Preservice teachers’ observations of their mentors’ teaching strategies for differentiated learning

Tensions exist between teacher-centred and learner-centred approaches with constructivism as being favoured for learning in the 21st Century. There is little evidence of teaching strategies being used in the field for differentiating student learning. In addition, preservice teachers need to learn about teaching strategies for which observations of their mentor teachers can provide practical applications. This study explores 16 preservice teachers’ observations of their mentors’ teaching strategies over a four-week professional experience. They provided a minimum of five written observations during this period. Findings indicated that these preservice teachers observed their mentors’ practices and recorded four key teaching strategies used to differentiate learning, namely: (1) designating facilitators for students’ learning, including teacher, peers, parents, and support staff such as teachers aides, (2) managing student groups, (3) contexts for learning, and (4) using a range of teaching aids (visual, auditory, games) and resources. Preservice teachers’ observations of their mentor teachers indicated that they can commence at early stages for identifying teaching strategies and how they work for differentiating student learning

Science Teacher Learning of MBL-Supported Student-Centered Science Education in the Context of Secondary Education in Tanzania

Science teachers from secondary schools in Tanzania were offered an in-service arrangement to prepare them for the integration of technology in a student-centered approach to science teaching. The in-service arrangement consisted of workshops in which educative curriculum materials were used to prepare teachers for student-centered education and for the use and application of Microcomputer Based Laboratories (MBL)—a specific technology application for facilitating experiments in science education. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to study whether the in-service arrangement impacted teacher learning. Teacher learning was determined by three indicators: (1) the ability to conduct MBL-supported student centered science lessons, (2) teachers’ reflection on those lessons and (3) students’ perceptions of the classroom environment. The results of the research indicate that the teachers’ were able to integrate MBL in their science lessons at an acceptable level and that they were able to create a classroom environment which was appreciated by their students as more investigative and open-ended

Reflecting on professional practice: the Importance of motivating adolescent girls in physical education

According to Calderhead et al. (1993), being a reflective practitioner is a vital requirement in the quest to improve both teaching and learning. The stimulus for this research was therefore determined through reflection on current practice within an educational setting. Both sport and academic achievement play a large part in school life. As research by Blaire et al. (1999) demonstrates, regular active participation in sport helps prevent many health risks including obesity, cancer and heart disease. In recent findings however, Shen (2009) identified a steep decline in the involvement of physical activity during adolescent years (12-18 years). This research was further confirmed by 'The National Heart, Lung and Blood health study account'(in Kimm et al, 2002), a finding of which was a dramatic decrease in the median of adolescent's activity between the ages of 12-18 years. Work by (Ogden et al., 2002) subsequently confirmed that inactivity enhances the rates in obesity and Type two diabetes. The focus of this research is therefore to examine why adolescents' motivation towards physical activity decreases with specific reference to the causations and potential methods of how to change this perspective, thus promoting lifelong physical activity participation (Haerens et al., 2012). Through using Kolb's (1984) model of experimental leaning, reflection on current practice can be investigated to demonstrate the relationship of conceptualising experiences. Findings can then be used to inform planning to support improvement in current practice. The research involved synthesising literature themes including motivation and physical activity, identifying the relationship of activity patterns during adolescence to future participation habits, and the impact of team V individual sports on motivation to engage with physical activity within an educational environment. Key themes drawn from the literature illustrating a positive correlation to motivating adolescents included the provision of choice (Prusak, 2004, Pangagi, 2000), the provision of challenge and independent learning tasks linked to skill requirements (Reeves,1987; Garn et al., 2011), the provision of non-competitive and enjoyable activities (Cherubuni et al., 2005; Garn et al, 2005; Johnson et al., 2011), and finally the provision of an environment to enhance levels of perceived competence and autonomy (Wang et al., 2007)

Teachers as mediators: an exploration of situated English teaching

Within the context of lower secondary English teaching in South West England, this study identifies in broad terms the competing goals between which English teachers mediate and the explicit and hidden tensions that result. To understand the interactions of competing goals, teachers’ goal-oriented behaviours are referenced to a set of idealised ‘role types’ based on the dimensions of goals, norms, discourses and practices. It is asserted that competing goals, significant to particular educational circumstances, emanate from various sometimes contradictory local, national and perhaps broader social and cultural influences on practice. Yet the teachers observed moved smoothly between goal-oriented behaviours in a continuous and comfortable style, easily and without reflecting any tensions between them. Thus, this article elaborates an account of situated English teaching

A review of the research literature relating to ICT and attainment

Summary of the main report, which examined current research and evidence for the impact of ICT on pupil attainment and learning in school settings and the strengths and limitations of the methodologies used in the research literature

Photoshop (CS6) Intelligent Tutoring System

In this paper, we designed and developed an intelligent tutoring system for teaching Photoshop. We designed the lessons, examples, and questions in a way to teach and evaluate student understanding of the material. Through the feedback provided by this tool, you can assess the student's understanding of the material, where there is a minimum overshoot questions stages, and if the student does not pass the level of questions he is asked to return the lesson and read it again. Eventually this administration is a special teacher for the students and can continue with him until he fully understands the lesson without weariness or boredom, regardless of the level of student

Everyday classroom teaching practices for self-regulated learning

This study investigated everyday classroom teaching that provides opportunities for young adolescent students to self-regulate their learning. Evidence drawn from literature in the field of self-regulated learning (SRL) underpins this investigation that was focused on the transition years from primary school to secondary school. Research was conducted in Australia as dual case studies, with data collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations from eight teacher participants. The data were analysed through the lens of a conceptual framework that aligns the findings with the fundamentals for SRL. The four themes generated are best understood as teaching approaches that describe how teachers within social learning environments connect the goal orientated learning with purposeful engagement, facilitate the activation of thinking strategies through instructional support, and diversify learning opportunities that enable an expectation of success. The findings are illustrated by classroom examples of the core practices that influence students' self-regulatory capacity. An outcome of this research is the SRL model that offers a vision for pedagogy to support teacher professional dialogue and learning, and a practical decision-making tool intended to guide teachers to reflect, analyse and tailor practices for their everyday classroom teaching. The paper concludes with some suggestions that provide scope for future research

Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Abstracts 2005

Proceedings of the Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Regional Conference held at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2005