Boredom and schooling: a cross‐disciplinary exploration

This paper undertakes a wide‐ranging exploration of the concept of boredom from contrasting perspectives across different disciplines with a view to informing the pedagogy of schooling. It notes the rise of the concept in recent times, and juxtaposes diverse views on the perceived forms, causes, effects and responses to boredom, along the way referring to implications for schooling. Based on this examination, the paper puts forward the idea that boredom needs to be recognized as a legitimate human emotion that can be central to learning and creativity. At the same time, it also points out that there is room to reimagine a pedagogy that can engage in a more informed manner with the complexity of the experience and concludes with an exploration of some concepts—autonomy and control, struggle and flow—which can help in this endeavour.     

Talking About Teaching Episodes

This paper examines two types of discourse in which teachers engage when discussing case studies based on classroom episodes, and the ways in which the availability of video data of these episodes may motivate a shift in the mode of discourse used. We interviewed two pairs of secondary school mathematics teachers after they had read a case study based on a 16-minute mathematics classroom episode taped in a secondary school in the United States. During each interview, a multimedia version of the case study, including video of the original episode, was available to the participants. We identify two modes of discourse engaged in by the teachers during the interviews: Grounded Narrative and Evaluative Discourse. We examine and identify the characteristics of the two discourse forms, drawn from both video and textual analysis. These characteristics are self-reflective talk, perspective, ethics, and linguistic patterns. The identification of two modes of discourse is relevant for researchers and teacher educators using case studies or video recordings. In addition, the findings provide insight into how teachers are “seeing” classroom events in a video case study.     

Field Practice in La Mixteca: Transnational Teacher Education in the Service of Mexican Indigenous Students in U.S. Schools

Initial research has documented the ill treatment suffered by Mexican indigenous students in U.S. schools. Using a framework of transnational teacher education, we examined the impact of field practice in an indigenous area of Mexico on teacher candidates. Candidates showed growth in new understandings, such as their role as bilingual teachers in terms of validating students’ cultures and their sense of global interconnectedness with transnational students and communities. Applied classroom projects several months after field practice showed a similar impact, beginning to make the case that transnational field practice can also positively influence the academic performance of the candidates’ future students.     

The effect of practical work on students' understanding of combustion

This paper describes a study which investigated 14 and 15 year old students' understanding of combustion in both England and Spain, and explores the effect of practical laboratory experience on students' understanding. The teaching and learning styles used with the students in the study were explored using questionnaires and interviews. The students' understanding of combustion was explored using a questionnaire. The responses of English and Spanish students are significantly different. The quality of the responses is explored in terms of the awareness of students of the involvement of gases in combustion, and it appears, however, that the more extensive use of practical work in English schools has had only a marginal effect on their understanding of combustion.     

Technology as ‘a human practice with social meaning’–a new scenery for engineering education

In a world sustained and interconnected by technology, people make choices. Therefore, they have to consider that technology is subject to analysis and interpretation because it is designed by humans with varied histories, experiences and cultures. To generate an understanding of the technological phenomenon, this article proposes to view the technology as a human practice, with social meaning and an attending change in classical technology-related education. The hidden resumé of the professors, the development of contents and didactic methods to be used in the educational process are fundamental elements in the appropriation of knowledge. Modifying these elements requires paradigmatic shifts, especially in the education of engineers, which would have to be focused on the knowledge acquisition and capabilities to allow an adequate practice of the technology management.     

The student,the private and the professional role: Students’ social media use

Research has shown that students perceive a distinct divide between educational and private use of social media. The present study explores this divide by focusing on master students’ perception of roles when using social media in a higher education context. A qualitative method has been used, mainly comprising of analyses of home exams and interviews, which were conducted with students enrolled in the master’s course “Social media technologies”. Results support previous research stating that students perceived a distinct divide between educational and private use of social media, and furthermore provide a more detailed understanding of this divide. The results from the study also indicate that there is yet another type of use: social media as a tool for career-building purposes, or what is labeled as professional use. Implications of social media for use in higher education are described through the analysis of three roles as performed by the individual: the student role in educational settings, the professional role for career-building, and the private role.     

Reconstructing teacher education for disadvantaged communities

Can teacher education be reconstructed to help teachers acquire the knowledge and skills they need to teach disadvantaged populations as proposed by new theories of learning? What shape should this type of teacher education take? After making a case for a transformative teacher education, responsive to current thinking in teaching and learning, I present two instances of school-based approaches to educating teachers that incorporate elements of constructivist, cognitive, and developmental theory when teaching poor rural children. I discuss these cases vis-à-vis their reach and potential for the future of teacher education.