A comparison of high-ability pupils’ views vs. regular ability pupils’ views of characteristics of good primary school teachers

High-ability pupils in primary schools often do not achieve up to their full potential and teachers seem to face difficulties to motivate these pupils. In this study 891 primary school pupils (463 high-ability pupils) were asked about their views on desired characteristics of good teachers by means of an open teacher-spider-questionnaire. The characteristics reported, were analysed using the three “basic needs” from the Self-Determination Theory. The answers of high-ability pupils were compared to answers of pupils from regular primary education. For both groups, teaching characteristics fostering relatedness, followed by competence, were mentioned most. It was autonomy which was mentioned less frequently by both groups. The answers of the two groups of pupils mostly corresponded, although some differences emerged in specific subcategories. High-ability pupils more frequently mentioned characteristics attuning to their needs (understanding) and encouragement (challenge), and mentioned “providing choice” less often. There were also some differences found between characteristics mentioned by (high-ability) boys and girls.     

Scaffolding Science Teachers in Open‐inquiry Teaching

The present study deals with a school‐based professional development trajectory for secondary science teachers, aiming at scaffolding teachers in open‐inquiry teaching for the topic of water quality. Its design was based on the leading principle of ‘guiding by scaffolding’. Seven experienced teachers participated in institutional meetings and teaching at school. The research focused on designing scaffolding tools, addressing these tools in the meetings, and implementing them in the classroom. The main research data were obtained from meetings, classroom discussions, and observations. The results indicated that the professional development trajectory has promoted teachers’ learning of scaffolding students in open inquiry, especially the ability to know when and how to give students a well‐balanced combination of ‘structure’ for open‐inquiry learning and sufficient ‘space’ for that. The implications for science teacher education are discussed.     

Using scenarios to design complex technology-enhanced learning environments

Science Created by You (SCY) learning environments are computer-based environments in which students learn about science topics in the context of addressing a socio-scientific problem. Along their way to a solution for this problem students produce many types of intermediate products or learning objects. SCY learning environments center the entire learning process around creating, sharing, discussing, and re-using these learning objects. This instructional approach requires dedicated instructional designs, which are supplied in the form of what are called pedagogical scenarios. A SCY pedagogical scenario presents the learning process as an organized assembly of elementary learning processes, each associated with a specific learning object and a tool for creating this learning object. Designing a SCY learning environment is basically a two-step procedure: the first step is to select one of the available scenarios, and the second step is to define the domain content. The SCY technical infrastructure then handles the instantiation of the scenario as a SCY computer-based learning environment. In this article we describe the SCY pedagogical design scenarios and report on our experiences in designing four different SCY learning environments.     

Beginning Pre-service Teachers’ Approaches to Teaching the Area Concept: identifying tendencies towards realistic,structuralist, mechanist or empiricist mathematics education

This study, on approaches to mathematics education, aims to identify curricular frameworks that are robust across cultures and education systems. Lesson ideas of Irish and Dutch pre-service teachers were studied to identify the selections of: (1) the basic aspects of the concept of area; and (2) the real-life contexts, shapes, and manipulatives chosen to teach this concept. A two-dimensional framework emerged, relating preservice teachers’ ideas to archetypal realistic, structuralist, mechanist, or empiricist approaches.