Provoking opportunities for science in early childhood education

This article presents findings from a doctoral study which examined the ways teaching teams in six New Zealand early childhood education (ECE) centres fostered and supported young children’s scientific experiences. The focus of this article is the pedagogical practice of using provocations to facilitate scientific opportunities. The way provocations fostered science occurrences will be explored drawing on the experiences of teachers in two of the centres involved in the research. The article will discuss where the pedagogical approach of provocations originates and provide examples of how provocations can facilitate opportunities for investigations around scientific concepts.

La coordinación de los equipos docentes para la adquisiciónde la competencia transversal de la comunicación: laexperiencia en el grado en odontología de la Universidaddel País Vasco (UPV/EHU)

En la atención asistencial, las habilidades de comunicación resultan fundamentales en el quehacer de los profesionales de la salud. La adquisición adecuada de dichas habilidades por parte del alumnado ha de ser uno de los objetivos de los equipos docentes. Conscientes de esta necesidad, en el grado en odontología de la UPV/EHU, se está llevando a cabo un proyecto de innovación educativa impulsando la labor y coordinación horizontal y vertical de los equipos docentes, dando lugar a las siguientes acciones: i, definición de una guía de habilidades comunicacionales; ii, diseño de actividades complejas basadas en escenarios realistas, implementadas mediante metodologías activas; iii, evaluación continua con la pertinente retroalimentación; y iv, seguimiento de todo el proceso con registro de evidencias. Tras un periodo de dos años, dicha evaluación está permitiendo tomar conciencia de los avances y dificultades presentes, tanto en el proceso como en la adquisición de algunos de los resultados de aprendizaje. La discusión, reflexión y consenso de los equipos docentes, intra e interasignatura, ha dado lugar a la mejora de las guías docentes, al rediseño de algunas de las actividades académicas, a un mayor grado de colaboración para la mejora de documentos de comunicación (ej.: consentimiento informado, elaboración de informes médicos) y para unificar criterios de evaluación, e, incluso, al diseño de talleres formativos sobre comunicación dirigidos al profesorado. Todo ello traerá consigo un impacto educativo, fruto del esfuerzo de los componentes de dichos equipos docentes que, sin duda, redundará en beneficio de la atención de los pacientes. In healthcare, communication skills are essential in the work of health professionals. The suitable acquisition of these skills by the students must therefore be one of the objectives of the teaching teams. Aware of this need, in the degree in dentistry at the UPV/EHU, an educational innovation project is being carried out by promoting the horizontal and vertical coordination and work of teaching teams, which has led to the following actions: i, definition of a communication skills guide; ii, design of complex activities based on realistic scenarios, implemented using active methodologies; iii, continuous assessment with pertinent feedback; and iv, monitoring of the entire process with evidence record. After a period of two years, we are becoming aware of the advances and difficulties present, both in the process and in the acquisition of some of the learning outcomes. The discussion, reflection and consensus of the teaching teams, intra and intersubject, has led to the improvement of the teaching guides, the redesign of some of the academic activities, a greater degree of collaboration for the improvement of communication documents (eg., informed consent, preparation of medical reports) and to unify evaluation criteria, and even the design of training workshops on communication aimed at teachers. All of this will have an educational impact, as a result of the efforts of the members of the teaching teams, that will undoubtedly benefit patient care.

Breaking the Circle of One: Reflection in Montessori Early Childhood Centres in Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>Little is currently known about how teachers in New Zealand Montessori early childhood centres reflect on Montessori philosophy and practice individually and collaboratively within teaching teams. The purpose of this research was to discover the current views about reflection on Montessori philosophy, the barriers teachers faced in reflecting and opportunities they identified for reflection. The impact that requirements for self review and teacher reflection have had on the approach taken to reflection, inquiry and professional learning by teachers in Montessori early childhood centres was also investigated. This research study used a mixed method case study and data was collected from teachers working in Montessori early childhood centres through semistructured interviews with three groups and an online survey of individual teachers. Participants placed high importance on reflection. However some participants were reluctant to critique Montessori philosophy; either because they viewed it as ‘valid’ or because they were concerned about being regarded as ‘heretical’ by other teachers. Participants felt safe raising questions within their teaching teams, but were more wary of debating and questioning philosophical issues with teachers in the wider Montessori community. Others regarded reflection as an opportunity to develop a shared understanding of Montessori philosophy and practice in their early childhood centre. Despite the participants’ perception that their team spent time reflecting on Montessori philosophy and relating this to daily teaching practice, it was still a challenge to make these reflective activities a priority in limited centre team meeting times. In addition, it appears that more support is needed to improve skills and knowledge about how the cyclical process of review or inquiry can engage with Montessori philosophy, inform centre philosophy, drive centre practice and improve outcomes for children. This study suggests that teachers would benefit from the creation of ‘safe spaces’ where they can engage with colleagues from their own or other Montessori early childhood centres in debate and discussion so that teaching practice becomes based on critical engagement with the underlying theoretical or philosophical principles of Montessori education.</p>

Breaking the Circle of One: Reflection in Montessori Early Childhood Centres in Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>Little is currently known about how teachers in New Zealand Montessori early childhood centres reflect on Montessori philosophy and practice individually and collaboratively within teaching teams. The purpose of this research was to discover the current views about reflection on Montessori philosophy, the barriers teachers faced in reflecting and opportunities they identified for reflection. The impact that requirements for self review and teacher reflection have had on the approach taken to reflection, inquiry and professional learning by teachers in Montessori early childhood centres was also investigated. This research study used a mixed method case study and data was collected from teachers working in Montessori early childhood centres through semistructured interviews with three groups and an online survey of individual teachers. Participants placed high importance on reflection. However some participants were reluctant to critique Montessori philosophy; either because they viewed it as ‘valid’ or because they were concerned about being regarded as ‘heretical’ by other teachers. Participants felt safe raising questions within their teaching teams, but were more wary of debating and questioning philosophical issues with teachers in the wider Montessori community. Others regarded reflection as an opportunity to develop a shared understanding of Montessori philosophy and practice in their early childhood centre. Despite the participants’ perception that their team spent time reflecting on Montessori philosophy and relating this to daily teaching practice, it was still a challenge to make these reflective activities a priority in limited centre team meeting times. In addition, it appears that more support is needed to improve skills and knowledge about how the cyclical process of review or inquiry can engage with Montessori philosophy, inform centre philosophy, drive centre practice and improve outcomes for children. This study suggests that teachers would benefit from the creation of ‘safe spaces’ where they can engage with colleagues from their own or other Montessori early childhood centres in debate and discussion so that teaching practice becomes based on critical engagement with the underlying theoretical or philosophical principles of Montessori education.</p>

Responses to COVID-19 in the Context of Quality Assurance, Quality Improvement and Scholarship Requirements for Curricula

Our Curriculum Evaluation and Research-STEM Teaching Fellowship embeds leadership for active engagement in scholarship within teaching teams. It is a response to Higher Education Standards Framework (HESF) minimum requirements for continuous evaluation informing ongoing curriculum transformation, specifically the TEQSA Guidance Note: Scholarship (2018). The Fellowship contextualised the existing ‘Curriculum Evaluation Research (CER) framework’ (Kelder & Carr, 2017) for the specific characteristics of STEM degrees and teaching teams. The framework supports team-based planning and doing activities that are aligned with institutional structures, processes and governance instruments, so that scholarship can be made visible, monitored, measured, met and reported at the level of degree curriculum. Here we describe fellowship outcomes in the context of responses to COVID-19 using a case study at the University of Tasmania.

Online Education Practices and Teaching Team Compositions in Australian Preservice Primary Science Education

Australian Initial Teacher Education (ITE) has long been marred by instability, scrutiny and high academic workloads. University wide workforce changes and the proliferation of online education require ongoing consideration as these factors have the potential to both enrich ITE and exacerbate existing issues. As subsect of ITE, preservice primary science education faces unique hurdles as establish student-centred, authentic practices have historically been delivered by tenured staff in traditional face-to-face settings. This paper aims to explore online teaching practices and teaching team composition in Australian preservice primary science education via interview and survey data collected from 17 academics in a Type II case study. Results showed varied, often asynchronous approaches to online education; punctuated by elements of academic resistance. Teaching teams were increasingly dependent on sessional staff, which has resulted in complex benefits and detriments. Researchers and administrators need to work proactively to determine how both online practices should be utilised and teaching teams should be structured to deliver high quality ITE.

Interdisciplinary Teaching of Digital Competencies for Undergraduate Medical Students – Experiences of a Teaching Project by Medical Informatics and Medicine

The increasing digitalization of medicine stressed the importance of teaching digital competencies in undergraduate medical education. However, in many medical curricula in Germany, medical informatics is underrepresented. Due the upcoming reorganization of medical undergraduate education in Germany, topics previously assigned to medical informatics represent curricular challenges for all medical disciplines. Against this background, experiences from the project DigiWissMed show how medical informatics can support the teaching of digital competencies in all disciplines of medical education. Therefore, interdisciplinary teaching teams of medical informatics professionals and physicians were formed. In different academic years, this teaching teams jointly designed and implemented new seminars to convey digital competencies. The seminars covers topics such as technology acceptance, telemedicine and assistive health care related to the medical specialty. So, in the project DigiWissMed, the practicability and usefulness of interdisciplinary teaching teams to convey digital competencies could be demonstrate. In the digitalization process of medicine, medical informatics plays a key role. For future-proof medical education, experts of this field should be involved in teaching digital competencies, too.

Reciprocal Peer Coaching and Teaching Teams’ Use of Pyramid Model Practices

A multiple probe design across behaviors, replicated across teaching teams, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of training plus reciprocal peer coaching on teaching teams’ implementation of Pyramid Model (PM) practices. In this study, teaching teams (three dyads and one triad) were provided with training around the use of targeted PM practices and reciprocal peer coaching. Coaching required teachers within each team to observe and provide feedback to one another around their use of targeted PM practices. Data from this study indicate reciprocal peer coaching is an effective and efficient way for early childhood teaching teams to increase their use of PM practices. Increased use of PM practices generalized across classroom activities and maintained following the removal of peer coaching. Results, limitations, impacts on the field, and next steps are discussed.