A Case Study of the Novice and Expert Teachers’ Eye Movement in Elementary Science Classes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find the differences in the novice and expert teachers’ eye movement when teaching science class. For this research, two teachers were selected: one with eight months teaching experience and one with sixteen years and eight months teaching experience. The novice and expert teacher taught the class with a wearable eye tracker. Pre- and post- interviews were used for analyzing the classes. The classes were observed by the researcher, and recorded by two ways of cameras. First, it is revealed that the novice teacher looked at the blackboard, students, text book, environment and ict material in that order and looked at students on right side when writing on the board. The expert teacher looked at the students, blackboard and text book in that order and didn’t look at the environment and ict material when writing on board. She looked at students on the left side and right side equally. Second, the teachers were different with regard to their interaction with students. The novice teacher looked at some students and concentrated on the publisher. The expert teacher looked at the publisher and almost all of the other students. Teachers’ behavior was hard to analyze with previous research methods. The researcher could analyze the teachers’ behavior quantitatively through Eye-tracking. The results were used as a basis for professional development or used as materials to reflect on the effectiveness of teachers. When this research expands to include teachers with extensive experience, it will categorize the eye movement characteristics of the general teacher population.