Commentary: Transforming Science Education in Cultural-Historical Context and the Role of Teacher Professional Development

2016 ◽  
pp. 569-574
Author(s):  
Angela Calabrese Barton
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Teacher Professional

scholarly journals Do Pre-service Teachers Dance with Wolves? Subject-Specific Teacher Professional Development in A Recent Biodiversity Conservation Issue

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Büssing ◽  
Maike Schleper ◽  
Susanne Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Subject Specific ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Affective Components ◽  
Affective Dimensions

Biodiversity conservation issues are adequate topics of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), as they involve ecological, economic and social aspects. But teaching about these topics often challenges teachers due to high factual complexity but also because of additional affective dimensions. As a consequence, teacher professional development in ESD should address these affective components, to better qualify and motivate teachers to integrate conservation issues into their teaching. To investigate behaviourally relevant factors, we selected the context of natural remigration and conservation of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) in Germany and surveyed 120 pre-service biology teachers (M = 23.2 years, SD = 3.3 years) about contextual factors and their motivation to teach about the issue. Participants reported more positive attitudes, higher enjoyment and an increased perceived behavioural control towards teaching the issue in future teachers when they perceived a smaller psychological distance to the issue and an overall higher motivation to protect the species. As this motivation was grounded in more fundamental personality characteristics like wildlife values and attitudes towards wolves, we discuss the central role of these traits as a basis for transformative learning processes and the necessity of a holistic and subject-specific teacher professional development in ESD.

What Should Be the Role of Social Media in Education?

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Greenhow ◽  
Sarah M. Galvin ◽  
K. Bret Staudt Willet
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Education Policy ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Media In Education ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Published Research ◽  
Social Media In Education

Social media provide new opportunities for when, how, where, and with whom people learn—venue unimaginable 15 years ago. Today’s students and educators have adopted social media for various purposes both within education and outside of it. This review of the published research on social media in education focuses on the affordances for student learning, teacher professional development, educational research practices, and communication of scholarship. The article concludes with implications for education policy.

Use of Community of Practice Dimensions in Community-Based Teacher Professional Development

2016 ◽  
pp. 92-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Puvaneswary Murugaiah ◽  
Siew Ming Thang ◽  
Hazita Azman ◽  
Radha Nambiar
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Instructional Practices ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Web Technologies ◽  
Professional Development For Teachers ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Mathematics And Science

The role of communities of practice (CoPs) in teacher professional development (TPD) is increasingly recognized. CoPs help teachers in a cohort to reflect on their practices, develop new skills and find motivation through mutual collaboration. With the affordances provided by Web technologies, the potentiality of online CoPs as a means of improving (TPD) has become a reality and is gaining popularity as the flexibility provided help teachers improve their instructional practices. The Online Continuing Professional Development for Teachers (e-CPDelT) project aimed to develop three online CoPs; that is, English, Mathematics and Science communities among twenty Malaysian Smart school teachers. This paper examined the key CoP dimensions, as expounded in Wenger's (1998) framework, and investigated their use in the English cohort's TPD. The findings revealed that although key CoP dimensions were present, several factors inhibited teachers' participation in the community. It can be implied that it is crucial to consider these factors in developing online CoPs for teachers in Malaysia.

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