learning. Results suggest that professional development in the form of a standardized course may be an effective means for presenting content related to language and literacy instruction within the context of information about effective teaching practices. Data from the study also indicate challenges associated with delivering a standardized course within multiple institutions of higher education.     

Teaching Collaboration between a University Professor and a Classroom Teacher

Significant improvement in teacher education and classroom practice can be attained by successful collaboration between university faculty and public school teachers. This paper shares an experience of collaboration between a university professor and a Fourth-grade teacher in teaching a Language Arts Methods course. The experience started with differences in teaching philosophy between the two participants. This paper articulates how the differences stimulated the two participants to change, and how they built their trust and achieved success in their collaborative teaching.     

Gaining a Better Understanding of Self: A Self-Study in Cultural Competence in Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

This articles describes a year-long self-study in cultural competence. Armed with the understanding that “teachers first need to know their own cultures,” a small group of faculty researchers engaged in systematic self-study to better understand their own cultural competence in an effort to enhance teacher candidates’ cultural competencies. The overarching goals of the study were: for faculty researchers to better understand their own cultural competence and for faculty researchers to better understand their ability to create safe spaces in which teacher candidates could develop deeper understandings of their cultural competencies. Hence the faculty researchers worked collaboratively for the broader purposes of re-imaging classrooms as communities that foster new and more equitable opportunities for teaching and learning.     

HIDDEN CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY COLLEGE TEACHERS

This article explores faculty viewpoints, values, and behavior regarding faculty student interaction in and outside of the classroom.

The research is qualitative in nature, consisting of systematic observations of five effective community college faculty members interacting with students in the classroom, supplemented with open‐ended interviews of faculty.

The results of the study validate earlier research on effective college teaching and suggest additional “hidden characteristics” that help to explain why some professors are particularly effective. These characteristics are significant in that they have not been previously reported. Attention is shifted away from just looking at a teacher's command of the subject, organizational skills, and rapport with students. Characteristics such as charisma and altruism also come into consideration, bringing forth the concept of teacher as messiah.

For these faculty, teaching is more than an occupation; it's a dedication to leave the world a better place, an opportunity to make a difference in another's life, a chance to enhance one's own life.     

Reading: three to thirteen

Askew and his colleagues (1997), put forward a range of important notions as to what might constitute effective approaches to the teaching of numeracy. In particular, they place great emphasis on the way in which teachers who make links between different areas of mathematics are seen to be effective teachers of numeracy. (Askew et al term this approach ‘connectionist’)

The work reported here suggests that the notion of classifying a teacher as, say, connectionist is too simplistic. We report observations which suggest that effective teachers of numeracy incorporate a range of approaches into their teaching.     

Preservice Teachers Adrift on a Sea of Knowledges

The paper argues for fresh recognition of the complexities faced by preservice teachers, particularly during the practicum, where they are expected to bring their stockpile of diverse, and sometimes conflicting, knowledges about effective teaching to immediate use with classroom learners. The paper abo draws on insights from postmodern theorising on the privileging of knowledges. While the major focus of the paper is on issues surrounding multiplicity of knowledges about effective classroom teaching, it is also recognised that much of learning to teach occurs in affective, ethical and interpersonal ways as well as cognitive. Several suggestions are made to assist preservice teachers negotiate the complexities of the process of becoming teachers. It is argued that the practicum in preservice teacher education can be seen as a rich site for further exploration of this process—and should be resourced commensurately. Such explorations have the potential to illuminate the ways in which preservice teachers mesh knowledges about effective teaching with their own personal values and beliefs within the specific contexts of their classrooms. Associated with the recognition of the complexities of the processes involved, is a call for university and school based teacher educators to model, with respect to their programmes and practices, the same level of critical reflection they advocate for student teachers.     

Training Teachers in Mixed‐age Classrooms: effects of a staff development programme

A quasi‐experimental, treatment‐control group investigation was designed to test the effects of the staff development programme Dealing with Mixed‐age Classes. Research findings from mixed‐age glasses, effective teaching and classroom management and organisation were translated into teacher behaviours. Following seven three‐hour workshops teachers in mixed‐aged classes implemented self‐designed plans to increase selected research‐derived teaching behaviours and pupils’ time‐on‐task. Based on pre‐ and post‐training classroom observations, a significant treatment effect was found for pupils’ time‐on‐task levels in mixed‐age classrooms and for teacher behaviours regarding effective instruction, lesson design and execution, classroom organisation and management.