Structure and development of pre-service physics teachers’ professional knowledge

ABSTRACT

Teachers’ professional knowledge is considered one of the most important predictors of instructional quality. According to Shulman, such professional knowledge includes content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge. Although recent research shed some light on the structure of the dimensions of professional knowledge, little is known how teacher education impacts pre-service physics teachers’ professional knowledge. In an effort to address this issue, we examined the content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge of N?=?200 pre-service physics teachers enrolled in different years of teacher education at 12 major teacher education universities in Germany. We used structural equation modelling (1) to examine the relations amongst pre-service physics teachers’ content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge, (2) to explore how the three kinds of knowledge and their relations differ across different stages of teacher education and (3) to identify factors affecting the level of each component of professional knowledge. Our findings suggest that content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge represent distinct types of knowledge. Furthermore, our findings show that in the first years of professional education, pedagogical content knowledge is more closely related with general pedagogical knowledge while in later years, it is more closely related with content knowledge, suggesting that it develops from a general knowledge about teaching and learning into knowledge about the teaching and learning of specific content. Finally, beyond school achievement and years of enrolment as predictors, we find in particular the amount of classroom observations to have a positive impact on the professional knowledge of pre-service physics teachers.     

Assessment of Middle Ear Anatomy Teaching Methodologies Using Microscopy versus Endoscopy: A Randomized Comparative Study

Teaching methodologies for the anatomy of the middle ear have not been investigated greatly due to the middle ear’s highly complex structure and hidden location inside of the temporal bone. The aim of this randomized study was to quantitatively compare the suitability of using microscope- and endoscope-based methods for teaching the anatomy of the middle ear. We hypothesize that the endoscopic approach will be more efficient compared to the microscopic approach. To answer the study questions, 33 sixth-year medical students, residents and otorhinolaryngology specialists were randomized either into the endoscopy or the microscopy group. Their anatomical knowledge was assessed using a structured anatomical knowledge test before and after each session. Each participant received tutoring on a human cadaveric specimen using one of the two methods. They then performed a hands-on dissection. After 2–4 weeks, the same educational curriculum was repeated using the other technique. The mean gains in anatomical knowledge for the specialists, residents, and medical students were +19.0%, +34.6%, and +23.4%, respectively. Multivariate analyses identified a statistically significant increase in performance for the endoscopic method compared to the microscopic technique (P < 0.001). For the recall of anatomical structures during dissection, the endoscopic method outperformed the microscopic technique independently of the randomization or the prior training level of the attendees (P < 0.001). In conclusion, the endoscopic approach to middle ear anatomy education is associated to an improved gain in knowledge as compared to the microscopic approach. The participants subjectively preferred the endoscope for educational purposes.     

Associations between individual and collective efficacy beliefs and students' bystander behavior

This study examined whether defending and passive bystanding during peer victimization episodes were associated with individual- and classroom-level efficacy to stop peer victimization. Self-report survey data were analyzed from 1,467 Swedish fourth-grade students (mean age = 10.55) from 100 classrooms in 63 schools. Multilevel analyses revealed that, when witnessing peer victimization, students more often defended victims if they were high in defender self-efficacy and if they belonged to classrooms high in collective efficacy. In contrast, students were more likely to remain passive if they were low in defender self-efficacy and if they belonged to classrooms low in collective efficacy. Taken together, our findings suggest that efficacy beliefs both at the individual and at the classroom level contribute to explaining variability in students' bystander behaviors, which has potential implications for prevention and intervention work.     

Co-existing Notions of Research Quality: A Framework to Study Context-specific Understandings of Good Research

Minerva - Notions of research quality are contextual in many respects: they vary between fields of research, between review contexts and between policy contexts. Yet, the role of these co-existing...     

Cross-Sectoral Mobility Funding and the Challenge of Immersion: The Case of SSH

Minerva - Project funding rarely demands much change on behalf of the recipient. In contrast, cross-sectoral mobility funding requires recipients to change their environment and often some aspects...     

The Internationalisation of University Education: Australia and Finland Compared

This paper examines alternative attitudes to internationalisation, using Australia and Finland as case studies. In Australia, the principal thrust of “internationalisation” has been one of the export of educational services. The fees paid by the majority of the 84 000 international university students have become a critical part of the funding of Australia’s university system. In Finland, universities continue to be funded almost exclusively through government grants, and official philosophy towards the internationalisation of higher education differs from the more direct economic Australian model. Comparative philosophy, mobility and comparative numbers are considered. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Sales Forecasting of New Entertainment Media Products

Managers predict the sales of new entertainment products prior to their release using comparables, such as similar books from the same author or movies with the same actors. In this study, the authors analyze whether diffusion models for media products provide helpful support in the management task of predicting prelaunch sales of the first distribution channel for three different product categories. They compare the performance of predictions based on (a) simple success factor regressions (OLS) and (b) diffusion models against real management predictions. Based on samples covering the German music, film, and the literary market, we show that model-based forecasts outperform the forecasts of management teams for the majority of the products. In contrast, management is superior in forecasting top sellers. This is due to unobserved factors arising from more management attention attached towards super stars. The authors do not find substantial prediction differences between simple success factor regressions and more complex diffusion models. Thus, managers interested in total sales estimates can easily rely on OLS based success factor predictions. Advertising and product differentiation factors with respect to quality (e.g., star power, critics, or country of origin) are across all 3 industries highly relevant for sales predictions, whereas others variables (e.g., price, distribution power, season, or competition) differ across industries.     

Following Young Students’ Understanding of Three Phenomena in which Transformations of Matter Occur

In order to develop successful teaching approaches to transformations of matter, we need to know more about how young students develop an understanding of these processes. In this longitudinal study, we followed 25 students from 7 to 13 years of age in their reasoning about transformations of matter. The questions addressed included how the students’ understanding of transformations of matter changed and how we can make sense of individual learning pathways. In interviews performed once or twice every year the students described and explained three situations: fading leaves left on the ground, a burning candle, and a glass of water covered with a glass plate on which some mist had formed. When analysing the interviews, we found a common pathway of how the students’ ideas changed over the years in each one of the situations. When analysing individual student’s interviews with Ausubel’s assimilation theory we could discern subordinate, superordinate and combinatorial learning. How these findings can contribute to an improvement of teaching about transformations of matter is discussed.     

Learner-friendly textbooks: Chemistry texts based on a constructivist view of learning

In this study, the use of inquiry methods, learning cycles, a conceptual change model and analogy in creating alternative science texts was discussed. An alternative text on the topic of acids and bases was created by integrating the methods and models discussed in this paper. The alternative text and a sample of a traditional text taken from a textbook, which is still used in Turkish high schools, were given to two groups, totaling 42 pre-service teachers—the alternative text was given to an experimental group and the traditional text to a control group—in an experimental setting and their understandings of acids and bases were compared. In addition, in the second step of the study, the pre-service teachers read both texts and indicated their preferences in terms of interest, understandability and helpfullness.