A Study on the Visual Representation of Knowledge of IB Teachers Using Visual Narrative

Abstract

In previous studies, it has been pointed out through interviews that International Baccalaureate teachers tend to have constructivism-based teaching and learning theories, while Japanese teachers tend to have objectivism-based teaching and learning theories. However, we believe that there are weaknesses in the previous studies. First, they are verbal surveys, which limits their ability to get at the reality of teachers'' perceptions. Second, despite the importance of how teachers understand about knowledge as a basis for adopting new teaching and learning theories, these studies focus only on teaching and learning theories and not on how teachers cognize about knowledge. Therefore, this study attempts to overcome these weaknesses by interviewing teachers about their visual representation of knowledge using the research method of visual narratives proposed by Yoko Yamada. The teachers who cooperated in our research were three IB teachers and three non-IB teachers. We modeled the commonalities in their visual narratives and discussed them. The outcomes of the above study are the followings. First, we showed that it may not be easy to categorize IB teachers and non-IB teachers based on the image of knowledge they have. Second, we found cases in which the image of knowledge and the image of teaching and learning did not mesh or were parallel in individuals. Lastly, we pointed out that there is a strong affinity between IB teacher education and visual narrative. On the other hand, one of the limitations of this study is that it is a hypothesis-generating study, using the method of visual narratives, which is not established in teacher pedagogy or IB research. In light of the above, future perspectives include increasing the number of research subjects and deepening our understanding of how teachers'' understanding of knowledge are formed and transformed. In addition, by continuing to conduct interviews using visual narratives, we hope to develop the potential of visual narratives as a research method in teacher education. Furthermore, we would like to explore the effectiveness of visual narratives as a way to reflect and transform perceptions about knowledge.