Outdoor Science in Teacher Education

Author(s):  
Oleg Popov

This chapter is an account of the development of prospective teachers' competence to conduct outdoor science education. At the Department of Science and Mathematics Education, the students participate in outdoor education courses. They also plan, manage, and evaluate outdoor lessons designed as assignments in science education, participation in school practice, and summer courses. Many student teachers evaluate and analyse the pedagogical aspects of outdoor science when they carry out research projects in schools for their graduation thesis work. In order to understand the activity of science teaching and learning outdoors, a qualitative study was conducted. It was based on interviews with teacher educators and included studies of students' examination papers. A Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) lens was applied to the study. The theoretical framework helped to identify the prospective teachers' abilities and skills to design, implement, and evaluate tasks related to the professional competence of delivering outdoor science activities.

Author(s):  
Oleg Popov

This chapter is an account of the development of prospective teachers' competence to conduct outdoor science education. At the Department of Science and Mathematics Education, the students participate in outdoor education courses. They also plan, manage, and evaluate outdoor lessons designed as assignments in science education, participation in school practice, and summer courses. Many student teachers evaluate and analyse the pedagogical aspects of outdoor science when they carry out research projects in schools for their graduation thesis work. In order to understand the activity of science teaching and learning outdoors, a qualitative study was conducted. It was based on interviews with teacher educators and included studies of students' examination papers. A Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) lens was applied to the study. The theoretical framework helped to identify the prospective teachers' abilities and skills to design, implement, and evaluate tasks related to the professional competence of delivering outdoor science activities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Ghulam Abbas ◽  
◽  
Sadruddin Bahadur Qutoshi ◽  
Dil Angaiz ◽  
◽  
...  

This study aims to explore teachers’ perceptions and practices of the use of rubrics in assessing students’ learning in the context of higher education institutions in Gilgit-Baltistan. A case study method of inquiry within a qualitative paradigm was adopted to collect the relevant data through semi-structured interviews from three purposefully selected teacher-educators (instructors) and six student-teachers (prospective teachers) of semester III and IV from one of the colleges of education. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis and following themes were emerged: (1) the importance of assessment rubrics in teaching and learning processes, (2) effectiveness of rubrics in assessing teaching and learning, (3) coconstruction of assessment rubrics by student-teachers and teacher-educators, and (4) the challenges for student-teachers and teacher-educators in developing and using of assessment rubrics. From the discussion on the emerging themes, it is concluded that (a) use of assessment rubrics makes assessment process more meaningful to both teacher-educators and students-teachers; and (b) use of rubrics makes student-teachers and teacher-educators more focused on their purpose of teaching and learning outcomes. It is recommended that teacher-educators in teacher training institutions should use rubrics to assess prospective-teachers so that they, after completing their degree programs, would use similar techniques in their respective schools to assess their students’ learning outcomes effectively. Keywords: Assessment, Assessment Rubrics, Rubric Design, Teaching and Learning.


Author(s):  
Darshana Sharma

Teaching Practice is widely recognised as the sine-qua-non of any teacher education programme. It is a component in the teacher preparation programme where prospective teachers are provided with an opportunity to put their theoretical studies into practice, get feedback, reflect on practice and consequently further improve their teaching skills. As teaching practice is an important component of a teacher education programme, considerable attention must be given to make it more effective and fruitful. This paper is based on a research study conducted to know pre-service teachers' experiences of the quality of teaching practice and the common concerns they have during teaching practice. On the basis of focussed group discussion a total of five themes were identified, these are (1) usefulness of teaching practice (2) experiences/concerns with pupils' behaviour (3) experiences/concerns with own behaviour (4) experiences/concerns with supervisors' behaviour (5) experiences/concerns with institutional and personal adjustments. The outcome of the focussed group discussion was used to prepare a structured questionnaire. Among other things, the study recommended rigorous practical training in lesson planning, demonstration lessons by teacher educators, simulated teaching before the commencement of practice teaching, school orientation programmes, a separate internship of two weeks and writing a journal by student teachers during teaching practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 852-859
Author(s):  
Clement Ayarebilla Ali ◽  

The study compared exhaustively the Successive Approximation Model (SAM) and Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate (ADDIE) model on the teaching and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects in Ghana. We selected a sample of 30 student-teachers who offered Mathematics and Science in the distance mode of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana in the 2018/2019 academic year. The first stage of the analysis compared the models separately within the Vygotskian framework using pre-post experiemtal design. The second stage made comparisons between and within the two models. The results of both stages showed that student-teachers preferred mostly SAM to ADDIE instructional models. There were not only consistently higher mean gains in the latter model, but the group averages of student-teachers in the post-treatment results also demonstrated clear improvements. Again, student-teachers showed tremendous improvements in the conceptual understanding of both models. However, the Successive Approximation Model recorded much more improvements in both pre-treatment and post-treatment results. It was therefore imperative to conclude that the Successive Approximation Model was more properly situated in the context of teaching and learning Mathematics and Science. We, therefore, recommended experimental explorations of SAM for STEM.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Makie Kortjass

Background: This article gives an account of what I learned through the process of a self-study research project. Self-study teacher research allows teacher educators and teachers to improve their learning, plan new pedagogies and impact students’ learning.Aim: The aim of this self-study research was to improve my own practice in early childhood mathematics teacher education through interaction and collaboration with others, such as colleagues and students.Setting: As a South African university-based teacher educator, I piloted an integrated learning approach (ILA) in the teaching and learning of early childhood mathematics in a selected undergraduate programme.Methods: I began by tracking my personal development in mathematics education and in so doing was able to recognise my personal learning of mathematics as a child growing up in an African township context. I then worked with a class of 38 student teachers to create collages and concept maps to explore their understandings and experiences of ILA.Results: Through this project, I discovered that colleagues in the role of critical friends provided essential feedback on my work in progress. I also learned that student teachers need to be equipped with knowledge and hands-on experience of how integration can take place in teaching and learning early childhood mathematics. I realised that it was essential to constantly reflect on my own personal history and my professional practice to explore new ways of teaching mathematics.Conclusion: Teacher educators may consider engaging in self-study research that includes art-based self-study methods to reflect on their practices and see how they change for the benefit of their students and ultimately for the benefit of the learners.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-49
Author(s):  
Christine Phelps-Gregory ◽  
Sandy M. Spitzer

One goal in teacher education is to prepare prospective teachers (PTs) for a career of systematic re_ ection and learning from their own teaching. One important skill involved in systematic re_ ection, which has received little research attention, is linking teaching actions with their outcomes on student learning; such links have been termed hypotheses. We developed an assessment task to investigate PTs' ability to create such hypotheses, prior to instruction. PTs (N = 16) each read a mathematics lesson transcript and then responded to four question prompts. The four prompts were designed to vary along research-based criteria to examine whether different contexts in_ uenced PTs' enactment of their hypothesizing skills. Results suggest that the assessment did capture PTs' hypothesizing ability and that there is room for teacher educators to help PTs develop better hypothesis skills. Additional analysis of the assessment task showed that the type of question prompt used had only minimal effect on PTs' responses.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Roth McDuffie ◽  
Mary Q. Foote ◽  
Corey Drake ◽  
Erin Turner ◽  
Julia Aguirre ◽  
...  

Mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) designed and studied a video analysis activity intended to support prospective teachers (PSTs) in learning to notice equitable instructional practices. PSTs from 4 sites (N = 73) engaged in the activity 4 to 5 times during the semester, using a set of 4 “lenses” to analyze teaching and learning as shown in videos. In an earlier analysis of this activity, we found that PSTs increased their depth and expanded their foci in noticing equitable instructional practices (Roth McDuf_ e et al., 2013). In this analysis, we shift the focus to our work as MTEs: We examine our decisions and moves in facilitating the video analysis activity with a focus on equity, and we discuss implications for other MTEs.


Author(s):  
Signe E. Kastberg ◽  
Elizabeth Suazo-Flores ◽  
Sue Ellen Richardson

Teacher stories/autobiographies have been used by mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) to gain insight into prospective teachers’ (PTs) experience with mathematics, yet stories of MTEs’ motivation for and learning by engaging PTs in creating teacher stories is less understood. We fill this gap by narrating our experiences gaining insight into motivations for engaging PTs in creating teacher stories. Artifacts from our teaching practice, discussions of the work of Dewey and Rogers, and reflections were used to create themes that informed the plot line of each narrative. Findings focus on ways that teacher stories sustain PTs and MTEs by creating a living counter-narrative to the narrative of teacher evaluation MTEs and PTs live in the United States. We argue that MTEs’ motivations for collecting PTs’ teacher stories are informed by MTEs’ life experiences and the development of MTEs’ views of teaching and learning to teach.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Leong Chee Kin

Educational research has shown that teaching quality is one of the most important factors in raising student achievement. There is a compelling need for educators to keep abreast of the important developments that are taking place in educational arena. One of the educational areas that has massive development is the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning especially in mathematics. This development needs professional developmentamong educators. Being a regional science and mathematics education centre, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics (SEAMEO RECSAM) has always been cognizant of the importance of these developments. Its training programmes are planned to incorporate these developments for in-service teachers, teacher educators and ministry of education mathematics officers. As the Centre's mandate aims to ensure that these participants from Southeast Asians countriesas well as those from outside the region are equipped with emerging educationaltechnology tools which can enhance teaching and learning of mathematics. This paper will share the Centre’s experiences in continuing professional development among mathematics teacher, teacher educators and officers from the ministry of education on educational innovation and technology.


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