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What you find depends on how you see: examining asset and deficit perspectives of preservice science teachers’ knowledge and learning
Abstract
This article explores how scholars have framed studies of preservice science teacher (PST) knowledge and learning over the past twelve years. We examined relevant studies between 2008 and 2020, coding them by theoretical perspective (cognitive or sociocultural), knowledge perspective (deficit or asset), and teaching level (elementary, secondary, or both) of the PSTs in the study. We found patterns between knowledge and theoretical perspective use, perspective use over time, and differences between studies of elementary and secondary level PSTs. We conclude with a proposed model of theoretical and knowledge perspectives as seen in the reviewed studies as well as further questions for the field.
... These studies applied both quantitative (e.g., surveys, tests) and qualitative (e.g., interviews) methods and were conducted in a variety of countries. Typically, the authors of these studies took a deficit perspective (Gray, McDonald, & Stroupe, 2021) and reported weaknesses or misconceptions concerning PSTs' understanding of specific science topics, or concluded that S-PSTs did not perform at the expected level. ...
... A few studies investigated how S-PSTs' teaching beliefs or attitudes changed after a practicum, typically finding discrepancies between S-PSTs' beliefs and practice, or only minor changes in beliefs or attitudes before and after the practicum (e.g., Krause et al., 2017). Similar to the conclusion drawn by Gray, McDonald, and Stroupe (2021), this leads us to the critical question of whether there remains further need for more studies that focus on the deficiencies of S-PSTs, or that reveal that after an intervention (e.g., a practicum) S-PTSs fail to implement practices that align with their expressed beliefs, given how the literature in science teacher education we reviewed is rife with such research already (see Dillon & Avraamidou, 2020). ...
... This was seen in the research on characteristics, where we noted how our review leads us to the critical question of whether there is a need for more studies that conclude that the participating S-PSTs have limited knowledge of, or misconceptions about, the science topics under consideration, or that S-PSTs hold traditional views about teaching and learning science. Our conclusion coincides with that of Gray, McDonald, and Stroupe (2021) in their recent systematic review of preservice science teacher knowledge studies, as well as with Dillon and Avraamidou (2020) who ask, "'Do we really need another study that pre-service teachers don't know much about anything?'" (p. ...
This chapter draws on theoretical and empirical research internationally to report what we know about initial secondary science teacher preparation. We focus on the characteristics of secondary pre-service science teachers within and across pre-service programs, secondary pre-service science teachers' facility with science teaching practices, and the pedagogies supportive of secondary pre-service science teachers' learning. Beyond characterizing the literature in these three areas, this review provides the field with a sense of the collective promise of the work from a broader perspective that was not possible to determine from individual research projects. Additionally, promising future research is discussed, along with recommendations to the field of secondary science teacher education to move away from investigations focused on identifying the deficits of secondary pre-service science teachers, which amounted to a significant portion of the research reviewed.
... Across the studies that we reviewed, researchers took on either deficit-or asset-based perspectives of preservice elementary teachers of science. This phenomenon is well documented by Gray et al. (2022) across elementary and secondary preservice science teachers. Given our read of the literature for this review, and of related asset-oriented scholarship (Gray et al., 2022;Zembal-Saul et al., 2020), we believe there are some concrete ways that researchers might more intentionally frame our studies from asset-based perspectives. ...
... This phenomenon is well documented by Gray et al. (2022) across elementary and secondary preservice science teachers. Given our read of the literature for this review, and of related asset-oriented scholarship (Gray et al., 2022;Zembal-Saul et al., 2020), we believe there are some concrete ways that researchers might more intentionally frame our studies from asset-based perspectives. For example, scholars can attend to not just what new teachers do not know or cannot do, but also, what they do know and can do. ...
The work of elementary science teaching is challenging given the wide array of subject matter most teachers are expected to teach and a systematic de-prioritisation of science at these grades. In this literature review (63 papers; 2010–2020), we use a framework of readiness for science teaching. Using this framework allows us to illustrate foundational characteristics and abilities that preservice teachers may start with and develop as they become well-started beginners for elementary teaching in the face of systemic challenges. To this end, we identify what is known from the research literature about the strengths that preservice elementary teachers bring to this difficult work with regard to their characteristics and abilities in addition to the challenges they face, describing a foundation on which preservice teachers can build. We also highlight additional studies that show how teacher education can build on preservice teachers’ strengths and support them in areas that are challenging. We identify themes around novices’ identities, dispositions, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, self-efficacy, knowledge, engagement in and with science practices, lesson planning, and lesson enactment. Finally, we highlight four implications for science teacher educators, noting focal areas that may compensate for challenges preservice elementary teachers face while building on their strengths.
... Professional vision is a sociocultural process. This means professional vision, like other sociocultural perspectives on learning, is a situated process rather than a static, ideal body of knowledge (Danish & Gresalfi, 2018;Gray et al., 2022). There is not an ideal professional vision because it is constantly negotiated. ...
... Literature around teacher and science learning can assume there is a right way to teach or do science. For example, a literature review of asset and deficit perspectives of preservice science teachers' learning argued that data collection and analysis focused on predetermined outcomes ignores the complexity of preservice teachers' enactment of practice (Gray et al., 2022). The predetermined nature of the outcomes argues there is one "right" way to teach that is independent from the contextual factors involved in science teaching. ...
Learning to teach is a culturally situated activity. As teachers learn, it is important to understand not only what teachers learn, but how they learn. This article describes a qualitative case study of a subset of four teachers’ learning during a professional development surrounding a plate tectonics curriculum. Using qualitative methods, this study tells the story of how the four teachers negotiated professional vision for science teaching around dilemmas that emerged throughout the professional development. By taking a sociocultural perspective on professional vision, researchers can gain insight into how and what teachers learn in professional development settings because it renders teacher learning complex and nuanced. Additionally, we argue negotiating professional vision parallels sensemaking. Sensemaking around science teaching includes grappling with epistemic issues of science in addition to pedagogy and curriculum. Implications for science teacher education are discussed. Specifically, we argue learning to teach requires teachers to engage in conversations that create opportunities to “get somewhere” in relation to dilemmas they have about teaching. In this way, professional vision is an ongoing process of learning that has no endpoint or ideal articulation of teaching or science. Therefore, by framing professional vision as a process of learning we are able to push back on simplistic descriptions of teaching and science.
... In fact, elementary teachers have many of the same misunderstandings observed in students (Ginns & Watters, 1995;Rice, 2005;Trundle et al., 2006). Though it has been argued that this stance often reflects a deficit perspective (Gray et al., 2021), it seems defensible that elementary teachers could benefit from ongoing, selfregulated learning of science SMK. ...
Elementary teachers likely have many opportunities to improve their science subject matter knowledge in the context of their everyday work. However, this has not been sufficiently explored in the literature. The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate teachers' self‐regulated learning of science subject matter knowledge as a result of teaching experience. All teachers in this study recognized and described moments where they determined their subject matter knowledge was inadequate, an important step of self‐regulated learning. Findings also indicate that teachers' recognition of gaps in their knowledge may be influenced by teachers' perceptions of the complexity of their students' questions. In response to recognizing gaps in their knowledge, teachers drew on online resources. They were, however, generally not critical about the quality of these resources. We discuss these observations in relation to teachers' self‐regulated learning of science subject matter through teaching experience.
... In adopting this position, we aim to challenge the deficit views of teachers that often prevail in social media and social forums where the quality of teaching and teachers is constantly questioned (Daliri-Ngametua et al., 2022;Mayer, 2021;Mockler, 2022). Credit/asset/resource views focus on strengths and interests as possibilities for innovation, imagination and action (Gray et al., 2022). They acknowledge capabilities are dynamic, distributed, shaped, and informed by the context. ...
In this paper we take a credit/asset view of the breadth of knowledge and expertise that teachers have to contribute to curriculum and curriculum making from their everyday and professional experiences. We argue and illustrate the value of teachers grounding their funds of knowledge and identity in designing curriculum that connects with their students and the local context. Teacher funds of knowledge and identity are part of their personal learning ecology. Barron (2006) defines this as encompassing the ideas/knowledge, relationships, and material and virtual resources that people draw on within and across their everyday lives. The ability to mobilise a personal ecology that goes beyond academic or formal/professional knowledge would seem to be a crucial capability for teachers as they localise curricula. Even more so when teachers aim to do this in ways that foster engagement, develop agency and progress student ‘achievement.’ We offer suggestions for researchers, school leaders and teachers interested in exploring the nature and use of funds of knowledge/identity within a learning ecology framing.
... By this example, it is reiterated that it might be more effective to use local contexts that are rooted in students' day to day activities, rather than hypothetical scenarios whose understanding is contingent on students' prior knowledge and experiences. Furthermore, since students have more experience in their local day to day contexts, this will help in highlighting their understanding of the situated problems as "assets" that they bring to the learning environment, rather than promulgating the lack of knowledge/exposure to specific topics (e.g., Mars rover) as "deficits" [57], [58], [59]. It is acknowledged that student level contextualization for every student individually may not feasible. ...
italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Purpose:
The presented study was conducted to unpack high school students’ motivational influences in engineering/computer science project-based learning (PjBL), using the attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS) model of motivation as a conceptual framework.
Methods: A qualitative research approach was used with student focus groups as the data source. A total of six focus groups with 32 student participants was conducted. The students were enrolled in high schools located in four different states in the U.S. The qualitative analysis of transcripts was performed using first and second cycle coding methods.
Findings: The findings show that student motivation is nuanced in regard with attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. The findings identify research-based strategies for fostering student motivation, such as implementing learner-focused scaffolding in PjBL environments, improving the relevance of the classroom content with the real-world context that students have experiences in or are knowledgeable about, and focusing on stimulating intrinsic motivation in addition to extrinsic rewards.
Conclusion: The findings provide support for the comprehensibility and utility of the ARCS model of motivation in high school engineering/CS education, and more importantly empirically unpacks what the model factors mean from students’ perspective. Practitioners may use these findings to inform the design, development, and implementation of PjBL in high school settings.</p
... Critically, many of the attributes we found reflect a deficit perspective (Gray et al., 2022) on both novice and veteran teachers' capabilities. For example, novices are seen as lacking knowledge while veterans lack openness to change. ...
This study examines veteran and novice teachers’ identities in the policy, culture and practice of an Israeli teacher leadership initiative. Building on four years of ethnographic fieldwork, we used discourse analytic methods to investigate references to “veteran” and “novice” teachers in staff meetings, professional development, and interviews. While experience is valued in most professional contexts, it was treated with ambivalence in this leadership initiative. “Veterans” were seen as knowledgeable and confident but resistant to change and learning. “Novices” were seen as potential leaders but insecure and lacking expertise. We discuss implications for teachers' work, learning and the educational system.
... Thus, to foster equity and social-justice oriented science classrooms, research communities must offer respect and alliance to the teachers by acknowledging the treacherous structural inequalities that teachers must navigate. Unfortunately, while the calls for equity and socialjustice oriented classrooms implicitly suggest that teachers can and should engage in this work, they are often explicitly the focus of consternation because of deficit thinking: research positions them as ignorant about social change and equity, and recalcitrant, as individuals who balk at moving away from traditional science instruction in favor of maintaining traditional content goals and methods (Campbell et al., 2022;Gray et al., 2021;Mayorga & Picower, 2018;Solic & Riley, 2019). ...
There is an urgent call for science and STEM teachers to incorporate practices for equity-centered environments, social justice-orientations, criticality and other practices that promote system change. Yet this demand occurs against the backdrop marginalization of teachers’ from having a say in the planning, teaching, and assessments in their own classrooms as teachers are stripped of agency, authority, and autonomy. We argue that these two simultaneous trends in science and STEM education—the drive for equity-centered environments and the systemic devaluation of teachers’ expertise—are incompatible. Realizing the goal of science classrooms that support equity-centered and social justice-oriented learning requires that teachers have equal voice in important decisions on matters that impact their day-to-day actions, which includes the power to determine goals and practices. This means dismantling some of the power structures in the educational system that disenfranchise teachers’ from making decisions based on their own knowledge, and their own goals for learning, particularly goals for social-justice and equity. In this article we describe pedagogical frameworks for making transformational change in science classrooms and in wider society and show how each framework is dependent on equity for teachers. We end with implications for this shift—moving toward a system where teachers have equal power—that is an essential part of creating science classrooms as sites of equity, social justice and science learning.
... Research focused on surfacing different points of view highlights that knowledge of science teaching is multi-perspectival and situated. Researchers' views of the constraints teachers face or the multiple goals and needs they juggle in teaching practice is often incomplete; and can, when not challenged, lead to deficit views of teachers (Gray et al, 2021). A second theme is variation in when and how different perspectives are invited into collaborative research, how varying perspectives shape the collaboration, and how they are reported. ...
This chapter reviews empirical research on researcher-teacher collaboration in science education, from joint inquiry with individual teachers to large-scale efforts to transform science teaching, identifying commitments and tools of these approaches. Assumptions these approaches share are: (1) collaborations can be organized to support individual and collective learning and (2) collaborations must recognize the strengths and agency of all participants. Further, collaborative research demands strategies for changing traditional divisions of labor and attending to interactional dynamics as shaped by power, history, and intersectional identities of participants. This chapter examines collaboration, and the learning collaboration affords, through the lens of expansive learning (Engeström and Sannino, 2010) and details five mechanisms that can support educators and researchers to work together "learn something that is not there:" surfacing multiple values and points of view, co-designing artifacts for educators' practice, engaging directly with organizational tensions, infrastructuring, and re-mediating relations.
“Where did the puddles go? What’s the moon like around the world? What’s hiding in the woodpile?”
Despite the importance of developing elementary science teachers' content knowledge for teaching (CKT), there are limited assessments that have been designed to measure the full breadth of their CKT at scale. Our overall research project addressed this gap by developing an online assessment to measure elementary preservice teachers' CKT about matter and its interactions. This study, which was part of our larger project, reports on findings from one component of the item development process examining the construct validity of 118 different CKT about matter assessment items. In this study, 86 elementary teachers participated in cognitive interviews to examine: (a) the knowledge and reasoning they used when responding to these CKT about matter assessment items and (b) the nature of the content challenges and the content teaching challenges they encountered. Findings showed that over 80% of participant interview responses indicated that the CKT about matter items functioned as hypothesized, providing evidence to support future use of these items on a large‐scale assessment and in studies of science teachers' CKT. When responding to the items, participants showed evidence of four main challenges with the science content: (a) using scientific concepts to reason about science tasks, (b) using adequate evidence to reason about science phenomenon, (c) drawing upon examples of scientific phenomena, and (d) drawing upon science vocabulary. Findings also showed that participants experienced challenges regarding the following content teaching aspects when responding to these items: (a) connecting to key scientific concepts involved in the work of teaching science, (b) attending to instructional goal(s), and (c) recognizing features of grade‐level appropriateness. Implications for using CKT items as part of large‐scale science assessment systems and identifying areas to target in elementary science teachers' CKT development are addressed.
As part of learning to teach, teachers must learn to use a range of teaching practices. In this longitudinal study the authors explore how novice elementary teachers learn to engage in a set of high‐leverage science teaching practices, such as leading a science sensemaking discussion and setting up and managing small‐group investigations. Drawing primarily on videorecords from 33 lesson enactments, supplemented by transcripts of interviews with the participants, the authors follow five participants from their second year of a teacher education program through their first year of teaching. Findings suggest that high‐leverage science teaching practices can be untangled from one another and that teachers mostly demonstrated some important strengths in the dimensions of the practices. Furthermore, the teachers were able to use the practices synergistically, though in different ways, toward their goal of supporting students' sensemaking. The findings also suggest that teachers' engagement in the practices varied considerably as a function of lesson and school context. The findings have implications for the design of practice‐based teacher education experiences and for scholarship on teacher development.
The COVID-19 pandemic has touched almost every corner of the planet and continues to impact on lives, livelihoods, economies and cultures. It is both a human and a global phenomenon. Making sense of what is happening requires an understanding of a number of scientific ideas including viruses, transmission, incubation and vaccination. These are life and death issues and yet the public and their political leaders often display a deliberate mistrust of the science and scientists. How might the science education community respond? We pose a series of questions designed to provoke a strong response to COVID-19 from our community and our colleagues: “How well has the science curriculum prepared the world’s public for COVID-19?”; “How much science education should be online from now on?”; “Are we learning from the current situation?”; “Is science education research producing knowledge that protects society from catastrophic events?”; “How should our working practices change to make science education more resilient, more useful and more transparent?”; “What are the ethics and politics of social distancing and how do they affect science education?”; “What pedagogies might we need to turn to in the future?”; and, “What role should business and industry play in funding science education research and development?” In our attempt to stimulate the development of a vision for science education in the post-pandemic era, we offer initial thoughts about moving forward. What we offer is a departure point, an invitation for the community to engage with pressing issues in science education. The main question we pose is the following: What can be done, and what can be done differently? We envision that this paper will provide some guidance to the readers to re-think the complex systems and socio-political contexts within which people come to learn and practice science and to conceptualize these processes through a social justice lens. We argue that a social justice informed approach towards shaping a vision for science education in the post-pandemic era is of paramount importance and that failure to do so will only serve as a way of perpetuating existing inequalities.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have become increasingly important in health care. Clinicians read them to keep up to date with their field [1],[2], and they are often used as a starting point for developing clinical practice guidelines. Granting agencies may require a systematic review to ensure there is justification for further research [3], and some health care journals are moving in this direction [4]. As with all research, the value of a systematic review depends on what was done, what was found, and the clarity of reporting. As with other publications, the reporting quality of systematic reviews varies, limiting readers' ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of those reviews.
Several early studies evaluated the quality of review reports. In 1987, Mulrow examined 50 review articles published in four leading medical journals in 1985 and 1986 and found that none met all eight explicit scientific criteria, such as a quality assessment of included studies [5]. In 1987, Sacks and colleagues [6] evaluated the adequacy of reporting of 83 meta-analyses on 23 characteristics in six domains. Reporting was generally poor; between one and 14 characteristics were adequately reported (mean = 7.7; standard deviation = 2.7). A 1996 update of this study found little improvement [7].
In 1996, to address the suboptimal reporting of meta-analyses, an international group developed a guidance called the QUOROM Statement (QUality Of Reporting Of Meta-analyses), which focused on the reporting of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials [8]. In this article, we summarize a revision of these guidelines, renamed PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses), which have been updated to address several conceptual and practical advances in the science of systematic reviews (Box 1).
Box 1: Conceptual Issues in the Evolution from QUOROM to PRISMA
Completing a Systematic Review Is an Iterative Process
The conduct of a systematic review depends heavily on the scope and quality of included studies: thus systematic reviewers may need to modify their original review protocol during its conduct. Any systematic review reporting guideline should recommend that such changes can be reported and explained without suggesting that they are inappropriate. The PRISMA Statement (Items 5, 11, 16, and 23) acknowledges this iterative process. Aside from Cochrane reviews, all of which should have a protocol, only about 10% of systematic reviewers report working from a protocol [22]. Without a protocol that is publicly accessible, it is difficult to judge between appropriate and inappropriate modifications.
Background
For decades, scholars have argued that teaching and learning depend fundamentally on the quality of relationships between teachers and students, yet there is little research about how teachers develop relationships with students or how teacher education prepares teachers to do this work. Arguably, articulating the relational practices of teaching is critical for those aiming to prepare teachers to reach across differences, educate from a social justice perspective, and teach an increasingly diverse population of students. Noting the emphasis on relationships in community-based organizations (CBOs), the authors investigated preservice field placements in CBOs as potentially strategic contexts for learning about relational aspects of teaching.
Objective
The authors engaged the questions: What do candidates learn in CBO field placements? What are sources of variation between candidates’ learning outcomes? What are individual and contextual factors that shaped candidates’ opportunities to learn in CBOs? Specifically, which factors influenced candidates’ inclination and capacity to enact relational teaching practices (e.g., the methods and skills associated with learning about and connecting with students, families, and communities)?
Research Design
This study was a 3-year longitudinal investigation. Authors followed two cohorts of candidates from their first quarter of preparation into their first year of teaching. Qualitative methods, such as interviews, observations, and document review were employed in this inquiry of 12 case study candidates. To examine questions of variation, authors also conducted an in-depth comparative case analysis of a subset of two candidates and their CBO placement contexts.
Findings
CBO placements facilitated opportunities for candidates to “see students”: candidates developed deeper understandings about children and more nuanced conceptions of diversity; experienced and examined school from an out-of-school perspective; and demonstrated greater attentiveness to the role of context in learning. The more detailed comparative analysis of two cases revealed variation in candidates’ experiences and their enactment of practices involved in building relationships with children and families. This analysis identified individual and situational factors (in coursework and CBOs) that facilitated and impeded candidate learning in CBOs.
Conclusions
Findings from this study highlight the types of learning outcomes that preser-vice community-based placements potentially afford, as well as factors that make some placements more educative than others. The authors offer a theoretical lens that attends to variation in learning, which could be leveraged in future empirical work. This research contributes to the field's developing efforts to identify key social justice teaching practices and to conceptualize pedagogies of enactment for such practices.
The purpose of this case study is to delve into the complexities of the early development of preservice chemistry teachers’ science teaching orientations, knowledge of learners, knowledge of instructional strategies, and knowledge of assessment during a two-semester intervention designed to enhance their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching nature of science (NOS). Thirty preservice chemistry teachers enrolled in a Research in Science Education course participated in the study. Qualitative data sources included responses to an open-ended instrument, interviews, observations, and artifacts such as lesson plans and reflection papers. Through the in-depth analysis of explicit PCK and constant comparative method of analysis, we identified the influence of the intervention on participants’ PCK for NOS. Analysis of data revealed four major themes related to the nature of preservice chemistry teachers’ NOS teaching practices and their PCK for NOS: (1) prerequisite knowledge and beliefs are necessary to teach NOS, (2) there is a developmental progression of PCK for NOS from knowledge to application level, (3) teachers need some comfort in their NOS understanding to teach NOS, and (4) the higher integration of PCK components leads to successful NOS teaching practices. Implications for science teacher education and research are discussed.
In this article, we describe how teachers in the Australian school system are educated to teach science and the different qualifications that teachers need to enter the profession. The latest comparisons of Australian students in international science assessments have brought about various accountability measures to improve the quality of science teachers at all levels. We discuss the issues and implications of government initiatives in preservice and early career teacher education programs, such as the implementation of national science curriculum, the stricter entry requirements to teacher education programs, an alternative pathway to teaching and the measure of effectiveness of teacher education programs. The politicized discussion and initiatives to improve the quality of science teacher education in Australia are still unfolding as we write in 2014.
Many educational researchers across the United States have found that inquiry-based learning (IBL) supports the development of deep, meaningful content knowledge. However, integrating IBL into classroom practice has been challenging, in part because of contrasting conceptualizations and practices across educational fields. In this article, we (a) describe differing conceptions of IBL, (b) summarize our own studies of IBL in three fields of education, (c) compare and contrast the processes and purposes of IBL in our studies and fields, and (d) suggest numerous opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaborations on IBL curriculum, teaching, and research that could bolster its inclusion in K-12 education. We ground our exploration in knowledge-generating conceptualizations and practices in these fields.
In this article, a new research model for the study of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is presented which aims to improve teacher education. This model called “educational reconstruction for teacher education” (ERTE) represents the framework for an integrative approach to the study of science teachers’ topic specific PCK, which is a largely unexplored field. By integrating the PCK concept, originating in the American Curriculum tradition, into the German (Fach)didaktik tradition, this model adds a new perspective to (Fach)didaktik. This paper, therefore, also aims to clarify the PCK concept and its relation to Fachdidaktik.
The purpose of this study was to rethink the conceptualization of pedagogical content knowledge based on our descriptive research
findings and to show how this new conceptualization helps us to understand teachers as professionals. This study was a multiple
case study grounded in a social constructivist framework. Data were collected from multiple sources and analysed using three
approaches: (a) constant comparative method, (b) enumerative approach, and (c) in-depth analysis of explicit PCK. The results
indicated that (a) PCK was developed through reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action within given instructional contexts,
(b) teacher efficacy emerged as an affective affiliate of PCK, (c) students had an important impact on PCK development, (d)
students’ misconceptions played a significant role in shaping PCK, and (e) PCK was idiosyncratic in some aspects of its enactment.
Discussion centres on how these five aspects are related to teacher professionalism.
Research in the area of educational technology has often been critiqued for a lack of theoretical grounding. In this article we propose a conceptual framework for educational technology by building on Shulrnan's formulation of “pedagogical content knowledge” and extend it to the phenomenon of teachers integrating technology into their pedagogy. This framework is the result of 5 years of work on a program of research focused on teacher professional development and faculty development in higher education. It attempts to capture some of the essential qualities of teacher knowledge required for technology integration in teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted, and situated nature of this knowledge. We argue, briefly, that thoughtful pedagogical uses of technology require the development of a complex, situated form of knowledge that we call Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). In doing so, we posit the complex roles of, and interplay among, three main components of learning environments: content, pedagogy, and technology. We argue that this model has much to offer to discussions of technology integration at multiple levels: theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological. In this article, we describe the theory behind our framework, provide examples of our teaching approach based upon the framework, and illustrate the methodological contributions that have resulted from this work.
New reforms envision ambitious teaching, requiring knowledge and abilities beginning teachers may not have. To support learning to teach, a practice-based approach has been suggested. This study examines four preservice teachers' learning pathways for one science teaching practice, supporting students to construct evidence-based claims, during a two-year practice-based teacher education program. Analyses uncovered variation and similarities across and within the teachers’ pathways. For example, one teacher provided inconsistent support for elementary students to analyze data, whereas another developed sophisticated support. The findings suggest that elements of the program, such as coherence, facilitated the learning, having implications for teacher educators.
Two anomalies continue to confound researchers and science teacher educators. First, new science teachers are quick to discard the pedagogy and practices that they learn in their teacher education programs in favor of a traditional, didactic approach to teaching science. Second, a discrepancy exists at all stages of science teachers' careers between a science teacher's self-reported pedagogical preferences and the behavior they exhibit during classroom observations. Previous attempts to resolve these anomalies draw upon models of teacher cognition that often prioritize beliefs or knowledge. In this paper, we resolve these anomalies and further elaborate the relationship between science teacher education and classroom practice via a goal-driven model of cognition. Our model of goal-driven cognition takes as its central premise that a science teacher's instructional practice is an attempt to satisfy one or more of their goals. While knowledge and beliefs play an important role in cognition, a teacher's goals are ultimately the mental constructs that engage the motivational and behavioral system, leading to action. In this paper, we first specify our goal-driven model of cognition, and detail the role played by goals, beliefs and knowledge, and contextual information in cognition and action. When then compare our model to other theoretical approaches in research on science teacher cognition, showing how our model is distinct from these approaches. Next, we return to the two anomalies mentioned above, showing how a goal-driven model resolves each. We also contrast our resolution with how the anomalies are resolved via a belief or knowledge driven model. We then provide implications of our theory for science teacher education, with respect to both course work and field experiences. Finally, we provide directions for future research, paying particular attention to ways to provide evidence in support of this theoretical approach.
Prior research has contributed to our understanding about the ways teachers communicate their expectations to students, how students perceive differential teacher behaviors, and their effect on students’ own perceptions of ability and achievement. Despite more than half a century of this work, historically marginalized students continue to be underrepresented in a vast array of achievement outcomes. Scholars have argued that asset-based pedagogy is essential to effective teaching, but reviews of research repeatedly point to a need for empirical evidence. This article describes a study wherein asset-based practices are applied to a classroom dynamics framework to examine how teachers’ asset-based pedagogy beliefs and behaviors are associated with Latino students’ ethnic and reading achievement identity. Analyses revealed that teachers’ critical awareness moderates their expectancy, resulting in higher achievement; and teachers’ critical awareness and expectancy beliefs were found to be directly associated with teachers’ behaviors, which were in turn related to students’ ethnic and achievement identities. Implications for teacher education are discussed.
This paper examines how elementary teacher candidates experience Family Math and Science Nights with culturally and linguistically diverse children and families. Weekly reflections were analyzed using Gay’s (2002, 2013) Culturally Responsive Teaching framework to highlight the process of enacting and thinking in key areas: (1) Changing attitudes and beliefs, (2) Leveraging culture and difference, (3) Grappling with resistance, and (4) Improving pedagogical connections. An action-oriented focus underscores that teacher candidates need multiple rounds of practice to disrupt traditional notions of teaching and move towards cultural responsiveness. Findings suggest the importance of repeated practice, context, and focused guided reflection.
Such diverse thinkers as Lao-Tze, Confucius, and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have all pointed out that we need to be able to tell the difference between real and assumed knowledge. The systematic review is a scientific tool that can help with this difficult task. It can help, for example, with appraising, summarising, and communicating the results and implications of otherwise unmanageable quantities of data. This book, written by two highly-respected social scientists, provides an overview of systematic literature review methods: Outlining the rationale and methods of systematic reviews; Giving worked examples from social science and other fields; Applying the practice to all social science disciplines; It requires no previous knowledge, but takes the reader through the process stage by stage; Drawing on examples from such diverse fields as psychology, criminology, education, transport, social welfare, public health, and housing and urban policy, among others. Including detailed sections on assessing the quality of both quantitative, and qualitative research; searching for evidence in the social sciences; meta-analytic and other methods of evidence synthesis; publication bias; heterogeneity; and approaches to dissemination.
Providing support focused on real challenges is critical in retaining highly qualified new science teachers, but the field lacks a systematic description of these teachers’ needs. The authors of this article examine the areas that science teachers are expected to understand: (1) the content and disciplines of science, (2) learners, (3) instruction, (4) learning environments, and (5) professionalism. They review the literature on challenges facing preservice and early-career science teachers, identify issues on which conventional wisdom is supported or called into question, and highlight the areas where the existing research is inadequate as a basis for generalization. For example, the authors found few studies on how new science teachers use curriculum materials or how they understand scientific inquiry. Their overview of challenges is followed by a discussion of how these teachers can be supported.
In talk about teacher preparation and professional development, we often hear the word practice associated with what, how, or when the learning of teaching is supposed to happen. In this article, four different conceptions of practice are investigated, and their implications for how learning teaching might be organized are explored. Rather than a comprehensive review of the literature, what is presented here is a set of ideas that draw on both past and present efforts at reform. The purpose of this essay is to provoke clarification of what we mean when we talk about practice in relation to learning teaching. The author draws on her own research on the work of teaching from the perspective of practice to represent the nature of the work and to speculate from various perspectives on how that work might be learned.
Lee S. Shulman builds his foundation for teaching reform on an idea of teaching that emphasizes comprehension and reasoning, transformation and reflection. "This emphasis is justified," he writes, "by the resoluteness with which research and policy have so blatantly ignored those aspects of teaching in the past." To articulate and justify this conception, Shulman responds to four questions: What are the sources of the knowledge base for teaching? In what terms can these sources be conceptualized? What are the processes of pedagogical reasoning and action? and What are the implications for teaching policy and educational reform? The answers — informed by philosophy, psychology, and a growing body of casework based on young and experienced practitioners — go far beyond current reform assumptions and initiatives. The outcome for educational practitioners, scholars, and policymakers is a major redirection in how teaching is to be understood and teachers are to be trained and evaluated.
This article was selected for the November 1986 special issue on "Teachers, Teaching, and Teacher Education," but appears here because of the exigencies of publishing.
In this article, the authors provide an argument for future directions for teacher education, based on a re‐conceptualization of teaching. The authors argue that teacher educators need to attend to the clinical aspects of practice and experiment with how best to help novices develop skilled practice. Taking clinical practice seriously will require teacher educators to add pedagogies of enactment to an existing repertoire of pedagogies of reflection and investigation. In order to make this shift, the authors contend that teacher educators will need to undo a number of historical divisions that underlie the education of teachers. These include the curricular divide between foundations and methods courses, as well as the separation between the university and schools. Finally, the authors propose that teacher education be organized around a core set of practices in which knowledge, skill, and professional identity are developed in the process of learning to practice during professional education.
The elementary science teacher educators in this article set recognize the challenges that new science teachers face when they enter classrooms. They have developed frameworks and strategies aimed at helping the preservice teachers with whom they work become “well-started beginners” who are ready to address problems of science teaching. To do so, these educators purposefully engage the candidates in focused dialogue regarding challenges or problems of practice that they will likely face in their work. These challenges include (1) engaging in science, (2) organizing instruction, and (3) understanding students. The science teacher educators use a dialogic third space to help the preservice teachers reconsider and develop deeper understandings of these problems of practice. In this introduction, we point out some of the common themes that tie these articles together, including (a) a focus on problems of practice in elementary science teaching, (b) a focus on dialogue with preservice teachers about these problems of practice, (c) a commitment to developing tools and approaches that support principled reasoning about these problems of practice, and (d) a commitment to shared goals and methods for research on elementary science teacher education. We point to ways that these themes are addressed in the three articles. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed93:678–686, 2009
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore what aspects of two first-year elementary teachers' practices were most consistent with an inquiry-based approach, what PCK served as a mechanism for facilitating these practices, and what experiences have mediated the nature and development of these teachers' PCK. For each of the participants data included audio-recorded interviews, video-recorded classroom observations, lesson plans, and samples of student work. Data analysis illustrated that both participants engaged their students in question-driven investigations, the use of observational data, making connections between evidence and claims, and communicating those claims to others. Moreover, there was clear evidence in the findings of the study that a considerable degree of coherence existed between the two participants' knowledge on one hand and their instructional practices on the other hand. The participants perceived specific learning experiences during their programs as being critical to their development. The contribution of this study lies in the fact that it provides examples of well-started beginning elementary teachers implementing inquiry-based science in 2nd and 5th grade classrooms. Implications of the study include the need for the design of university-based courses and interventions by which teacher preparation and professional development programs support teachers in developing PCK for scientific inquiry and enacting instructional practices that are congruent with reform initiatives. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:661–686, 2010
Students' reactions to the intersection between ongoing experiences in the university classroom and student teaching constitute the formative component of learning assessment called self-assessment. Student reactions, captured via file cards and reflective journals, constituted evidence for final self-evaluation, the summative component of self-assessment. The implementation of a self-evaluation protocol in a science methods course provided the focus for a descriptive and interpretive study in which Foucault and feminist theories of power and knowledge provided the analytical structure for examination of themes of surveillance, discipline structure, and criticality that must be examined if self-evaluation is to support people learning to teach.
This paper focuses on a 3-year, longitudinal study of the implementation of coteaching, as an innovative approach for preparing high school science teachers enrolled in an undergraduate science teacher education programme located in the United States. The coteaching|co-generative dialogue|co-respect|co-responsibility dialectic is introduced as a way to conceptualise coteaching practice and support successful implementation. We also discuss means to introduce coteaching into the preservice programs and report on findings from an evaluative study of the implementation process. Coteaching has the potential to re-conceptualise teacher preparation and professional development models for science teachers.
We used border crossing as a theoretical framework to explore the tensions that developed between two mentor–intern pairs during the course of a yearlong internship in high schools in the United States. Interviews with mentors and interns, and observations of planning sessions, teaching episodes, and follow-up conferences indicated that differing conceptions of mentoring, expectations related to communication, and beliefs about teaching formed the primary borders that the pairs had to navigate. Findings from the study suggest that the university must take a greater role in fostering communication between mentors and interns, and in providing on-going support to mentors engaged in teacher education.
Research in the area of educational technology has often been critiqued for a lack of theoretical grounding. In this article we propose a conceptual framework for educational technology by building on Shulman's formulation of "pedagogical content knowledge" and extend it to the phenomenon of teachers integrating technology into their pedagogy. This framework is the result of 5 years of work on a program of research focused on teacher professional development and faculty development in higher education. It attempts to capture some of the essential qualities of teacher knowledge required for technology integration in teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted, and situated nature of this knowledge. We argue, briefly, that thoughtful pedagogical uses of technology require the development of a complex, situated form of knowledge that we call Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). In doing so, we posit the complex roles of, and interplay among, three main components of learning environments: content, pedagogy, and technology. We argue that this model has much to offer to discussions of technology integration at multiple levels: theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological. In this article, we describe the theory behind our framework, provide examples of our teaching approach based upon the framework, and illustrate the methodological contributions that have resulted from this work.
Learning portfolios are increasingly being used in university teacher-education programs as assessment instrument. With formative assessment in mind, this study provides a method to assess the modifications made by each pre-service teacher in his/her project included in his/her learning portfolio. The project consisted of designing a lesson plan for teaching mathematical knowledge taking into account Content, Activities, Methodology and Reflection. The outcomes showed significant differences in the revisions carried out in all categories except Activities. Although the use of portfolio promoted the successful development of each pre-service teacher's initial ideas, the training received during the teacher-education program had limited influence.
Examining pedagogical content knowledge: The construct and its implications for science education
- W S Carlsen
Carlsen, W. S. (1999). Domains of teacher knowledge. In J. Gess-Newsome & N. G. Lederman (Eds.),
Examining pedagogical content knowledge: The construct and its implications for science education
(Vol. 6, pp. 133-146). Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Cognitive and sociocultural perspective on learning: Tensions and synergy in the learning sciences
- J A Danish
- M Gresalfi
Danish, J. A., & Gresalfi, M. (2018). Cognitive and sociocultural perspective on learning: Tensions and
synergy in the learning sciences. In F. Fischer, C. E. Hmelo-Silver, S. R. Goldman, & P. Reimann
(Eds.), International handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 34-43). Routledge.
Altering the Trajectory of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- F López
López, F. (2017). Altering the Trajectory of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. Journal of Teacher Education,
68(2), 193-212. doi:10.1177/0022487116685751
Research on science teacher knowledge
- J H Van Driel
- A Berry
- J Meirink
Van Driel, J. H., Berry, A., & Meirink, J. (2014). Research on science teacher knowledge. In
N. G. Lederman & S. K. Abell (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 848-870).
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