Toward Conceptual Clarity: A Scoping Review of Coteaching in Teacher Education

Abstract

While coteaching is not a novel or even new approach in P–12 classrooms, its application in teacher education contexts has become increasingly prevalent. Coteaching in teacher education has been touted for its potential to promote collaborative classroom practice, connect theory and praxis, counteract sociocultural disparities in classrooms, and improve outcomes for teacher candidates as well as P–12 students and inservice teachers. This article presents a scoping review of the 103 empirical studies focused on coteaching in teacher education to enhance conceptual clarity and heighten understandings of the nature and extent of such research. We map the methodological characteristics of these studies that serve to the breadth and depth to which coteaching in teacher education has been examined. Next, we describe the outcomes and phenomena explored by the 103 studies to reveal the intended results as well as points of tension for coteaching in teacher education. Finally, we couple an analysis of coteaching definitions within these studies with an analysis of the ways in which coteaching is implemented in teacher education. Notable findings of this scoping review include the extensive range of ways coteaching is implemented across the preservice teacher education curriculum, the variety of aims for coteaching in these contexts, and the need for continued grounding in frameworks to enhance understandings of coteaching practices and impacts for stakeholders including P–12 students, inservice teachers, teacher candidates, and university faculty.     

Framing climate change communication to prompt individual and collective action among adolescents from agricultural communities

Climate communication research suggests strategic message framing may help build public consensus on climate change causes, risks and solutions. However, few have investigated how framing applies to adolescents. Similarly, little research has focused on agricultural audiences, who are among the most vulnerable to and least accepting of climate change. Among 950 high school agriculture students in North Carolina, we found agriculture and environment framing of climate change, but not community and health frames, elicited feelings of worry, and these together with community frames elicited hope. Further, students feeling more worry were more supportive of individual and collective action. Those accepting climate change and females had more emotive responses and higher support for all action measures, and acceptance of human causes predicted more worry and support for collective action. We find these results encouraging as agriculture teachers likely employ agriculture and environment frames when following best teaching practices.     

By design: Professional learning ecologies to develop primary school teachers’ makerspaces pedagogical capabilities

Makerspaces embody a growing movement of educators promoting constructionist learning with physical materials and digital technologies such as 3D design and 3D printing. As it gains traction in K-12 settings, the maker movement represents an interesting context in which to explore how professional ecologies can equip teachers with the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to implement twenty-first century learning in their school context. This study investigated the roles of different participants from industry, school leadership and colleagues in influencing teachers’ confidence, enthusiasm, capabilities and beliefs when teaching in makerspaces. Utilising triangulated observations of activities through online questionnaires at beginning, middle and end points, as well as postproject interviews, the study explored the participation of 27 primary school teachers in a blended professional learning programme, followed by classroom delivery of modules focusing on tablet-based 3D design applications and the use of newly instaled 3D printers. Reporting no prior knowledge or experience with makerspaces, quantitative analyses revealed significant increases in teachers’ confidence and enthusiasm. Qualitative analyses of questionnaire and interview data underscored the influence of hands-on and theoretically grounded professional learning providing practical exposure to constructionist ideas, design thinking methodologies and 3D design technologies. Findings reveal the importance of targeted professional learning coupled with a substantial collegially supported implementation phase, as well as support from school leaders and industry partners to promote meaningful pedagogical change in technology-mediated maker-based learning.     

Difficulties in Learning and Teaching Programming—Views of Students and Tutors

We have conducted a web-based questionnaire on the various concepts and topics of object-oriented programming that students on introductory courses found most difficult to cope with.A statistical analysis of our results shows that those topics that rely on a clear understanding of pointers and memory-related concepts (such as copy constructors and virtual functions) prove to be the most difficult. In other words, we believe these concepts are only hard because of the student's inability to comprehend what is happening to their program in memory, as they are incapable of creating a clear mental model of its execution.These results would suggest that a clearer approach to teaching these topics would be beneficial to students. We are currently working on a visualization-based approach to address these issues.     

Interrupting the Pathway From Discrimination to Black Adolescents’ Psychosocial Outcomes: The Contribution of Parental Racial Worries and Racial Socialization Competency

Racial discrimination can lead to psychosocial problems for Black adolescents, including internalization (e.g., depression) and externalization (e.g., conduct problems). Black parents (N = 186; M_age = 42.9) of adolescents (ages 10–18) were assessed to investigate how parental worries and racial socialization competency (i.e., confidence, skills, and stress) contribute to the association between parental discrimination experiences and their adolescents’ psychosocial problems. Mediation analyses indicated that the total direct models with discrimination, worries, and problems had good fit, and that the addition of worry mediated the discrimination-problems association. Furthermore, racial socialization competency moderated the association between worry and problems, wherein greater competency was associated with less impact of worry on problems. Findings illuminate potential intervention targets for buffering discrimination’s influence on adolescents’ psychosocial functioning.     

The family-school relation and the child's school performance

Using a nationally representative sample of American households, we examine the relation between parental involvement in schooling and the child's school performance. With a sample of 179 children, parents, and teachers, we investigate 3 hypotheses: (1) the higher the educational status of the mother the greater the degree of parental involvement in school activities; (2) the younger the age of the child the greater the degree of parental involvement; and (3) children of parents who are more involved in school activities do better in school than children with parents who are less involved. In an analysis of cross-sectional data, we discover support for the 3 hypotheses. The educational status of the mother is related to the degree of parental involvement in schooling, so that parents with more education are more involved. Parental involvement is related to the child's school performance. Also, parents are more involved in school activities if the child is younger. The mother's educational level and the age of the child are stronger predictors of parental involvement in schooling for boys than for girls. We do not, however, find a direct effect of maternal educational status on school performance independent of parental involvement in school activities. We discuss these findings in light of the relation between families and schools.     

Team-referent attributions among sport performers

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a team-referent attribution scale. Conducted over three studies, Study 1 modified items from McAuley, Duncan, and Russell's (1992) Causal Dimension Scale II by rewording items to reflect team attributions and adding one item per factor. This led to the development of a 16-item scale (Causal Dimension Scale-T, CDS-T). Study 2 tested competing models of attribution theory among a sample of 433 team sport players. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated strongest support for a four-factor model (robust comparative fit index = .961; root mean squared error of approximation = .054). Study 3 tested the predictive validity of the scale among a sample of 201 team players. Results indicated that winners reported more internal and stable attributions than losers. Further, performances perceived as successful were associated with stable attributions. The results of the study, therefore, suggest that the CDS-T provides a valid measure of team-referent attributions in sport.