Constructivism in Teacher Education: Applying Cognitive Theory to Teacher Learning

2005 ◽  
pp. 69-92
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Cognitive Theory

scholarly journals Mathematics teacher learning to notice: a systematic review of studies of video-based programs

ZDM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rossella Santagata ◽  
Johannes König ◽  
Thorsten Scheiner ◽  
Ha Nguyen ◽  
Ann-Kristin Adleff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Mathematics Teacher ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Teacher Noticing ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Supporting Tool

AbstractTeacher noticing has become increasingly acknowledged as a fundamental aspect of teacher professional competence. Teacher education scholars have examined how the development of noticing might be supported both in initial teacher education and in professional development. In mathematics teacher education, several studies have explored the use of video as a supporting tool for teacher noticing. It remains unclear how this body of work builds on the various theoretical perspectives of noticing prevalent in the literature, thus broadening our understanding of noticing. Furthermore, the field has not examined systematically the extent to which research has leveraged the affordances of digital video technologies, and whether scholars have employed different research methods to answer questions that are critical to teacher educators. This survey paper reviews studies published in the last two decades on programs centered on mathematics teacher noticing that used video as a supporting tool for teacher learning. Thirty-five peer-reviewed papers written in English were identified and coded along three dimensions: (1) theoretical perspectives; (2) use of video technologies; and (3) research questions and methods. This review summarizes important findings and highlights several directions for future research. Most studies involved pre-service teachers, and only a few centered on in-service teachers. Developers of the large majority of programs took a cognitive psychological perspective and focused on the attending/perceiving and interpreting/reasoning facets of noticing. Few studies used video-based software and few studies used grouping, and even fewer used randomized grouping. Evidence of program effects on responding and decision making, and on instructional practice, is limited and should be extended in the future.

Seeking Support in Teacher Education for Racial Knowledge: The Role of Professional Networks and Social Identities

2021 ◽  
pp. 004208592110584
Author(s):  
Lisette Enumah
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Professional Networks ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
Racial Knowledge

Drawing from the narrated experiences of teacher educators (TEs) at different institutions, this paper analyzes TEs’ perceptions of support related to their work in teaching about race and racism. TEs varied in the extent to which they viewed their institution as supportive, and they identified factors that signaled that their institution supported teacher learning about race and racism. TEs also described how their racial identities and positional privilege related to tenure status informed engagement with peers both for providing and seeking support. Implications for teacher education programs in providing support for TEs who teach about race and racism are discussed.

Principled Improvisation to Support Novice Teacher Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Philip
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Novice Teachers ◽  
Novice Teacher ◽  
Relational Work ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Sense Of Power ◽  
Learning To Listen

Background A significant body of scholarship has highlighted the importance of improvisation in teaching, particularly the interactional and responsive creativity that is required for teachers to co-construct meaning with students. However, recent efforts inside and outside university-based teacher education have pushed against novice teacher learning through improvisation, preferring to focus on the “practicing” of identifiable components or discrete techniques of teaching. Purpose Based on an expansive view of practice, I argue that improvisation is inextricably connected to practice and illustrate that the marginalization of improvisation limits opportunities for novice teachers to learn the relational aspects of teaching. I develop the concept of principled improvisation: improvisation that is purposefully oriented toward justice and that accentuates each moment of teaching as political, ethical, and consequential. I describe the design of a learning environment for preservice teachers that was organized around principled improvisation and demonstrate its unique affordances for particular forms of novice teacher learning. Research Design Based on a close reading of novice teachers’ weekly reflections and audio recordings and field notes from the whole-class discussions, I highlight five examples of practice guided by principled improvisation that span a diversity of participants, contexts, and scale. These illustrative cases are not meant to systematically characterize all instances of practice guided by principled improvisation in the course; rather, they are meant to be invitations to grapple with new pedagogical and learning possibilities (and limitations) that emerge when teacher education is organized around principled improvisation. In particular, I explore how learning to listen played prominently in teacher practice guided by principled improvisation and examine how the opportunity to narrate, re-narrate, and re-envision experiences allowed novice teachers to learn and collectively build place-relevant theory. Conclusions The opportunities to learn to recognize emotion, listen, see race in place, consider political expression, and make sense of power across scales were significant aspects of the relational work of teachers that were learned by organizing novice teacher learning around principled improvisation. These forms of learning could not have taken place if the experiences of the novice teacher were only organized around the rehearsal of components of teaching. It required teaching in a complex space that connects self and interactions in place to larger structures and ideologies in society.

Practicing Responsiveness: Using Approximations of Teaching to Develop Teachers’ Responsiveness to Students’ Ideas

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Schneider Kavanagh ◽  
Mike Metz ◽  
Mary Hauser ◽  
Brad Fogo ◽  
Megan Westwood Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Early Career Teachers ◽  
Responsive Instruction

As practice-based teacher education (PBTE) has become more prevalent, debates about its contribution have emerged. Critics of PBTE question whether emphasizing practice will support a technocratic approach to teacher education rather than promoting instruction that is responsive to students’ ideas. This qualitative case study was motivated by an interest in understanding whether and in what ways practice-based approaches to teacher learning can support teachers in practicing responsiveness as opposed to practicing decontextualized moves. To this end, we investigated how early-career teachers in a practice-based professional development program were supported to approximate teaching practices. We focused on the extent to which approximations of practice supported teachers to hone their skill at being responsive to students’ ideas. Findings revealed characteristics of approximations of practice that support teachers in developing their capacity to enact responsive instruction. These findings have implications for program design, teacher educator pedagogy, and future research.

scholarly journals Provocation to Dialog in a Third Space: Helping Teachers Walk Toward Equity Pedagogy

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara Ratnam
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Mikhail Bakhtin ◽  
Third Space ◽  
Conceptual Basis ◽  
Equity Pedagogy ◽  
Sociocultural Perspectives ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
Learning Development

This study examines the conceptual basis of how teachers learn, including, importantly, how they learn to relate to social concerns of equity in their teaching, and makes this understanding experientially accessible using a live case of the “practical” (Schwab, 1969). The conceptual understanding emerges from questioning the assumptions behind the valorization in teacher education of “theory” over “practice” that has led to the “theory into practice”/“input–output” model of teacher education. An examination of the constraints posed by this monolithic model of teacher education to teacher learning, development, and change has provided the impetus to work toward a more pluralistic view of knowledge and the new understanding of the nature of teacher learning which ensues. This alternative formation, which is informed by insights from the sociocultural perspectives of Lev Vygotsky and Mikhail Bakhtin among others, has helped in constructing a view of teacher learning as taking shape in authentic social interaction in a “third space” through hybridization of diverse voices. Most importantly, the paper considers its implications for teacher education by abstracting from experience the nature of mediation that facilitates hybridization.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document