scholarly journals Teacher Beliefs, Knowledge, and Reported Practices Regarding Numeracy Outcomes in the Solomon Islands

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Adrian Alamu

<p>The low level of basic numeracy achievement in the Solomon Islands education system is a growing concern to key stakeholders. Apart from monitoring numeracy standards, no attempt has been made to explore how Solomon Islands teachers structure mathematics teaching and learning, or the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning in schools. It has been widely recognised that teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and practices are major influences in teaching and learning mathematics in classroom situations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore Solomon Islands primary school teachers' beliefs, knowledge, reported practices, and professional learning experiences that enhance numeracy outcomes. The review of literature thus focuses on teacher beliefs about mathematics, its teaching, and learning; teacher pedagogical content knowledge; and professional development. Sixteen mainly urban based primary school teachers were interviewed to explore teachers' beliefs, pedagogical content knowledge, and professional learning experiences. A phenomenological approach to qualitative methodology was adopted to explore the phenomenon. A methodological triangulation of data collection was used involving a Belief Cards exercise and a semi-structured interview protocol. The combination of these methods helped to provide a coherent picture of teacher beliefs, knowledge, and practices. The results were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings of the Belief Cards exercise showed that individual teachers held disparate and inconsistent views and beliefs about mathematics, its teaching, and learning. Although the majority of the teachers agreed with beliefs about the nature of mathematics as problem solving and favoured pupil-centred approaches, when it came to specific beliefs representing pedagogic strategies about teaching and learning of mathematics, teachers held differing views about linking mathematics to real life situations; mathematics as teacher-centred and transmitted, and pupils as passive listeners; and teachers' enthusiasm about doing mathematics. The study also indicates most study teachers displayed a combination of traditional-transmission and contemporary-constructivist beliefs and views about mathematics, its teaching, and its learning. Further findings based on the interview protocol included that almost 50 per cent of the teachers claimed to have insufficient knowledge about mathematical content and theoretical perspectives about learning, inadequate specific mathematics teaching resources, and 75 per cent claimed a lack of ongoing professional development support in mathematics. Some constructivist mathematical practices were reported; however, the teaching described by some teachers tended to reflect the traditional-transmission approach to teaching and learning of mathematics. The overall results showed a disparity between teacher beliefs and practices exists.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Adrian Alamu

<p>The low level of basic numeracy achievement in the Solomon Islands education system is a growing concern to key stakeholders. Apart from monitoring numeracy standards, no attempt has been made to explore how Solomon Islands teachers structure mathematics teaching and learning, or the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning in schools. It has been widely recognised that teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and practices are major influences in teaching and learning mathematics in classroom situations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore Solomon Islands primary school teachers' beliefs, knowledge, reported practices, and professional learning experiences that enhance numeracy outcomes. The review of literature thus focuses on teacher beliefs about mathematics, its teaching, and learning; teacher pedagogical content knowledge; and professional development. Sixteen mainly urban based primary school teachers were interviewed to explore teachers' beliefs, pedagogical content knowledge, and professional learning experiences. A phenomenological approach to qualitative methodology was adopted to explore the phenomenon. A methodological triangulation of data collection was used involving a Belief Cards exercise and a semi-structured interview protocol. The combination of these methods helped to provide a coherent picture of teacher beliefs, knowledge, and practices. The results were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings of the Belief Cards exercise showed that individual teachers held disparate and inconsistent views and beliefs about mathematics, its teaching, and learning. Although the majority of the teachers agreed with beliefs about the nature of mathematics as problem solving and favoured pupil-centred approaches, when it came to specific beliefs representing pedagogic strategies about teaching and learning of mathematics, teachers held differing views about linking mathematics to real life situations; mathematics as teacher-centred and transmitted, and pupils as passive listeners; and teachers' enthusiasm about doing mathematics. The study also indicates most study teachers displayed a combination of traditional-transmission and contemporary-constructivist beliefs and views about mathematics, its teaching, and its learning. Further findings based on the interview protocol included that almost 50 per cent of the teachers claimed to have insufficient knowledge about mathematical content and theoretical perspectives about learning, inadequate specific mathematics teaching resources, and 75 per cent claimed a lack of ongoing professional development support in mathematics. Some constructivist mathematical practices were reported; however, the teaching described by some teachers tended to reflect the traditional-transmission approach to teaching and learning of mathematics. The overall results showed a disparity between teacher beliefs and practices exists.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Sabri Bin Sahrir ◽  
Abdul Razif Zaini ◽  
Yaakob Hassan ◽  
Zulkefli Hamat ◽  
Taufik Ismail

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework is crucial for every educators and teachers when dealing with teaching and learning by using technology. There are three essential components of TPACK which have to be fully mastered in order to conduct any teaching and learning session via whatever technological means and platforms, especially in the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic which requires the teacher to adapt with suitable teaching and learning remote strategies including online assessment. This study is conducted to investigate the level of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) skill among Arabic school teachers in preparing online assessment for remote teaching and learning prior to a training workshop organized by the Malaysian branch of Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, ICESCO-KUIS and Islamic Education Unit, Ministry of Education, Malaysia. The main author has been conducting the TPACK training module among 56 Arabic school teachers in Johor, Malaysia on 5-6 October, 2020 from selected all districts, while only 40 of them responded to the survey after the workshop via Google Form. Moreover, all participants were responding concurrently to the open-ended survey during the workshop via Mentimeter.com. This research instruments were investigating the teachers’ knowledge about three essential components of TPACK, which include technology, content, and pedagogy as well their suggestions and feedbacks towards employing online assessment and effectiveness of conducted workshop. The findings are expected in contributing towards the understanding of the teacher’s level of knowledge in technology, pedagogy, and content among Arabic school teachers in Malaysia especially for online teaching and assessment. The study may also beneficial to other similar settings where the technology has not been effectively utilized by teachers in schools.


2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-87
Author(s):  
JANE M. WATSON ◽  
ERICA L. NATHAN

To capture aspects of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) not illuminated in an earlier written survey, an interview protocol was used with 40 middle school teachers. The scenarios were intended to elicit teachers’ understanding of the big ideas, ability to anticipate students’ answers, and intervention strategies for the classroom. This was expected to be a straight-forward journey based on teachers’ responses to three context-based scenarios regarding students’ answers to questions. Instead we were surprised by teachers’ responses that revealed their perceptions that their experiences teaching mathematics and teaching statistics are very different. This led to further analysis of the PCK tasks and a suggestion that the mathematics embedded in the tasks was sometimes an impediment for the teachers, especially in relation to intervention strategies in the classroom. First published November 2010 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-305
Author(s):  
Ömer ŞAHİN ◽  
Murat BAŞGÜL

Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate pre-service primary school teachers’ (PPSTs) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) on quadrilaterals. In this study, the PCK components of knowledge of understanding students (KUS) and knowledge of instructional strategies (KIS) were used. The participants of the study consisted of 83 PPSTs studying at the primary education department of a university in Turkey. The illustrative case study method was used, while six scenarios were used as the data collection tool developed by researchers. The data obtained from open-ended scenarios were analyzed by using the summative content analysis technique. As a result of the study, it was observed that the KUS of the PPSTs about quadrilaterals was not on the desired level. Moreover, the KIS of the PPSTs was also not on the desired level. As a result of the study, it was observed that, in the process of eliminating the mistakes of students, the PPSTs preferred mainly the "Direct Instructional" method, which is based on traditional approaches and centers the teacher.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-96
Author(s):  
Junita Cristi Makawawa ◽  
Ali Mustadi ◽  
Jewish Van Septriwanto ◽  
Falenthino Sampouw ◽  
Roeth A.O Najoan

Primary school teachers need to have technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge in online teaching. TPACK is an integrative and transformative knowledge that teachers need to use technology effectively and efficiently in the classroom. This article investigates primary school teachers' perceptions of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) competencies in implementing online learning due to the pandemic COVID-19. The sample in this study were 117 primary school teachers in North Sulawesi province. The method used is a quantitative descriptive approach. Data was collected using a questionnaire on a Likert scale developed in Google Form. The results showed that most primary school teachers in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, already had TPACK competencies in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even so, TPACK competencies are in need to be improved in the abilities of TK and PK. The correlation results between the TPACK constructs also showed that the PK and TPK components had a significant effect on TPACK primary school teachers' perception of online learning. It was also found that there was no significant difference between gender and TPACK competency of primary school teachers.


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