Teacher Enactment Research Articles

Kritiska aspekter för lärande i ekologi – en studie av biologiundervisning inom lärarutbildningen

Based on variation theory, we analyze how a teacher educator in biology enacts the objects of learning (a) how the need for energy and matter is met in different organisms and (b) flows of energy and cycles of matter in ecosystems. The teacher's enactment is then compared with the students' lived objects of learning, as expressed in their written interactions in relation to the teacher's reflection questions. The study concludes that the enacted and lived objects of learning do not always correspond and critical aspects for knowledge development in ecology for the current group of teacher students are identified. Based on the analysis, the study suggests some areas that require special focus in teacher education in ecology. Carbohydrate as a carrier of energy between trophic levels, as well as the conversion of carbohydrate to water and carbon dioxide during cellular respiration, are examples of areas that the study highlights.

The promise of the project to student-centered learning: Connections between elements, curricular design, and practices of project based learning

This paper examined connections between core Project-Based Learning (PBL) elements, curricular design features, and teacher enactment of PBL practices. Twenty-five teachers in underserved communities were interviewed, submitted videos, and provided curricular features of a PBL unit. Artifacts/Interviews were coded according to presence or absence of PBL elements, and videos were coded according to teachers' presence or absence of support. Presence of support was sub-coded as low- and high-support PBL practices. Results revealed that teachers’ design features related to PBL elements; however, design features mainly did not correlate to PBL high-support practices. Additional support may be needed in bridging the gap between PBL instructional designs and their effective realization in the classroom.

Learning to facilitate student voice in primary physical education

Student voice pedagogies in physical education (PE) offer teachers a mechanism to promote meaningful experiences by actively engaging students in decision-making regarding their learning. Over one academic year, the experiences of one generalist classroom teacher's enactment of student voice pedagogies in their primary PE practice were explored within a Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practice (S-STTEP) frame. Data sources included post-lesson personal reflections, a researcher journal, and transcripts from meetings with a critical friend. Qualitative data was also collected from students ( n = 19) over a shorter timeframe of six months, and took the form of student work samples, along with transcripts from focus group interviews ( n = 2, with eight total participants). Findings show that the enactment of student voice pedagogies requires significant scaffolding for both the teacher and their students. The teacher needs to learn how to listen to, nurture, and act on their students’ voices, while students require assistance in developing their capacity to share their voices. Thus, the enactment of student voice pedagogies takes time, and necessitates a period of trial and error, to ensure the educator is providing authentic student voice opportunities in their practice. This study adds an additional layer to student voice research by providing a teacher's perspective of learning how to enact student voice pedagogies in PE. Furthermore, the findings add to the limited research into the use of student voice pedagogies at primary level.

Can you Hear me? Problematising the Enactment of uncrc Article 12 in Welsh Early Years Classrooms

Abstract This paper explores teacher enactment of the uncrc Article 12, a child’s right to participate and give their view within the context of Welsh early years settings (children aged three to seven). A rights-based perspective is adopted in which children are positioned as agentic and active meaning makers. Qualitative data was generated via observations, interviews and documentary analysis with data from three teachers presented here. Findings suggest that teachers’ enactment of a participation was complex and shaped by particular constructions of children and associated understandings of teachers’ role. Children’s voice and agency were bounded by place, time and teacher expectations of children. Whilst some practices appeared to limit opportunities for children’s voice, children often subtly took back control from teachers, thus demonstrating children as agentic beings. In order fully to actualise a children’s right agenda within Welsh settings, we call for a reconceptualisation of constructions of children and subsequent constructions of teachers.

The professional bodies of VET teachers in the context of simulation-based training for vocational learning

It is argued that the use of high-fidelity simulators is educationally effective, since students are able to work more independently and can better control their learning. Therefore, simulations can be used as a teaching method to facilitate and ease teachers’ work situations. This raises questions as to whether teachers’ professional bodies are a bounded physicality, or whether we can understand teachers’ professional bodies in practice in terms of enactments? This article analyses and discusses the enactment of VET teachers’ professional bodies in the context of vocational and simulation-based training. The empirical material is based on ethnographic observations in three classes in two different vocational education programmes at two upper secondary schools in Sweden. Three different cases are presented and analysed as examples of how VET teachers’ professional bodies are enacted. Guided by a practice theory perspective (Schatzki, T. R. Social practices: a Wittgensteinian approach to human activity and the social (1996), Schatzki, T. R. The site of the social: A philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change (2002), Schatzki, T. R. & Natter, W. Sociocultural bodies, bodies sociopolitical. In T. R.Schatzki & W. Natter (Eds.), The social and political body (1996), the study shows that VET teachers’ professional bodies are enacted in multiples, distributed, and delegated in an interplay between the teachers, the students, the simulator, and its material set-up. In these enactments of professional bodies, VET teachers embody both a teacher identity and a previous vocational identity, which they perform simultaneously depending on the educational situation.

“The students keep me hopeful”: Teacher hope during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study examined teacher enactment of hope, specifically willpower, waypower, and agency in the shadow of the COVID-19 glare. Participants of this mixed methods study were K-12 public school classroom teachers (n = 233) in a Western US state. Quantitative survey results indicated teachers maintained moderate to high levels of hope. Qualitative survey results indicated themes of obstacles that were unique to this pandemic context as well as indicators of willpower, waypower, and agency. This study illustrates teacher resiliency and the ways in which they shifted instruction under highly strenuous circumstances. Teachers maintained hope because of their dedication to the students.

Genre-based teaching cycle and instructional design for teaching texts and mandated curriculum contents

This study aimed to construct a genre-based teaching (GBT) model for accommodating the Indonesian EFL curriculum. Anchored in two current GBT cycles developed by Derewianka and Jones (2016) and Chappell (in preparation), a modified GBT cycle and the following instructional design model were constructed. This design-based study conducted its first two stages: the analysis of practical problems and the development of solutions based on the existing knowledge. The practical problem analysis was executed through four exploratory studies of the analyses of instructional documents, open-ended reflective questions, English textbooks, and literature. The exploratory studies reveal context-specific problems of GBT implementation which suggest the need for the provision of a GBT model to guide the enactment of teachers’ GBT practices. The development of solutions was achieved by carefully modifying a GBT cycle informed by principled eclecticism and designing a series of instructional steps which offer three strands for teaching texts and systematic ways for integrating the mandated contents of the Indonesian EFL curriculum. The constructed GBT model is to provide a systematic instructional organization for teaching texts, developing English language skills, and incorporating varied mandated instructional contents of the Indonesian EFL curriculum and to illustrate a construction process of a GBT model to accommodate varied contents of EFL curriculum.

Collaborative professional development on data‐based decision making for primary teachers of struggling readers: Responding and refining

The purpose of this manuscript is to share the work of a collaboration between professional development providers and university faculty as they created, implemented and refined a professional development series focused on supporting primary teachers' use of data‐based decision making in reading. Using a formative and design‐based approach, multiple sources of informal, formative data were collected (surveys, memos and teacher feedback). Data analysis led the team to make refinements to the professional development in response to three broad challenges experienced during Year 1 of implementation. Key refinements made to the professional development series included (1) breaking down the data‐based decision making (DBDM) process in reading into more tangible, explicit components (e.g., identifying appropriate assessments, organising and analysing data, using data to target instruction); (2) creating materials tailored specifically to support teachers' knowledge and skills in the DBDM process; and (3) identifying external affordances or barriers to teacher implementation of DBDM (e.g., access to high quality reading assessments and/or intervention materials, communication cycles with other teachers/providers). Challenges experienced and refinements made in this study may provide a framework for thinking about how to support primary teachers to use DBDM in reading and may help administrators understand and reflect on systems‐wide factors that may play a role in supporting or hindering teacher enactment of and confidence related to DBDM.

Teacher enactment of the Geospatial Inquiry cycle in classrooms following scaled up professional learning and development

ABSTRACT The current study examined the effects of a nationally scaled up Professional Learning and Development (PLD) model on teachers’ classroom implementation of the Geospatial Inquiry instructional framework. Geospatial Inquiry is defined as: asking and answering a research question through the analysis and communication of data that is linked to a geographic location on, above, or near Earth. These data are often represented visually via maps and explored with geospatial technologies. It also examined the relationships between Geospatial Inquiry Teacher Workshop (GITW) implementation and teacher implementation of the Geospatial Inquiry Cycle. Situated cognition provided a theoretical framework for the design, development, and implementation of the GITWs and lessons. Surveys, technology assessments, lessons, and artifacts were analysed using a-priori coding, descriptive statistics, and a generalised linear modelling approach that included hierarchical analysis. Results indicated teachers implemented Geospatial Inquiry lessons with integrity to the principles of Geospatial Inquiry and utilised research-based pedagogical practices. Format of GITWs (e.g. face-to-face or blended) resulted in differences during teachers’ lesson implementation. In addition, whether GITWs were delivered by an individual facilitator or a team of facilitators impacted teachers’ lessons. The findings have several implications for the design and scaling of PLD.

Early career teachers’ adaptability and resilience in the socio-relational context of Australian schools

This study examines the enactment of early career teachers’ (ECTs) adaptability and resilience within Australian secondary schools. Conceptual underpinnings are explained by empirical studies on adaptability and relationship-cultural theory. Semi-structured interviews with teachers found that ECTs’ teaching experiences require cognitive, behavioural, and emotional adaptation and resilience, in response to the everyday vicissitudes of teaching. ECTs’ individual agency and capacity to enact adaptability and resilience were particularly challenged in classrooms and staffrooms. Self-reflection and supportive formal and informal relationships were seen to enhance ECTs’ capacities to enact adaptability and resilience. The study has implications regarding professional learning for ECTs that is built around strategic interdependent and individualised networks of support and professional growth within schools.

Pre‐service teachers enactment of language‐ and literacy‐integrated science instruction in linguistically diverse science classrooms

AbstractThe Next Generation Science Standards and increasing linguistic diversity of students in United States science classrooms require language‐focused science instruction for which many secondary science teachers are not prepared. To date, minimal research has addressed how to best support secondary science pre‐service teachers (PSTs) in teaching in linguistically diverse classrooms despite the fact that most PSTs will have the opportunity to teach emergent bilinguals (EBs) at some point in their careers. The purpose of this multiple case study was to determine at what level and in what ways three secondary science PSTs were able to integrate language and literacy into their science instruction following their participation in two language‐ and literacy‐integrated science methods courses. PSTs' instruction was analyzed using an observation rubric and supported by instructional materials, interviews, and reflections. Results indicated that, following the intervention, PSTs were able to enact most language‐ and literacy‐integrated science practices at the targeted level. However, the ways in which they did so varied and at times led to missed opportunities for EBs' participation in key scientific practices. Implications for teacher educators and researchers are addressed.

Teacher enactment of the crosscutting concepts in next generation science classrooms

AbstractThis exploratory qualitative study examined science teacher enactment of crosscutting concepts (CCCs), a core aspect of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) three‐dimensional learning, which also includes disciplinary core ideas and science and engineering practices (SEPs). We collected naturalistic observational and interview data from 13 California teachers involved in a major NGSS implementation initiative and analyzed this data by applying four roles of the CCCs in instruction as described by Rivet et al. (2016). The roles these conceptual resources play are: lens, bridge, tool, and rules of the game. Using this schema, we provide thick description of teachers' different purposes for, modes of, and challenges in using CCCs in their instruction. Naturalistic observations provided information about how teachers were using CCCs in their classrooms while interview data revealed the opportunities and challenges teachers perceived in CCC enactment, both of which are little addressed within the emerging body of CCC research. Teachers received extensive professional development (PD) on the NGSS but nevertheless identified CCC enactment as particularly challenging. For this reason, we suggest the four roles of the CCCs, which were indeed reflected in our data set, could be a helpful framework for making the CCCs more accessible and understandable to teachers, and thus more likely to be incorporated into everyday science instruction to enhance student learning. We envision future use of this framework as an epistemic heuristic having the potential to bring more clarity to CCC enactment for researchers, teachers, curriculum developers, and PD providers.

Enacting culturally sustaining immersion pedagogy through SFL and translanguaging design

AbstractFramed within the discussions of the knowledge base for language immersion teachers, this article presents a qualitative case study of a first‐year Grade 2 French immersion teacher's enactment of his systemic functional linguistic (SFL) knowledge to position his students in a culturally sustaining genre pedagogy. We examined interactive events and interview data to understand how Ahmed deployed his SFL knowledge base to position four African American students in classroom interactions as they deconstructed and reconstructed focal genres in this second‐grade French immersion classroom. Our findings revealed that Ahmed positioned his students in three ways: as an inclusive classroom community, as readers and writers, and as language analysts. Likewise, the students took up roles as genre analysts, active language users, and engaged community members. The findings also demonstrated that Ahmed selectively deployed his linguistic resources in varieties of French and English to connect with his students, create community with them, and achieve his instructional goals within a translanguaging space (e.g., Tian, 2021; Wei, 2011). These findings point to the potential of SFL and translanguaging pedagogy as a flexible and dynamic knowledge base for enacting culturally sustaining immersion education.

Connecting a teacher dashboard to a student digital collaborative environment: supporting teacher enactment of problem-based mathematics curriculum

Connecting a teacher dashboard to a student digital collaborative environment: supporting teacher enactment of problem-based mathematics curriculum

Effects of Local Culture and Teacher Efficacy on Teacher Enactment of Curriculum Reform in South Korea

Guided by social cognitive theory (SCT), this research investigates the structural relationships among local culture, teacher efficacy, and teachers’ exercise of curricular autonomy. A total of 605 Korean elementary school teachers completed survey questionnaires that underwent structural equation modeling analysis with a phantom model approach to identify the motivational factors and their relationships. The results indicate that teachers’ degree of internalization of mainstream Korean culture and teacher efficacy influence their implementation of the reform agenda, while teacher efficacy mediates the effect of culture. Theoretical and practical implications for scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners are provided.

Teacher and student enactments of a transdisciplinary art-science-computing unit

Transdisciplinary learning environments have potential to bring together the arts, sciences, and computing within schools. We investigate the student and teacher enactment of sensemaking practices that break down disciplinary silos. We describe a pedagogical approach, Luminous Science, where students make dynamic, computationally-rich artistic representations of data from a classroom garden. Then we present an analysis of students’ sensemaking practices used during the transdisciplinary unit in three cases of art, science and computing classrooms. Qualitative analysis of a student group and teachers’ curricular materials in each of these classrooms elucidates how teachers’ enactment choices, organization, and facilitation of the unit we co-designed with them facilitated opportunities for students’ transdisciplinary thinking and learning. We show that when teachers’ enactments supported increased computational complexity and ties between artifact and phenomenon, then students participated in deeper transdisciplinary sensemaking. We discuss the implications for the design of curricular materials and professional development to support effective organization and discourse practices by teachers in orchestrating transdisciplinary sensemaking.

Gendering Social Studies: Teachers’ Intended and Enacted Curriculum and Student Diffraction

Due to intransigence of social studies curriculum-makers to broaden the scope of who and what is studied, women (especially non-white women) are lacking representation. However, some teachers go beyond the textbook to select alternative curriculum lenses. Utilizing curricular-instructional gatekeeping, complementary curriculum, and queer theory, this article examines how two secondary teachers who incorporate issues of gender and/or women’s experiences into their social studies curriculum describe their reasoning and intentions, how their expressed aims are manifested within their classrooms, and student reaction to the incorporation of gender and women’s experience in the social studies curriculum. Findings indicate participants value multiple perspectives and parity in social studies curriculum and map these ideas onto the explicit curriculum. However, student responses tend to resist teacher intentions and enactment of challenges to normative gender roles. This diffracted curriculum interferes with teacher aims, creating a curricular space where traditional assumptions of the gender binary play out in teacher-student and student-student interactions. These findings indicate a more relational approach to social studies curriculum may be needed to encourage students to engage constructively with nonnormative social ideas.

Characterizing the formative assessment enactment of experienced science teachers

AbstractTeachers' use of formative assessment (FA) has been shown to improve student outcomes; however, teachers enact FA in many ways. We examined classroom videos of nine experienced teachers of elementary, middle, and high school science, aiming to create a model of FA enactment that is useful to teachers. We developed a coding scheme through a validation‐in‐use approach to characterize teachers' practices using three streams of data that included teachers' self‐interviews about the purposes and outcomes of their FAs, our analysis of their noticing/interpreting and acting, and their comments on intentions behind the teaching acts they considered significant. In contrast to cycles of eliciting‐noticing‐interpreting‐acting, we found noticing/interpreting to be central to FA enactment, driving teachers' eliciting or advancing acts. We characterized ways of noticing/interpreting as more authoritative or dialogic and observed that eliciting acts and advancing acts occurred along a similar range. Teachers' in‐the‐moment purposes and larger learning goals were synthesized as they made choices about teaching acts. The model is framed in terms of utility to teachers to examine their own FA practices, with the aim of becoming better equipped to strategically enact FA in intentional ways to achieve their purposes.

Attaining philosophical alignment: Localizing systemic change through adaptive professional development

This article describes the impact of an adaptive professional development program for K-8 mathematics teachers to enhance their implementation of standards that were streamlined to promote improved student learning and achievement. Students from the participating district scored higher than the state average and a neighboring district during the three years of implementation. Survey data showed growth in teacher enactment of dynamic problem-posing lessons during the three years of professional development. Peer classroom observations and shared reviews of student work samples were considered pivotal to teachers changing their instructional practices.

Moulding the teacher: factors shaping teacher enactment of comprehensive sexuality education policy in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is promoted around the world to improve young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, and to address gender-based violence. Teachers play crucial roles in enacting CSE, yet only few studies have placed them centrally to understand CSE re-contextualisation in schools. Hence, drawing on interviews, focus group discussions, and classroom observations with 56 participants, this paper presents how CSE teachers enact CSE policy and which factors affect their enactments at schools in Ethiopia. The paper highlights that while CSE teachers were typically conceptualised as ‘facilitators’ of the CSE initiative presented here, in practice teachers seemed to perform what might be understood as ‘activist’ roles within and beyond the classroom and school. Despite this activism, teachers’ possibilities to address gender-based violence still seemed limited, in part due to lack of guidance from policy and programme designers, lack of support from community and school management, and socio-economic factors.