University Coursework Research Articles

Learning to teach mathematics and to analyze teaching effectiveness: evidence from a video- and practice-based approach

Although emerging consensus exists that practice-based approaches to teacher preparation assist in closing the distance between university coursework and fieldwork experiences and in assuring that future teachers learn to implement innovative research-based instructional strategies, little empirical research has investigated teacher learning from this approach. This study examines the impact of a video- and practice-based course on prospective teachers’ mathematics classroom practices and analysis of their own teaching. Two groups of elementary prospective teachers participated in the study—one attended the course and one did not. Findings reveal that the course assisted participants in making student thinking visible and in pursuing it further during instruction and in conducting evidence-based analyses of their own teaching. Conclusions discuss the importance of teaching these skills systematically during teacher preparation.

Integrating theory and practice in the pre-service teacher education practicum

This article reports on a study into student teachers’ perceptions about their professional development during practicum. Framed within a symbolic interactionist perspective, the study examined to what extent, and how effectively, one group of student teachers was able to integrate theory and practice during a three-week practicum in the first year of their degree. The context for this mixed methods study was a Master of Teaching, graduate-level entry programme in the Faculty of Education at an urban Australian university. Although there is a strong field of literature around the practicum in pre-service teacher education, there has been a limited focus on how student teachers themselves perceive their development during this learning period. Further, despite widespread and longstanding acknowledgement of the ‘gap’ between theory and practice in teacher education, there is still more to learn about how well the practicum enables an integration of these two dimensions of teacher preparation. In presenting three major findings of the study, this paper goes some way in addressing these shortcomings in the literature. First, participants in this study largely valued both the theoretical and practical components of their programme, which stands in contrast to the commonly identified tendency of the student teacher to privilege practice over theory. Second, opportunities to integrate theory and practice were varied, with many participants reporting the detrimental impact of an apparent lack of clarity around stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities. Third, participants overwhelmingly supported the notion of linking university coursework assessment to the practicum as a means of bridging the gap between, on the one hand, the university and the school and, on the other hand, theory and practice.

The Influence of Prior Knowledge, University Coursework, and Field Experience on Primary Preservice Teachers' Use of Reading Comprehension Strategies in a Year-Long, Field-Based Teacher Education Program

This descriptive study employed mixed methods to explore preservice teachers’ initial knowledge and subsequent use of explicitly taught reading comprehension strategies in primary grade classrooms during a year-long, field-based teacher preparation program. Self-Knowledge Rating Surveys, Strategy Multiple-Choice Tests, strategy logs, lesson plans, self-evaluations, mentor teacher/university liaison evaluations, and interviews with university liaisons comprised data sources. Research questions addressed what reading comprehension strategies primary preservice teachers self-reported they knew; what they demonstrated they actually knew via testing and implementation; and how the self-reports, test results, and implementation compared. Results indicated that neither knowledge nor prior exposure to research-based comprehension strategies transferred into teaching when strong external influences that did not support strategy use such as scripted programs, district policies, high stakes testing environments, and public school mentor teachers’ examples of teaching were present.

Preservice Special and General Educators’ Knowledge of Inclusion

In this article, the authors report findings from a self-report survey completed by 125 preservice elementary, secondary, and special education teachers. The purpose of the study was to identify aspects of university coursework and assigned field experiences that contribute to their ability to define, identify, and implement inclusion. Results indicated a lack of consistency across teacher preparation programs within one college and a disconnectness between knowledge of inclusion as presented through university coursework and students’ real-world field experience observations of inclusion. Preservice special educators’ perceived lack of confidence in their ability to implement inclusion in practice was also noted in the analysis of results. The article also addresses implications of the findings for teacher education programs.

Arts vs Engineering: The Choice Among Consumption and Investment in Education

In this paper we develop a model in which students choose their university coursework based on both investment and consumption incentives. We show that these education decisions are socially inefficient. This result is driven by the fact that students do not consider an externality in the working environment of acquiring education for investment purposes. We show when and how it is possible to design tuition fees in such a way that students acquire the socially optimal level of education.

Prospective Elementary Teachers' Science Teaching Orientations and Experiences that Impacted their Development

A large body of literature illustrates that many elementary teachers are reluctant to teach science and confess a lack of confidence to teach it. Nevertheless, a review of the literature indicates a few cases of elementary teachers who do well in science and offers rare examples of enthusiast elementary teachers. The question then becomes how those cases came to be? The purpose of this study is to document two such cases of prospective elementary teachers, illustrate their unique characteristics and shed light on how those came to be. The study was designed upon a narrative inquiry approach focusing on the collection of personal stories. Multiple sources of data were used in order to examine the participants’ science teaching orientations and the kinds of experiences that influenced their development: drawings, interviews, reflective assignments, and others. The analysis of the data was grounded within the Three-Dimensional Space Narrative Structure. The findings of the analysis illustrated that the participants perceived certain experiences they had during their university coursework as critical to shaping their orientations to science and science teaching: inquiry-based investigations, contemporary theoretical discussions, outdoors field study, friendly classroom environment and the characteristics of their instructors. These findings have implications for the design of teacher education courses that aim to engage prospective elementary teachers, especially females, in meaningful learning experiences and support them in developing science teaching orientations that are in line with reform recommendations.

Alternative Teacher Certification and the New Professionalism: The Pre-service Preparation of Mathematics Teachers in the New York City Teaching Fellows Program

Background/ContextFor more than a decade, large alternative teacher certification programs (ATCP) such as the New York City Teaching Fellows (NYCTF) have provided qualified applicants with fast-track or “early entry” routes to paid teaching. While early-entry ATCPs enjoy powerful support in the public and private sectors, critics (e.g., Zeichner, 2010) claim that early-entry ATCPs are aligned with a “new professionalism” which views teaching as a technical undertaking and teachers as easily replaceable implementers of others’ prescriptive ideas. Yet little is known about the knowledge, skills, and dispositions these programs seek to develop in teachers during pre-service preparation.Purpose/Focus of StudyThis study seeks to understand the nature of teacher preparation in early-entry ATCPs and how this reflects both the trends associated with the new professionalism and broader traditions of teacher education. The paper focuses on preparation of pre-service mathematics teachers who began the NYCTF program in the summer of 2007.Research DesignResults for this paper are based on a mixed-methods analysis of curriculum and survey data. Curriculum data included course materials, journal entries and daily audio reflections, and exit interviews for nine mathematics teacher candidates who began NYCTF in the summer of 2007. The two authors coded this qualitative data with a high degree of inter-rater reliability. Survey data was collected from 90% of the approximately 300 mathematics candidates who began NYCTF in the summer of 2007. The analysis focused on responses to Likert-scale survey items that inquired about the focus of pre-service coursework. The Mann Whitney test was used to gauge the statistical significance of curricular differences reported by mathematics candidates in different sections of the NYCTF program.Findings/ResultsWe find that only some of the major components of NYCTF summer preparation were well aligned with the expectations of the new professionalism. In particular, the curriculum delivered by NYCTF staff and staff at one of the four university coursework providers seemed to meet these expectations. Whereas, to varying degrees, the curriculum delivered by staff at the three other university partners did not. We also find that pre-service preparation was subject-general and featured little in the way of mathematics-specific teaching methods.Conclusions/RecommendationsThe results simultaneously support, extend, nuance, and challenge the hypothesis that such early-entry ATCPs such as NYCTF prepare program participants to meet the expectations of the new professionalism. The conclusion includes discussions of both the promise of early-entry ATCPs and how schools of education might respond to the rise of early-entry ATCPs and the trend of the new professionalism.

Genres apart: School and university writing

This study examined the types of writing emphasised in secondary school and university. The specific aspects studied were the genres that students write best, genres frequently written in school, and genres frequently required in written coursework assignments in university. The data on school writing were obtained from questionnaires distributed to 235 students enrolled in English courses in two Malaysian universities whereas the data on university coursework assignments were obtained through interviews with lecturers in the two universities. The results showed that there is a mismatch between types of writing emphasised in school and university. Students frequently write recount and discussion in school but university coursework frequently requires assignments to be written in the form of research articles and explanations. In view of the different emphases in school and university writing, students entering university have difficulty coping with academic discourse. The findings suggest that it is beneficial to sensitise university students to textual conventions of commonly used academic genres at university to speed up their learning of academic discourse.

The Relative Priority of Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge in University Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE) Programs: Perspectives of In-Service Language Teachers in New Jersey

Against a backdrop of critical discussion over the fundamental relevance of university teacher educator programs in general, this study surveyed 102 second-language K–12 teachers in New Jersey on their perceptions of the relative priority of conceptual teacher knowledge (i.e., theory/research) and procedural teacher knowledge (i.e., practical instructional techniques) in university Second Language Teacher Education program coursework. Likert-type scale and open-ended response survey data communicate a higher priority for procedural knowledge over conceptual knowledge. As is demonstrated in related studies, in-service teacher perspectives are nuanced on this issue. By reporting on in-service perceptions in a particular geographic and discipline area, this study enriches our general knowledge of in-service teacher perceptions seen more broadly.

How School and University Supervising Staff Perceive the Pre-Service Teacher Education Practicum: A Comparative Study

: This paper reports on research conducted in two Australian universities to evaluate factors that are perceived to significantly impact on the professional experiences of pre-service teachers during practicum. Contextualised within teacher education programs in an urban university in Tasmania and a regional university in Queensland, the particular focus of this paper is the beliefs and experiences of school and university supervising staff members regarding the efficacy of the practicum in enabling students to integrate into practice the knowledge and skills they have acquired in their university coursework. Findings generated from the comparative analysis of both mixed methods studies revealed some differences but predominantly a number of similarities between the perceptions of the two samples of school practitioners and university staff members towards practicum. Three key findings are presented and discussed in this paper.

Training and Sustaining Effective Teachers of Sheltered Instruction

This article provides guidelines for programs to deliver and sustain effective professional development on sheltered instruction to teachers who teach content to English learners. Many content area teachers have not had university coursework on second-language acquisition or the integration of language and content instruction in teacher preparation courses, yet they face students learning a new language at the same time they are studying subjects such as mathematics, science, and social studies. A methodology these teachers can employ is sheltered instruction that incorporates techniques for making content accessible to English learners and develops students' academic English skills. This article offers recommendations for ongoing professional development that includes a mixture of face-to-face workshops, classroom observations and coaching, school-based professional learning communities, and measurement of implementation. The guidelines are illustrated with research practices and findings related to one model of sheltered instruction, known as the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model.

A formative evaluation of WIKI’s as a learning tool in a face to face juvenile justice course

Current literature indicates an increased pedagogical value of technology integration in university coursework. One form of technology that encourages collaborative, online teaching and learning is a wiki, an online application that allows participants to partner and direct a website. This article describes the design and formative evaluation of a semester-long wiki project that was conducted during three face-to-face juvenile justice courses. Upon completion, 61 students completed written, open-ended evaluations of the project with a focus on (a) the strengths of the project, (b) knowledge of the juvenile justice system gained through the project, and (c) suggestions to improve the overall effectiveness. NVIVO8 was used to code and analyze the results of their responses. Results indicate that the Juvenile Justice Wiki Project demonstrated a real-life (online) understanding of the juvenile justice system in a face-to-face meeting, a more comprehensive examination of the juvenile justice system compared to a more traditional book and lecture pedagogy, and a perceived value in the collaborative, constructivist approach. A formative evaluation indicates future structural and pedagogical project modifications according to student evaluations and perceptions.

Facilitating improved writing among students through directed peer review

This study contributes to scant empirical investigation of peer critique of writing among heterogeneously grouped native and nonnative speakers of English, now commonplace in higher education. This mixed-methods study investigated the use of directed peer review to improve writing among graduate students, the majority of whom were nonnative speakers of English. Following a modified version of the Optimal Model of peer critique of university coursework, statistically significant gains were realized between the initial draft of a business proposal and its final submission for each of the measured items: support, audience focus, writing conventions, and organization. In addition, during the qualitative phase, students were observed to identify how peer editors naturally engaged in probing and collaborative styles of feedback known as discovery mode interactions. Approximately 80% of the students engaged in interactions to clarify the text and align it with the author’s intentions, and approximately 37% sought to enhance and develop the text. Finally, the results suggest that the face-to-face peer review did improve the quality of a business communication assignment and implies a number of essential instructional practices toward improved writing and collaboration.

Addressing the Research/Practice Divide in Teacher Education

Educational scholars often describe a research/practice divide. Similarly, students in teacher education programs often struggle to navigate the differences between university coursework and expectations they face in field-based placements. This self-study analyzes one researcher's attempt to address the research/practice divide from the position of a teacher educator. Teaching in a university-based mathematics methods course during the academic year and an elementary classroom during the summer recess provided opportunities to make connections between research and practice. This article examines the effects this study had on the researcher's instruction at the university level. Specifically, the article suggests ways for teacher educators to reconnect with classroom practice in an effort to remain relevant in the quickly changing world of P–12 education. In addition, the study suggests ways for teacher education programs to connect methods courses to authentic field-based experiences to help future teachers make connections between research and practice.

Unpaid and Critically Engaged: Feminist Interns in the Nonprofit Industrial Complex

In 2011, the National Women Studies Association (NWSA) joined a national conversation about civic engagement by publishing what has come to be known as the Teagle White Paper (Orr “Women’s”). In this document a panel of women’s studies scholars make the case that women’s studies, as a field, has been developing pedagogical approaches that look very similar to the work currently being advocated in national educational reform movements. Women’s studies, as a result, can (or, perhaps, should) be considered a vital resource for scholars and, more importantly, administrators looking to infuse campus life with civically engaged curriculum. The national movement aimed at jump-starting the civic purpose of colleges and universities started in the mid-1980s, when a handful of university presidents founded a coalition (Campus Compact) that supported and promoted civically engaged practices and programs (Hartley; Musil). As Matthew Hartley notes in a review of the movement, curriculum reform was central to this effort, but community service or the integration of community-based activities into university coursework was equally important (12). Bridging campus and community, or theory and practice, has long been a critical component of women’s studies, especially at San Francisco State University, where an internship course has been part of the department’s core curricula since its inception. However, the terms of engagement in women’s studies are strikingly different from those in national educational reform movements. The Teagle White Paper links feminist pedagogy to the civic engagement movement and makes the work and history of women and gender studies more legible to our colleagues, students, community partners, and campus administrators. While we share the goal of making the intellectual and political contributions of WGS more visible, we hesitate to embrace the phrase “civic engagement” because its historical focus on “producing ‘better’ citizens” (Orr, “Women’s” 6) can unwittingly underplay the role the corporate university and nonprofit sector have in maintaining rather than disrupting the status quo. In the discussion below, we trace the development of an internship class in women and gender studies at San Francisco State University, showing how it

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...

Dental Students and Intimate Partner Violence: Measuring Knowledge and Experience to Institute Curricular Change

Our study documents the shortage of intimate partner violence (IPV) content exposure within one dental school curriculum, with an eye toward utilizing this information to revise an existing comprehensive family violence curriculum that will be fully integrated into required university coursework to improve competence and help overcome knowledge gaps. IPV is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as physical and sexual violence, threats of physical and sexual violence, or psychological/emotional abuse including coercive tactics that adults or adolescents use against current or former intimate partners. We report on the results of a four-part (background, IPV knowledge, opinions, and personal experience), sixty-seven-item validated survey instrument used to measure knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and self-reported behaviors among dental students preparing to become health care professionals working in the field. Survey responses from the nearly 80 percent of fourth-year dental students who completed the survey were examined within the context of students' actual IPV knowledge, as well as opinions and attitudes that could directly or indirectly influence patients. Our findings indicate that a sizeable number of students received no IPV training prior to or during dental school, leading to perceptions that they lack knowledge about IPV and are not well prepared to address IPV with patients. A notable percentage of students (20 percent) also reported personal experience with IPV.

Perceptions of the teaching practicum among Human Movement and Health Education pre-service teachers in Australia: The role of university coursework, university-school partnerships and e-learning

The field of professional experience presents opportunities as well as challenges in relation to the practicum and learning how to teach for pre-service teachers. This study sought to investigate University of Sydney third and fourth year Human Movement and Health Education pre-service teachers’ practicum experiences and learning. Ninety-six (n=96) women and men in the Human Movement and Health Education pre-service course completed an anonymous questionnaire after their most recent practicum experience. Pre-service teachers agreed that their practicum was enjoyable (97.4%); requirements for practicum were clearly communicated (93%) and that they were prepared by administrative staff (93%) and coursework (85%) for their practicum. Further, the findings revealed a statistically significant difference between third and fourth year pre-service teachers (P<0.01) in regard to coursework preparation. Third year pre-service teachers believed they required additional professional development activities before their next practicum. The most enjoyable aspects were receiving a positive response to lessons from students (70.4%); receiving constructive support/having a positive relationship with their supervising teacher (22.0%); and having a sense of belonging to the teaching faculty, rather than feeling like a pre-service teacher (3.7%). There was 88.6% agreement for the initiation of new e-learning links during the practicum, including an online social support network site on which students could communicate and share lesson ideas. Pre-service teachers’ qualitative responses in the questionnaire suggest a redesign of the structure and sequence of the course, as well as professional experience units of study, and the need to place more emphasis on building strong professional relationships between pre-service teachers, supervising teachers and mentors. As such, a range of improvements have been suggested to enhance pre-service teachers’ enjoyment of learning in future practicum experiences, including some new e-learning practicum initiatives.

Beyond the Schoolhouse: Understanding Families Though Preservices Experiences in the Community

The benefits of family involvement in the education of children with disabilities are well documented. Few teacher education programs, however, implement specific strategies for encouraging interactions between families and those preparing to be teachers. The University of South Florida St. Petersburg and the local membership of a professional association for persons with disabilities (i.e., Council for Exceptional Children) developed a summer community-based program involving preservice teachers. The Support Network for Kids in the Community (SUN) program required that the preservice teachers interact with children with various disabilities and their families in inclusion summer recreation activities as part of university coursework. The preservice teachers assisted the students at community sites, acted as mentors, provided assistance to the recreation leaders, and interacted with the families. The preservice teachers, as a result, were able to understand more fully the challenges faced by the children and their families. The SUN program development and coordination efforts required of the university and community partners are discussed as well as the positive and unique reflections reported by the preservice teachers.

Teamwork — teach me, teach me not: A case study of three Australian preservice teachers

Explicit training in teaming skills (both preservice and inservice) has been identified as a key means of facilitating the effective functioning of teaching teams (Main, 2007). This case study explored how groupwork tasks within university coursework can prepare preservice education students to work effectively in teaching teams. Three students in their final year of study were primed to the skills that have been identified as necessary for successful team practices. The students then participated in a semi-structured interview about their groupwork experiences at university. Results from this study of preservice teacher education students reflected findings from studies of students’ groupwork experiences in other disciplines (i.e., business). Students reported opportunities to practise teamwork. However, they were not explicitly taught “how” to work effectively together. It was also found that the assessment focus was entirely on the final “product” and not on the group “process”.