Self-Directed Learning Through Computer-Aided Mathematics Instruction: First-Year Teacher Education Experience

Objective: The study investigates first-year teacher education students’ self-directed learning through Computer-Aided Mathematics Instruction (CAMI).Methods: A total of 230 first-year mathematics teachers specialising in Further Education and Training (FET) phase teaching participated in the study, where responses from 50 student teachers were purposively and conveniently selected to report on in this paper. A qualitative research method approach was used and open–ended questionnaires were utilised to collect the data for first-year teacher education students’ self-directed learning. The questionnaires were analysed using descriptive data analysis.Results: Results of the study revealed that CAMI was used to monitor students’ learning, the time the learning takes place, the performance of the student within the duration of time, and to evaluate student performance. The results also revealed the skills that characterised self-directed learning and active learning where the student teachers were motivated to learn more and to solve difficult problems in mathematics.Conclusions: The study recommends technology integration, such as CAMI, in teacher education and teaching and learning in the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), to promote self-directed learning and support effective learning for future learners.

Learning Styles & Academic Performance of Teacher Education Students

Individual differences can be attributed to learning styles across students. It is the goal of this research to determine the students’ preferred learning styles and how well they performed academically. This study is a descriptive-correlation method of research on the learning style and academic performance of teacher education students. The results revealed that: First-year teacher education students have varied learning styles with social learning style as the most dominant. This implies that the first-year teacher education students prefer to learn in groups or with other people; The rating of the first-year teacher education students ranges from 1.6-2.0 which is equivalent to “very good” in the adjectival rating based on the grading system of the university, and The correlation analysis using the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation of Coefficient result to a p-value which is greater than the level of significance (0.05) for all learning styles which means that there is no correlation between students' chosen learning techniques and their academic success.

Analysis of Ecological Values in Future Education Professionals in Andalusia (Spain)

This study shows the hierarchy of values presented by first-year teacher training students studying at public universities in Andalusia (Spain), emphasising the analysis of ecological values in relation to the gender variable. For this purpose, we used a survey-type methodology with a quantitative approach. Participants were selected by means of probability sampling by clusters. The sample was finally composed of 651 students, of whom 226 were men (34.7%) and 425 women (65.3%) aged between 18 and 49 (M = 20.20 and T.D. = 3.736). The results show a high valuation of non-material aspects related to affectivity, morality, the individual and ecology, followed by values related to the body and its care, the social, the material and the aesthetic, and finally, values related to the intellectual, the political and the religious. The results show the influence of gender in the identification of ecological values and the variables that make them up, where women have higher averages in most of the items. We can therefore conclude that the gender variable influences the choice of ecological values presented by university students.

Disconnected Development? The Importance of Specific Human Capital in the Transition From Student Teaching to the Classroom

We use a novel database of student teaching placements in Washington State to investigate teachers’ transitions from student teaching classrooms to first job classrooms and the implications for student achievement. We find first-year teachers are more effective when they teach in the same or an adjacent grade, in the same school type, or in a classroom with student demographics similar to their student teaching classroom. We document that only 27% of first-year teachers are teaching the same grade they student taught, and that first-year teachers tend to begin their careers in higher poverty classrooms than their student teaching placements. This suggests that better aligning student teacher placements with first-year teacher hiring could be a policy lever for improving early-career teacher effectiveness.

Norwegian teacher students’ conceptions of grammar

This paper explores the conceptions of grammar of first-year teacher students (N = 235) in Norway. A conventional content analysis is used to analyse the answers from the first part of a survey exploring the teacher students’ views of grammar through the following questions: Q1. How would you define the term grammar? Q2. Do you think grammar is an important part of Norwegian as a school subject? Q3. Do you feel confident in grammar? The second part of the survey is a grammar knowledge test. The results show that most students define grammar as writing correctly. Many answers also refer to language structure. Among the less frequent definitions are: theoretical knowledge of language structure, precise communication, text, and constituent analysis. Nearly all students report that they consider grammar important. Moreover, most consider their own grammar competence to be relatively good. However, there is a discrepancy between this self-evaluation and the results from the knowledge test, which are quite poor. Our study contributes to the body of research on teacher students’ conception of grammar, which, in a Norwegian context, has been unexplored. We discuss our findings in the light of national and international literature, and we propose plausible contributing factors. We also reflect upon possible consequences for teacher education.