Instructional Space Research Articles

Conferencing: A Catalyst for Developing Children’s Writing

AbstractThe writing process approach is recognized as an effective instructional practice for engaging children in the writing process and developing emerging writing skills. The writing conference is an integral component of the writing process. One-on-one conferencing sessions create differentiated instructional spaces for teachers to respond to the individual needs of learners. Understanding how teachers leverage conferencing sessions to effectively engage and support young learners’ writing remains a limited area of research. This case study documents one experienced teacher’s conferencing practices with 19 first-grade writers. Findings show conferencing conversations worked in an integrated, multidimensional way to support young writers. Conferencing dimensions leveraged children’s funds of knowledge, questioning and affirming statements, and writers’ craft components to nurture relationships and offer feedback aligned with children’s zone of proximal development.

A human-animal problematic and the production of pedagogical clearings in the classroom

This paper springboards from entanglements involving humanisms, classroom teaching, and eco-disaster. Drawing on Derrida’s l’animot, Marchesini’s theriomorphism and animal epiphany, and Rice and Rud’s blurring, we mine the deep potentials in postfoundationalist approaches to distinction-making and violence in regard to a human-animal problematic. The approaches taken via these different “theoretical” engagements suffuse autoethnographic-style accounts of two classroom-based instances in an upper elementary school in the midwestern United States. These instances introduce the notion of pedagogical clearings, challenging fixed and power-laden notions of “self.” Students’ responses, issues of representation (-isms of humanism), and “multispecies” insights that co-presenced in instructional spaces are discussed. We argue that a static-circular economy of [“human”] self that underwrites eco-crises can be temporarily decentered and deferred per Derrida and blurred and suspended per Marchesini and Rice and Rud, experienced as glimpses of “non-anthropocentric” possibilities, offering fleeting, significant instances of l’animot.

Instructional Space Management Skills and Learning Autonomy among TECH-VOC Students in Carmen District, Davao Del Norte

In this study, instructional space management skills is a measure expected to improve the learning autonomy of the tech-voc students. In this study, the researcher selected the 150 junior high school students in Carmen District, Davao del Norte as the respondents of the study. Findings revealed that teachers’ instructional space management skills was rated as extensive, while, learning autonomy of the tech-voc students in Carmen District in Davao del Norte was described as moderately extensive. Further, correlation analysis demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between teachers’ instructional space management skills and learning autonomy of the tech-voc students in Carmen District in Davao del Norte. Evidently, regression analysis proved that instructional space management skills in terms of engaging and interactive learning; growth mindset; and inclusivity and diversity were significant predictors of learning autonomy of the tech-voc students in Carmen District in Davao del Norte. The study, therefore, conducted for further utilization of findings through publication in reputable research journal.

Best Practices for STEM-Focused Mobile Instructional Spaces

Best Practices for STEM-Focused Mobile Instructional Spaces

Greek-Cypriot Teachers’ Use of Translanguaging Spaces in Elementary Preparatory Classrooms in a Post-lockdown Era

Due to COVID-19, the sense of teaching space has a more fluid meaning than ever before, especially for language minority learners. A diversity sample of nineteen elementary teachers who teach Greek as an additional language, participated in walking interviews to identify the current situation in preparatory classrooms in Cyprus, after the lockdown phases. This multiple-case study reports on whether teachers enabled translanguaging spaces to evolve by reporting on a collage of collective knowledge, generated by both participants and their respective spaces via walking interviews, photographs, and field notes. The together spaces reported in this paper, using Rowe’s (2018) six principles for designing and creating instructional spaces to support translanguaging, contribute to the re(configuration) of translanguaging teaching and learning spaces in official educational contexts.

Literacy in the Plural: Multiliteracies Enlivened during the Pandemic

AbstractCritical and situated engagement with literacies offers educators an important, documented pedagogical tool that has the potential to increase elementary students’ understanding of issues of equity, while developing their empathy, self‐awareness, and critical consciousness. What we don't know is how literacies can be used during a global pandemic to support students' socially, emotionally, and intellectually. This ethnographic research study sheds light on one racially, linguistically diverse fourth grade classroom and what happens when the teacher uses literacy events to engage students during the COVID19 pandemic. Using critical engagement and multiliteracies theories, I present and analyze data from classroom observations, audio recordings, fieldnotes, screenshots, and interviews. Findings indicate that engaging in multiliteracies during the pandemic supported student engagement, connection, and agency. I argue that these findings have implications for in‐person teaching. Specifically, when classroom teachers approach literacy events from a multiliteracies framework, new instructional spaces are created to support students to be cognitively and socially available for learning.

Learning and teaching trans-inclusive language and register hybridity for multilingual writers

In multilingual instructional spaces, language use can reinforce or ­disrupt gender disparities. This self-study, situated in the context of a university developmental English writing course, examines how an instructor sought to raise L2 learners’ critical language awareness, operationalized as consciousness of ways that gender disparity is mediated by and through language. It also explores how one L2 Chinese learner, Wesheng, explored transgender themes and register during a curricular unit in this course. Focusing on Wesheng’s written and oral discourse, we illustrate the process through which his instructor developed a deeper understanding of his register-use. Data sources include writing samples, curricular materials, the instructor’s journal and feedback, and a semi-structured learner interview. Analyzing these sources through register and performance perspectives, we show how the learner exhibited hybridity in ‘en-gendered’ and academic registers of English and performed egalitarian and multilingual voices as he interacted with instructional resources. We conclude the article with discussions on the affordances of using register analysis to support critical language writing pedagogies and instructional strategies that teachers can use to cultivate L2 students’ socio-sexual literacies.

The Polish Heritage Library and Archives in Panna Maria, Texas

The Polish Heritage Library and Archives in Panna Maria, Texas

Technology, the flipped classroom, and exigent paradigm shifts or being forced into the present

Technology, the flipped classroom, and exigent paradigm shifts or being forced into the present

School Plant Variables and Teacher Productivity in Secondary Schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria

The study investigated the relationship between school plant variables and teacher productivity in secondary schools in Ekiti State. The study adopted the descriptive survey research. The population consisted of all the schools and its teachers while the sample consisted 240 teachers selected from 24 secondary schools across the three senatorial districts in Ekiti State using simple random sampling technique. The two sets of instruments tagged “School Plant Questionnaire (SPQ)” and “Teacher Productivity Questionnaire (TPQ)” were used for the study. In order to ensure the reliability of the instrument, test-retest method of reliability was used and yielded reliability coefficient of 0.82 and 0.76 for SPQ and TPQ respectively. The data collected were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. The study revealed that there is a significant relationship between school plant and teacher productivity. The finding also showed that there was a significant relationship between instructional space and teacher productivity. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that school plant in terms of instructional space, administrative space and space for convenience are necessary ingredients for enhancing teacher productivity. It was recommended that government should be given detail information of the importance of school plant on teacher productivity and how it will invariably affect students’ performance.

Disposable Spaces: How Special Education Enrollment Affects School Closures

Informed by austerity politics, struggling school districts have closed buildings to pursue cost savings. We investigate the factors affecting which schools are shuttered, proposing that the share of students with an Individualized Education Program (SIEP) influences the way building utilization is measured because of the different instructional spaces required. We examine the case of elementary schools in Chicago, where 44 of 402 schools were closed in 2013. Simulating administrative decision-making parameters with a logistic regression model and demographic, student, and school data, we find that Chicago Public Schools was more likely to close school buildings with higher shares of SIEPs. Such punitive measures reflect the politics of austerity and disposability, leaving students with disabilities, particularly those in low-income neighborhoods of color, with fewer educational options.

Medical image registration utilizing tissue P systems.

The tissue P system (TPS) possesses intrinsic attributes of parallel execution in comprehensive data and instruction space, which provides fast convergence during the transition from local to global optima. Method- In this study, we have proposed and built a TPSysIR framework using the TPS for image registration that optimizes upon the mutual information (MI) similarity metric to find a global solution. Result- The model was tested on single- and multimodal brain MRI scans and other prominent optimization-based image registration techniques. Conclusion- Results show that, among all methods, TPSysIR provides better MI values with minimum deviation in a range of experiment setups conducted iteratively.

Teaching outside as third space: toward school science that acknowledges student ecological expertise

In this article, we consider the narrative reflections of elementary teacher and study co-author, Khahlela, as she recounts her difficult transition from a childhood and primary schooling filled with rich experiences in the natural world into high school and university science courses which left her feeling marginalized and lacking science expertise. Using a method we term participatory narrative to unpack Khahlela’s story, we reflect on the implications of her experiences for the way science is taught in schools. We argue that an important step in addressing the way science is taught is shifting where science is taught. Based on Khahlela’s struggles, we advocate a funds of knowledge approach to recognize students who enter school with specialized outdoor, ecological, and/or naturalist knowledge, and urge the creation of space for this expertise within science classes. We combine this approach with Third Space theory to suggest using the outdoors as Third Space for school science instruction.

A phenomenological study of prospective teachers’ first-time science teaching experiences

ABSTRACT This study provided a phenomenological account of 22 pre-service elementary teachers’ experiences transitioning from being pre-service teachers learning the knowledge base about science instruction to teaching a physical science topic in a microteaching activity. This transition within a phase of the professional teacher continuum is just as crucial as the transitions pre-service teachers take along the professional teacher continuum. This transition provides experiences to make sense of their growing knowledge and skills for science instruction and navigating with the knowledge and skills in student teaching and beyond. Data about the first-time science teaching experiences were collected using an open-ended interview question. Other data included video recordings of each pre-service teacher’s 30-minute microteaching and the use of reflective prompts to verify pre-service teachers’ responses to the interview question. Analysis of interview transcripts, video recordings, and responses to reflective prompts revealed three themes: (1) finding a space for teacher-centered instruction; (2) reimaging the role of engagement and participation with scientific practices; and (3) seeking middle ground for science instruction. An important implication included the need for science teacher educators to help pre-service teachers mediate and internalize pedagogical discourses resulting from first-time science teaching experiences.

Key Question for Literacy Co‐Teachers: What Possibilities Do We Have Together?

AbstractCo‐teaching offers a unique opportunity space for literacy instruction; however, this opportunity is rarely optimized and the result on students' literacy growth is often unimpressive. We propose that co‐teaching is only a structural intervention, but it can become a powerful pedagogical intervention if teachers approach co‐teaching as an opportunity space to try out effective pedagogical practices that lead to student literacy growth. Studying, through mixed methods, the practices of literacy co‐teachers in early elementary, we identified important trends connected to student growth. We concluded that shared responsibility was a feature of highly effective pairs. Next, through interviews, we captured nuances of how effective dyads formed working relationships, planned together, communicated, reflected on instruction together, and organized resources. From such findings, we propose a model of change for how co‐teaching may lead to student growth—via positive co‐teaching relationships and continual shared reflection of instructional practice. Mirroring highly effective co‐teachers' approach, we provide a series of reflective co‐teaching guides to support other pairs of co‐teachers. These guides lead reading teachers throughout a school year and continually return to the essential question of: What can we do together that I cannot do alone?

Trading Spaces, Pedagogies, and Technologies: Developing a University Active Learning Center via Public-Private Partnership

ABSTRACT Faculty in higher education are challenged to change their instructional approaches in outmoded, stagnant learning spaces to meet the needs of 21st century learners. Traditional learning spaces on most college campuses consist of locked, rowed seating and desks designed to maximize room capacity and accommodate large numbers of students. The physical constraints of these spaces often limit the use of more innovative teaching methods that allow students to assume greater ownership of their learning. For more active, student-centered learning to occur, greater mobility in the physical learning space may be necessary to allow for improved connection, collaboration, interest, and engagement. In this paper, we share experiences in forging a public-private partnership to transform a 46-seat computer lab into a 32-seat active learning center (ALC) in which mobility is a signature feature. Upon using the ALC for the first time, options for space and furniture configuration allowed instructors to create, and re-create, work groups to facilitate student collaboration while digital technology and active learning tools allowed students to share information easily and often. Most students rated their experiences in the ALC favorably, though not all participants embraced the active learning approach and instructional space with immediacy. Original research would help to understand students’ experiences and isolate the effects of space on student learning and engagement. Our successes and challenges in building and using the ALC may be used to meaningfully inform other public-private partnerships in higher education to transform teaching and learning through active instructional design approaches.

Local teachers’ English-German codeswitching in English-medium instruction (EMI): voices from international students at a German university

ABSTRACT International students’ attitudes towards teachers’ codeswitching to the first language (L1) have not been adequately investigated in cross-cultural English-medium instruction (EMI) settings, where teachers and international students do not share the same L1 while they interact in English as a lingua franca (ELF). To fill that void, this study investigated international postgraduate students from differing majors at a German university that has implemented EMI to enhance its global competitiveness. A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were employed to measure the international students’ attitudes towards German-native teachers’ English-German codeswitching practices in EMI classrooms. The findings indicated that the participants generally held a negative view of codeswitching in EMI. Humanities students were more opposed to English-German codeswitching than STEM students. Local teachers’ codeswitching was found to constrain the participants’ academic integration and social participation in the university. Importantly, the participants were somewhat open-minded about codeswitching, but effective content delivery and an inclusive instructional space cannot be sacrificed. The findings of international students’ multifaceted understandings of languages offer insights into teaching pedagogies, discipline-specific language policies and administrative support for EMI programmes.

Moodle Learning System as an Effective Tool for Implementing the Innovation Policy of the University

The current study examines Moodle learning management system as an effective tool for implementing the innovation policy of the university. For this, the following methods are employed: (1) monitoring of the Best Global Universities 2020 ranking results in the context of Moodle web-analytics; (2) evaluation of advantages attributed to innovative education; (3) survey of students and teachers aimed at assessing their perceptions toward the use of Moodle. The conducted study revealed that the current focus of the world’s leading universities is set on online learning, in particular, carried out by means of innovative learning platform Moodle. Feedback regarding the quality of education in the Moodle environment received from the parties directly related to the educational process has provided an insight into the effectiveness of innovative education. The collected results can be useful for the integration of Moodle into university education and innovative learning promotion to create a space for competitive and high-quality instruction.

Creating Space for Instruction: Talk, Body, and Touch in the Organization of ‘Individualized’ Learning in ‘Open Classrooms’

Creating Space for Instruction: Talk, Body, and Touch in the Organization of ‘Individualized’ Learning in ‘Open Classrooms’

Safety Factors Associated With Mathematics Achievement in South African Schools

This study analysed secondary TIMSS 2019 data for respondents from South Africa and proposed a model containing ten constructs; nine independent variables (socio-economic status and eight variables about safety aspects in schools) and one independent variable (mathematics achievement). Qualitative data was also collected using interviews and field notes. The HLM model identified the following significant predictors to learners’ mathematics achievement: learners whose family members were frequently insulted; who were victims of theft; who were forced to do things they didn’t want to do; who were physically hurt; living in impoverished areas; enrolled in schools with a shortage of or inadequate instructional space; enrolled in schools where physical injury amongst learners is a problem; disrespecting property. Findings from the thematic analysis indicated that participants believed that schools’ safety concerns are associated with learners’ mathematics achievement and that difficulties in developing and implementing school safety policies are due to a lack of training.