Understanding Of Content Knowledge Research Articles

Implementing a Flipped Learning Approach With TPACK in Grades 6 to 9

In this design-based study, a flipped learning approach using audio-visual resources as prelearning activities was examined in grades 6, 7, and 9 with four teachers and 65 students over one school year. The purpose of this study was to explore the implementation of a technology-enhanced pedagogy in science, math, and social studies. The implementation was sequenced to provide students who were also learning the English language with an opportunity to practice engaging with curriculum concepts through viewing prelearning videos with language tailored by the teacher and with embedded questions, prior to in-classroom learning activities. The technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) framework was used to inform the instructional design for the flipped learning activities. Monthly teacher-researcher professional learning sessions were held, and data were gathered from teachers’ reflections and a student survey. Results indicated that teachers had more class time to support students with enrichment, remediation, small group work, and active learning. Students reported that the prelearning video activities benefited their learning and complemented in-class learning activities. This study serves to inform teachers and schools considering implementation of flipped learning to support students’ understanding of content knowledge and English language learning, and researchers studying designs using flipped learning sequences.

Toward linguistic justice and inclusion for multilingual learners: Implications of selective translanguaging in English-medium instruction classrooms

Background and aimsEnglish-medium instruction (EMI) mainly mandates teaching all subjects in English only, but evidence shows teachers and students use local languages alongside English, commonly known as translanguaging. This has been proposed as a transformative pedagogy, especially for ethnic/Indigenous children, but research on its impact on the lived experiences of ethnic minority students in EMI multilingual classrooms is lacking. This paper fills the gap by studying the discursive use of translanguaging in EMI classrooms in a multilingual school in Nepal. MethodsDrawing on an ethnographic study in an EMI school located in a multilingual ethnic minority community where mother tongues (i.e., Bhojpuri) other than Nepali were spoken, this paper reports on interviews, focus group discussions, and classroom observations in Grades 6 and 9 over 4 months. ResultsData analysis reveals that both teachers and students recognized a need to negotiate the English-only policy to accommodate their limited English proficiency and used Nepali but not their mother tongues as a supplementary language. While English-Nepali translanguaging seemed to facilitate a better delivery and understanding of content knowledge, this selective, excluding practice did not guarantee equity and equality due to excluding students’ mother tongues (i.e., Bhojpuri) in content classes and school language policy. ConclusionsOur findings highlight how such “selective translanguaging” practices and their related ideologies stigmatize mother tongues, causing linguistic injustice for ethnic minority students. The study proposes “inclusive translanguaging,” countering unequal language ideologies and embracing historically marginalized languages, cultures, and identities.

Performance of Problem-Based Learning Based Image Teaching in Clinical Emergency Teaching.

At present, with the rapid increase of emergency knowledge and the improvement of people’s requirements for medical quality, the traditional teaching mode cannot fully meet the needs of emergency teaching in the new era. PBL is a project-based teaching that allows students to have a deeper understanding of content knowledge and to better apply what they have learned to their lives. This paper aims to improve the clinical emergency teaching mode by PBL teaching method, and improve the comprehensive ability of clinical emergency of medical students. This article proposes a problem-based PBL imaging teaching method, combining the characteristics and content of clinical emergency courses, focusing on students, highlighting the problem-solving process, and improving students’ creative thinking ability. To cultivate students’ interest in clinical learning, develop their self-learning ability, train their teamwork and communication skills, and cultivate their ability to set, question and solve questions, so as to promote medical students’ overall comprehensive ability to integrate specialized knowledge and clinical practice. In this paper, the PBL teaching method and the traditional teaching method of comparative experiments show that the PBL teaching method can more effectively highlight the characteristics of clinical emergency medicine teaching mode, and make full use of the limited emergency teaching resources, so as to improve the quality of clinical emergency teaching. Compared with the traditional teaching mode, the theoretical knowledge and clinical operation skills of medical students under the PBL teaching mode are improved by 13%, Autonomous learning ability, communication ability and creative thinking ability have also been relatively improved.

Stimulating Content Knowledge Learning of Intermediate Calculus through Active Technology-Based Learning Strategy

The purpose of the study was to explore whether learners’ conceptual knowledge (CK) or procedural knowledge (PK) understanding of calculus using the stimulus of active technology-based learning strategy better influence their content knowledge (COK) development. The quantitative methods were used in a quasi-experimental design. CK, PK and COK achievement scores were sources used for data collected from 150 samples. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics conducting an independent samples t-test and a Two-Way ANOVA for repeated measures. The findings reveal that the use of the active learning interventions that heavily borrows and utilizes technology substantially stimulated experimental group (EG) to immensely raise their CK attainment as compared to PK development. The COK understanding was also significantly enhanced as a result of EG learners outperformed on CK. Consequently, the researcher suggests professional development for educators empowering them with such knowledge and skills involved in the active jigsaw co-operative method and GeoGebra learning strategy (JCLGS) that will influence classroom practices. This influence will then translate to learners’ interests and positive attitudes towards calculus.

Learning to Fly Through Informational Turbulence: Critical Thinking and the Case of the Minimum Wage

The paper addresses online reasoning and information processing with respect to a much debated issue: the pros and cons of the minimum wage. Like with all controversial issues, one can easily remain in a self-reinforcing bubble, once one has taken sides, and immunize oneself against criticism. Paradoxically, the more information we have at our disposal, the easier this gets (Roetzel, 2019). The only (and possibly universal) antidote seems to be “critical thinking” (Ennis, 1987; 2011a, b). However, critical thinking is a very broad concept, purported to include diverse kinds of information processing, and it is also thought to be content-specific. Therefore, we aim at addressing both understanding of content knowledge and reasoning processes. We pursue three goals with this paper: First, we conduct a conceptual analysis of the learning content and of reasoning patterns for and against the minimum wage. Second, we explicate an inferential framework that can be applied for processes of critical thinking. Third, teaching strategies are discussed to support reasoning processes and to promote critical thinking skills.

Parent-teacher conference communication: a guide to integrating family engagement through simulated conversations about student academic progress

Teachers regularly communicate with families, yet few candidates are well-prepared for this professional activity. This gap can hinder family–school partnership and pupils’ success. Given that candidates’ opportunities to learn about family engagement (FE) depends on the decisions and values of individual teacher educators, we illustrate how FE can be integrated into an existing educator preparation programme. Specifically, we describe how to design and use simulated parent–teacher conferences (PTCs) to: foster candidates’ conference communication skills; assess their understanding of content knowledge and their ability to plan instruction. Specifically, we designed two simulation tasks that required candidates’ to analyse and respond to a given student assessment profile and then share their interpretation of the information in ways that developed parent–teacher partnership. Modelled after simulation-based medical education, we describe three steps teacher educators can take to integrate simulated PTCs into their existing curriculum. To illustrate how and why simulations impact professional readiness, we also describe the advantages, sequence and psychological processes of simulation training. A sample of candidate profiles across the two tasks are shared to illustrate what candidates take away from their experiences and the kinds of findings faculty may encounter when integrating simulation pedagogy.

Negotiating the teaching of history in times of curriculum reform: the narrative accounts of four Australian primary teachers

AbstractThis research investigates the understandings of four teachers who teach history in primary and early childhood settings. Data were gathered from participants through semi‐structured interviews. The participants were experienced teachers who were in the process of curriculum change – from teachers of studies of society and environment to teachers of history, under the auspices of the Australian Curriculum: History. The focus of the study was on their understandings of content knowledge and the pedagogies involved in classroom teaching, using a pedagogical framework, which sought to identify and categorise the nature of their knowledge base in the implementation phase of the Australian Curriculum: History. The study used narrative inquiry to show how temporality, sociality, and place play out in the lives of these teachers of history. The findings from this study indicate the challenges and opportunities for teachers’ professional knowledge landscapes in times of curriculum reform. Whilst there are a small number of participants in this study, their stories provide insight into how teachers responded to the challenges and opportunities of teaching history and how these teachers have shaped the implementation of the history curriculum.

Choosing Content and Methods: Focus Group Interviews with Faculty Teachers in Norwegian Pre-Service Subject Teacher Education in Design, Art, and Crafts

The study is aimed at generating knowledge on how faculty teachers reflect and justify their choice of subject content logic in teacher education, exemplified by a concurrent pre-service Subject Teacher Education in design, art, and crafts. Focus-group interviews generated data. Three topics were discussed: too many choices, different logics, and avoiding confrontation. Faculty teachers expressed various understandings of content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), linked to the teachers' intuitive and reasoned reflections and preconceptions through the anchoring effect and attribute substitution. The study contributes to the knowledge base by reframing problematic sides of education, and by expanding the understanding of CK and conditions for PCK by exploring the thread between educational psychologist Lee Shulman and psychologist Daniel Kahneman.

Creating Science Picture Books for an Authentic Audience

ABSTRACTThis article presents an authentic writing opportunity to help ninth-grade students use the writing process in a science classroom to write and illustrate picture books for fourth-grade students to demonstrate and share their understanding of a biology unit on cells. By creating a picture book, students experience the writing process, understand how to share their learning with an authentic audience, and create an artifact that demonstrates their understanding of content knowledge.

Teachers and Change: The Role of Reflective Practice

1. This paper argues that the most powerful, durable and effective agents of educational change are not the policy makers, the curriculum developers or even the education authorities themselves; they are the teachers. It further contends that the quality of the educational changes that teachers have the skills and opportunities to effect will only be as reliable and proficient as the teachers’ individual capacities for reflective practice and the development of self knowledge. These aspects of teacher development have, historically, been largely overlooked in the preparation and promotion of effective teachers. The emphasis has been more explicitly focused on the development and demonstration of teachers’ understanding of content knowledge and the associated pedagogies and in their capacities to understand their students as individual constructors of knowledge in diverse social contexts. Whilst the former teacher characteristics have traditionally been valued as desirable or even mandatory indicators of teacher quality, the latter are heavily impacted upon by the individual pedagogue's values, attitudes and notions of what it is to be a professional practitioner. In order for teachers to be effective in the Information Age, they need to recognize more than just their students’ background and learning preferences. They need to be able to take effective, positive action in the classroom context to improve the educational outcomes for their students. In order to do this they must have the willingness and cognitive capacities to recognize ethical dilemmas and examine their own perspectives on the issues they face critically and analytically. This requires regular, authentic reflection. The reflective process in which one teacher engaged as part of his role in a research study is documented...

Learning to explain: How student teachers organise and present content knowledge in lessons they teach

Abstract The ability to organise content knowledge around key concepts is an essential part of what student teachers need to learn in order to teach effectively. This is particularly significant as South Africa's education system emerges from policies which undervalued the role of content knowledge in teaching and teacher education. During sessions of practical teaching, university tutors have opportunities to observe how students understand content knowledge in ways that differ from their university coursework. Students’ understanding of content knowledge manifests in how they select and organise concepts, conduct explanations and respond to learners’ contributions. Lesson observation reports written by university tutors, as they observed student teaching, were scrutinised for comments that prompted student teachers to think about their understanding of content knowledge. A qualitative analysis of these comments shows how opportunities for learning are diminished when student teachers’ grasp of their les...

Improving teachers’ expertise in mathematics instruction through exemplary lesson development

This study examined how two selected expert teachers improved their expertise in mathematics instruction through participating in the development of exemplary lessons throughout the years. The main data for this study included the lesson designs at two crucial stages (with relevant video-taped lessons), teachers’ reflection reports, written surveys, and a phone interview. These two case studies showed that the teachers continuously developed their proficiency in the following four aspects: obtaining a better understanding of content knowledge; becoming more skillful in addressing difficult content points; having a more purposeful organization of problem sequences; and developing more comprehensive and feasible instructional objectives. Both teachers appreciated the learning experience from outside experts’ critical feedback, collaborative teaching experiments, self-reflection on teaching, and helping other teachers. They also realized a tension between exemplary lesson development and the reality of examination-driven teaching.

Strengthening Early Childhood Teacher Preparation: Integrating Assessment, Curriculum Development, and Instructional Practice in Student Teaching

This paper examines the effectiveness of “Bridging”—a performance-based assessment and curriculum development tool for teachers of young children—in shaping preservice teachers’ learning and teaching experiences. The experiences are examined for evidence of whether the use of “Bridging” during the student teaching period 1) facilitates student teacher acquisition of new knowledge about individual children as diverse learners, 2) helps student teachers gain a deeper understanding of content knowledge in a range of subject areas, and 3) strengthens their ability to use assessment results to inform curriculum planning and teaching. A 5-year implementation study indicates positive results with regard to all three questions. The discussion focuses on components and processes of Bridging that are key to student teacher development. These include constructing learning profiles for individual children, recognizing children’s zones of proximal development in different curricular areas, using assessment to inform curriculum and instruction, and working on these goals in a community of learners.

Enlisting Technology in Instructional Reform and Teacher Preparation

Seventeen teacher education candidates enrolled in an instructional strategies course experienced an innovative approach to infusing technology into teacher education coursework. All of the participants became proficient at using digital imaging devices and editing software, and these new skills had an impact on their understanding of content knowledge and the classroom learning environment. Maintenance of attitudes that value risk taking was a key component in successfully integrating this technology into the course. Organized into collaborative groups, candidates created digitized records of their teaching and utilized these technology products to demonstrate their developing knowledge and skills as teachers.

Immunosuppressive early pregnancy factor (ISEPF) determination for pregnancy diagnosis in dairy cows

1. This paper argues that the most powerful, durable and effective agents of educational change are not the policy makers, the curriculum developers or even the education authorities themselves; they are the teachers. It further contends that the quality of the educational changes that teachers have the skills and opportunities to effect will only be as reliable and proficient as the teachers’ individual capacities for reflective practice and the development of self knowledge. These aspects of teacher development have, historically, been largely overlooked in the preparation and promotion of effective teachers. The emphasis has been more explicitly focused on the development and demonstration of teachers’ understanding of content knowledge and the associated pedagogies and in their capacities to understand their students as individual constructors of knowledge in diverse social contexts. Whilst the former teacher characteristics have traditionally been valued as desirable or even mandatory indicators of teacher quality, the latter are heavily impacted upon by the individual pedagogue's values, attitudes and notions of what it is to be a professional practitioner. In order for teachers to be effective in the Information Age, they need to recognize more than just their students’ background and learning preferences. They need to be able to take effective, positive action in the classroom context to improve the educational outcomes for their students. In order to do this they must have the willingness and cognitive capacities to recognize ethical dilemmas and examine their own perspectives on the issues they face critically and analytically. This requires regular, authentic reflection. The reflective process in which one teacher engaged as part of his role in a research study is documented...