Teacher Education Courses Research Articles

Promoting adaptive intervention competence for teaching simulations and mathematical modelling with digital tools: theoretical background and empirical analysis of a university course in teacher education

Providing adaptive, independence-preserving and theory-guided support to students in dealing with real-world problems in mathematics lessons is a major challenge for teachers in their professional practice. This paper examines this challenge in the context of simulations and mathematical modelling with digital tools: in addition to mathematical difficulties when autonomously working out individual solutions, students may also experience challenges when using digital tools. These challenges need to be closely examined and diagnosed, and might – if necessary – have to be overcome by intervention in such a way that the students can subsequently continue working independently. Thus, if a difficulty arises in the working process, two knowledge dimensions are necessary in order to provide adapted support to students. For teaching simulations and mathematical modelling with digital tools, more specifically, these knowledge dimensions are: pedagogical content knowledge about simulation and modelling processes supported by digital tools (this includes knowledge about phases and difficulties in the working process) and pedagogical content knowledge about interventions during the mentioned processes (focussing on characteristics of suitable interventions as well as their implementation and effects on the students’ working process). The two knowledge dimensions represent cognitive dispositions as the basis for the conceptualisation and operationalisation of a so-called adaptive intervention competence for teaching simulations and mathematical modelling with digital tools. In our article, we present a domain-specific process model and distinguish different types of teacher interventions. Then we describe the design and content of a university course at two German universities aiming to promote this domain-specific professional adaptive intervention competence, among others. In a study using a quasi-experimental pre-post design (N = 146), we confirm that the structure of cognitive dispositions of adaptive intervention competence for teaching simulations and mathematical modelling with digital tools can be described empirically by a two-dimensional model. In addition, the effectiveness of the course is examined and confirmed quantitatively. Finally, the results are discussed, especially against the background of the sample and the research design, and conclusions are derived for possibilities of promoting professional adaptive intervention competence in university courses.

Developing teacher candidates’ global teaching competence through virtual exchange

ABSTRACT This study explored how a learning community was formed and evolved among Chinese and American teacher candidates through a virtual exchange (VE) project embedded in teacher education courses, and how the VE project could support candidates to develop globally competent teaching. Data were collected through pre- and post-surveys, Zoom recordings, peer feedback on lesson plans and recorded teaching segments, and final interviews. Findings indicated that the VE project helped form an authentic platform for in-depth discussions around the topics of language teaching and lesson planning. Abundant evidence related to globally competent teaching and limitations are also detailed in the study.

The Marathon Continues: Black Faculty Awakened & Inspired by Neighborhood Nip to Redesign Community-Engaged Teacher Education Courses

ABSTRACT The purpose of this conceptual article is to illustrate how our awakening after Nipsey Hussle’s death, our visit to his memorial, his music and life, and our lived experiences influenced a redesign of our community-engaged courses. We realized we had bought into respectability politics and prioritized making our white colleagues and preservice teachers comfortable, leaving behind our hoods. Experiencing the outpouring of love for his work and life made us realize that we didn’t have to let go of our hoods to be a part of academia. Through a Self-Study in Teacher Education, a type of practitioner inquiry undertaken by teacher educators, we shared our stories growing up in our hoods, explored our Hip-Hop identities, and the awakening we experienced to redesign and inform our community-engaged curricular decisions. This article is a “Blackprint”. It’s an offering to teacher educators to explore and interrogate their identities and personal experiences as a springboard to centering Blackness in their courses. It stems from our childhoods in the hood, our careers as scholars, and the call to action inspired by Nipsey’s death. This is a call to elevate the hood in teacher education.

PROBLEMATIC ASPECTS OF HEALTH-PRESERVING COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT IN PRESCHOOL TEACHERS

The article substantiates the problem of health-preserving competence development in teachers of preschool education: as an important task of the modern world, as a priority personal characteristic, as a component of professional training. The essence of the phenomenon of “health-preserving competence” is revealed, the following structural components are distinguished: emotional and motivational, cognitive and activity-centered. The goal of the research is to determine the conceptual foundations of the development of health-preserving competence in teachers of preschool education; data collection and processing of information to clarify problematic aspects of the phenomenon being under consideration. In the course of empirical research, the authors used the method of anonymous thematic survey (questionnaire) and its analysis. The research group consisted of: students of the 4th year of dual mode of study (who work on specialty) – 38 participants (group A); students of the 4th year of part-time mode of study who work on specialty (in preschool educational institutions) – 45 participants (group B) and students of advanced training courses – 53 participants (group C). The total number is 136 respondents. The conducted research proved that the respondents are aware of the main categories of health; are motivated and aware of the importance of health-preserving behavior, but are not sufficiently aware of modern health-preserving technologies. Therefore, the activity-centered component requires to be strengthened for the development of health-preserving competence in teachers of preschool educational institutions. Prospects for further scientific work will consist in the implementation to the system of higher education and advanced training courses for preschool teachers of the elective course “Formation of health-preserving competence in the subjects of the educational process” and determining the effectiveness of its implementation.

“Living in These Two Places Really Shaped My Life”: Examining Multimodal Playlist Assignments in Social Studies and Language Arts Methods Courses

In this article, the authors consider the use of a “Playlist of My Life Assignment” in helping social studies (SS) and English language arts (ELA) teacher candidates (TCs) conceptualize multimodal and humanizing SS and ELA curricula. The Playlist Assignment asked teacher candidates to center the music, texts, land, spaces, and places that are most important to them, and potentially relate these back to their own pedagogies as SS and ELA teachers. Taken from two qualitative studies of two teacher education courses at two separate, large research universities in the U.S. Southwest, this article examines teacher candidates’ understandings of their disciplines as humanizing and multimodal, and as centered in their and their students’ communities, through the Playlist Assignment. Data included the Playlist Assignment, curated by TCs in each methods course, and TCs’ class response journals. TCs offered profound texts they carried within them throughout their lives, demonstrating (1) their multimodal disruptions of the definition of a “text” and (2) the empowering and limiting effect of life texts for humanizing curricula. This work has implications for SS and ELA teacher educators interested in supporting teacher candidates as they conceptualize multimodal and humanizing curricula with and for their future students.

Look to the Side: Peer Partnerships in Preservice Literacy Teacher Education

Most often teacher education has attended to the expertise of university instructors and cooperating teachers in preservice teachers’ (PTs) learning in and from practice; rarely has the field addressed leveraging horizontal expertise within this learning-to-teach process. In this multiple case study, we examined what happens when teacher educators incorporate peer partnerships (Assaf & Lopez, 2015; Hoffman et al., 2018), where PTs coach and mentor each other around literacy teaching practices, within literacy field-based courses. Through our cross-case analysis, we found that peer partnerships scaffolded PTs’ learning by expanding their views of teaching practices, provided space to utilize their literacy content knowledge and literacy pedagogical content knowledge, and facilitated PTs’ development of equity-focused teaching stances. By establishing collaborative approaches to literacy instruction through peer partnerships, PTs served as sources of expertise and knowledge, thus disrupting the expert–novice divide in teacher education courses.

Investigating New Literacies Among Teacher Educators: A Multi-Institution Collaborative Self-Study

This multi-institutional, collaborative self-study explores how teacher educators learn to embed new literacies (NL) in teacher education coursework. Utilizing collaborative self-study methodology, seven faculty engaged in a year-long collaborative study focused on the incorporation of NL in preservice teacher education courses, meeting regularly over the course of the year to share reflections, provide feedback to one another, and continually revise course and assignment designs related to NL. Data sources included recordings of collaborative planning meetings, written reflections, annotated teaching artifacts, notes and transcripts from partner and whole group recorded Zoom sessions and post-meeting reflections. The findings describe diversity in both conceptualizing and teaching NL, parallels between teacher educators’, preservice teachers’ and P-12 teachers’ challenges integrating NL into their teaching, and institutional barriers to collaborative study, curricular revision, and the use of new technologies. The authors discuss these findings in relation to the potential value of multi-institutional study groups and collaborative self-study as a methodology for helping support literacy teacher educators’ ongoing learning.

Brazilian teachers’ views and experiences regarding teaching biodiversity in an evolutionary and phylogenetic approach

BackgroundThe centrality of evolution to the biological sciences is recognized by many authors. Given the importance of evolution to biology, we intend to understand if, and how, science and biology teachers teach about biodiversity from an evolutionary perspective. In the first part of the research (Study 1), teachers from all geographic regions of Brazil (n = 147) answered a questionnaire containing both open-ended and Likert scale items in order to compare biodiversity-related contents to evolution. Considering the results obtained, a second study sought to analyze what challenges and possibilities Brazilian teachers who were enrolled in a continuing professional development course find in their classroom practices and the teaching materials they use when approaching cladograms while teaching about the diversity of organisms, as well as the experiences they had with cladograms during their education. These teachers responded to open-ended questionnaires concerning their experiences when learning and teaching about cladograms.ResultsFindings in Study 1 revealed that the concepts with the least emphasis among teachers were those related to macroevolution and phylogenetics. We found in Study 2 that teachers recognize cladograms as an important biological representation. In general, they approach it in biology and science classes, but often not relating it to topics concerning biodiversity. Teachers reported using multiple resources for teaching about cladograms, but textbooks were the most used teaching material. However, teachers reported that textbooks do not approach the theme sufficiently enough and mentioned it as a challenge. They also reported learning about phylogenetic content during teacher education but did not discuss aspects regarding teaching about cladograms.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that it is important that teacher education courses and new teaching materials consider the importance of cladograms and the specificities of phylogenetics within the teaching context.

Self-regulated learning and intercultural competence: examining the role of self-regulation in supporting preservice teachers’ intercultural learning outcomes

ABSTRACT This mixed-methods study examines how 15 preservice teachers’ self-regulated learning (SRL) skills relate to their ICC development in a teacher education course. ICC was assessed using a standardised exam and an open-ended cultural dilemma. Participants’ SRL was assessed along 7 dimensions: planning, goal orientation, task strategies, self-efficacy, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and adaptiveness. Quantitative analyses demonstrate that participants’ SRL abilities were significantly associated with higher ICC outcomes on the exam (r = .69, p < .01) and dilemma assignment (r = .87, p < .01). Higher performance on the exam was associated with the planning, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation processes, whereas higher performance on the cultural dilemma was associated with planning, goal orientation, strategy use, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and adaptiveness. To compare ICC development across participants at varying levels of SRL abilities, we conducted a content analysis of participants’ dilemma responses. Only participants with the highest self-regulation skills demonstrated proficiency in all four cognitive intercultural competencies. Participants who were less adept at self-regulation were more likely to make ethnocentric statements in their responses, suggesting minimal evidence of ICC development. Overall, the findings supported our hypothesis that more skilled self-regulators would be further developed along the cognitive dimension of ICC.

Pre-service teachers’ experiences of remote online learning: reimagining teacher education post-pandemic

ABSTRACT Background As teaching and learning processes evolve in the wake of COVID−19, fresh thinking about the role of remote online learning (ROL) is critical as part of a wider reimagining of education in a post-pandemic context. In this paper, attention is focused on ROL within teacher education. Purpose This study sought to explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their ROL experiences in a Fijian teacher education programme. Method The qualitative study design was informed by transactional distance theory. Using a narrative inquiry approach, data from 15 pre-service teachers were collected and analysed. Via individual interviews conducted online, the prospective teachers shared their perceptions about the nature of interactions experienced whilst engaged in ROL during the pandemic. Data were analysed thematically, in relation to instructional dialogue, course structure, and autonomy. Findings In-depth analysis of rich data allowed main themes to emerge that captured the participants’ viewpoints. Prominent themes in instructional dialogue revealed some concerns about the precedence of textual communication over verbal in ROL and the perception of emphasis on product over the process of learning. In terms of course structure, volume of assessment and teaching style were among aspects which participants identified as affecting learner-content engagement. Comments about learner autonomy suggested that the pre-service teachers sought positives amidst the difficulties encountered, whilst maintaining a focus on completing the assessments and passing the course. Conclusion The analysis of pre-service teachers’ experiences offers insight into how aspects of ROL may challenge participant engagement within elements of teacher education courses. It highlights the support that needs to be provided to prospective teachers in order to reduce transactional distance, suggesting that effective course design and instructional dialogue to promote learner autonomy are both crucial to sustainable teacher education in the post-pandemic context.

‘Seeing Whiteness’ in Norwegian education challenging a discourse of silence

ABSTRACT Employing a systematic literature review, this study explores research into whiteness studies in Norwegian education. Whiteness is broached as a sociogenic rather than a phylogenic phenomenon homologous with constructed social categories such as class. The review shows a preponderance of a tiny number of academics studying whiteness, reticence and discomfort in grappling with white privilege and a hierarchy of whiteness where the indigenous Sami and East Europeans are relegated to a lower tier of whiteness – what we refer to as ‘shades of whiteness’. Teacher education courses need to furnish student teachers with analytical tools developed by scholars in the field of whiteness studies. We also drawn attention to the attendant challenge of exploring ways of identifying and redressing the deleterious effects of an internalized discourse of white supremacy on the part of non-white students. This would go some way in grappling with the imbricated and matrix-like nature of whiteness.

Designing online teaching curriculum to optimise learning for all students in higher education

AbstractDisruptions to higher education teaching have raised significant concerns over the best curriculum design for teaching online and for the inclusion of all students. Universal design for learning (UDL) together with curriculum research models – taxonomy of significant learning and integrated curriculum design (ICD), provides a curriculum approach to optimising students' learning and building engagement with learning online. This paper outlines the redesign process and decisions made to improve the curriculum design in an online sociology course in teacher education. The goals of the redesign were to optimise all student learning, engagement and perceived satisfaction. Data collection included student responses (pre and post), course evaluation, analytics and reflections from an expert reviewer. Analysis was guided by the UDL curriculum design principles of engagement, representation and action/expression. Emerging from this research is the need to ensure that online learning redesign is user‐friendly and engaging, with multiple supported learning opportunities for the students. This redesign strengthens the quality of online learning, with learning becoming more meaningful and learning activities incorporating elements that are reflective, instructional and social. One interesting aspect that emerged was the importance of the partnership between the academic and the instructional designer in the redesign process.

Perceived influences of a music teacher education programme on preservice music educators’ occupational identity development

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine preservice music educators’ perceptions of how the culture of a music teacher education programme and its embedded communities of practice influenced their occupational identity development. Research questions were (a) What specific cultural influences and communities of practice, if any, did the participants describe as particularly influential in regard to occupational identity development and why? (b) How did the participants describe their respective changes in occupational identities, if any? Participants were preservice music educators enrolled in an early childhood music education methods class with authentic-context learning (ACL) experiences. Data included audio recordings of classes, observational field notes, transcripts from multiple individual interviews and a focus group discussion, and students’ reflection journals. Participants cited several music teacher education courses, embedded ACL experiences, and supportive interactions with peers and professors, as a constellation of factors that influenced an occupational identity transition within themselves to think more broadly about their identities as educators and the means through which music could be taught.

Shifting the ways prospective teachers frame and notice student mathematical thinking: from deficits to strengths

Noticing the strengths in students’ mathematical thinking is a critical skill that teachers need to develop, but it can be challenging due to the prevalence of deficit-based thinking in mathematics education. To address this challenge, a teacher education course was designed to encourage prospective teachers to engage in critical reflection on their own and others’ framings of students’ thinking and shift their focus towards noticing students’ strengths. The study analyzed written responses from the prospective teachers, collected at the beginning and end of the course, to investigate their framing and noticing of students’ mathematical thinking. The analysis focused on the aspects of students’ thinking that the prospective teachers paid attention to, the stances they took when interpreting students’ thinking, and the instructional moves they proposed in response to their thinking. Furthermore, the study established a spectrum of deficit-based and strength-based framings on students’ mathematical thinking. This spectrum allowed for the identification of each participant’s written noticing responses within a range of possibilities, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the changes in teachers’ framing and noticing of students’ thinking over time.

Relational Ethics Through the Flesh: Considerations for an Anti-Colonial Future in Art Education.

In this article, we reflect on our teaching practices that include the development of an artist-in-residency program in one teacher education course and one graduate course in the Fall of 2022 at The University of British Columbia. During these residencies, Carrier Wit'at artist and printmaker Whess Harman and Indigenous scholar and a/r/tographer Jocelyne Robinson of the Algonquin Timiskaming First Nation demonstrate through their art practices how love and land are central tenets to relational ethics. We engage with Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua's theory in the flesh alongside the artists-in-residencies as we consider an anti-colonial future in art education. We propose the concept of relational ethics through the flesh as a reflexive, embodied, social justice-oriented way of being in the world.

Misinformation as a Societal Problem in Times of Crisis: A Mixed-Methods Study with Future Teachers to Promote a Critical Attitude towards Information

Global society is facing major challenges, which are to be met by pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Digitalization processes bring many opportunities for achieving SDGs, but they also bring pitfalls. For example, on one hand, social media makes it easier for more parts of society to participate. On the other hand, the ability to rapidly circulate unfiltered information can lead to the spread of misinformation and subsequently interfere with the achievement of SDGs. This effect could be observed during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to occur in the context of climate change. Young people are especially likely to be exposed to misinformation on social media. With this in mind, it is enormously important for schools to prepare young people to critically handle the overload of information available online. The aim of this study was to provide future middle and high school teachers with a fruitful approach to foster a critical attitude towards information in classrooms. To this end, we expanded an existing approach by implementing active, technique-based inoculation and technique-based debunking within the COVID-19 content framework in a teacher education course. This implementation was monitored by a mixed-methods study with n = 24 future middle and high school teachers who participated in two courses in subsequent semesters. By performing statistical analysis on pretests and posttests and qualitative content analysis on reflective journal entries, we found that future teachers’ self-efficacy expectations for detecting and debunking misinformation, as well as their debunking skills, increased throughout the courses. In addition, our results show that future teachers perceive active, technology-based inoculation as a helpful approach for their future teaching. They feel that this approach can be a way to implement education for sustainable development in schools with a focus on the promotion of critical thinking. In summary, we believe that the approach presented in this article may be beneficial for teaching the critical treatment of information in various thematic contexts.

Development and application of an anti-racist approach in English language teaching: from theory to practice

ABSTRACT South Koreans have long perceived their country to be an ethnically homogenous nation despite the rapidly growing inflow of migration workers and international marriage migrants. Such perceptions foster negative attitudes towards people viewed as outsiders. To counter such attitudes, English teachers acknowledge the need to nurture respect for cultural diversity and recognition of pluralism in a globalized world in their study and address anti-racism in their regular English class. However, what and how to teach anti-racist pedagogy to students are not sufficiently studied in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. In this regard, this study aims to provide English teachers with step-by-step guidelines on how to prepare for and implement anti-racist pedagogy to the English language teaching in a pre-service English teacher education course in Korea. To achieve these pedagogical goals, I discussed the need of an anti-racist approach at school and provided the rationales and pedagogical practices for involving pre-service English teachers in certain activities that can raise awareness about issues of inequality, oppression and marginalization. Moreover, I suggested anti-racist teaching strategies for English teachers to implement in their classrooms and provide an opportunity to design their course and develop their teaching skills through a teaching practice experience.

Primary preservice teachers’ exploration of possible selves through narrated metaphors during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study examines how primary-level preservice teachers (PSTs) in an online asynchronous course (co-)constructed and (re)negotiated their professional identities through the use of metaphors in online asynchronous courses in the U.S. By using metaphors and narrating their lived experiences in relation to their chosen metaphors, participants expressed their desired and feared identities. Their metaphorical expression of identities reflects the complex interplay between participants’ construction of their possible selves within the temporal, social, and spatial context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Individual and collaborative metaphor-based reflections provided a reflective space for PSTs to explore professional becoming and future possibilities at the interface between their sense of agency and their situated temporal, spatial, and social context, even within asynchronous online teacher education courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rethinking assessment in teacher education

This action research in education discusses the relationship between learning assessments and students' mental health, focusing on a Teacher Education course at a university in the Czech Republic. Institutional and relational practices are identified to foster better assessment opportunities.

Perceived affordances of a collaborative virtual teacher education course on CLIL and technologies during remote teaching

Perceived affordances of a collaborative virtual teacher education course on CLIL and technologies during remote teaching