Differentiated instruction in teacher education : a case study of congruent teaching

Teachers are supposed to use forms of differentiated instruction to anticipate the differences among their students. However, the adaptation of teaching to the diversity of the group often takes place with difficulty. Teacher education is blamed for not preparing student teachers adequately for differentiated instruction. Several authors suggest that congruent teaching in teacher education might be an adequate solution to this problem. This case study aims to investigate the (congruent) realization of differentiated instruction in teacher education using ethnographic tools. The results indicate that the observed teacher educator demonstrated limited forms of differentiation, largely without providing meta-commentary. Therefore, she is not a role model on the subject of differentiated instruction in the view of student teachers. These results are discussed in depth, and form a basis for further research and suggestions for practice in teacher education

Visual perturbances in digital pedagogical media

Several studies have investigated how the formation of informal conjectures, and the dialogue they evoke, might influence young children’s learning trajectories, and enhance their mathematical thinking. In a digital environment, the visual output and its distinctive qualities can lead to interpretation and response of a particular nature. In this paper the notion of visual perturbance is explored, and situated within the data obtained, when ten-year-old children engaged in number investigations in a spreadsheet environment

Exploring the Relationship between K-8 Prospective Teachers’ Algebraic Thinking Proficiency and the Questions They Pose during Diagnostic Algebraic Thinking Interviews

In this study, we explored the relationship between prospective teachers’ algebraic thinking and the questions they posed during one-on-one diagnostic interviews that focused on investigating the algebraic thinking of middle school students. To do so, we evaluated prospective teachers’ algebraic thinking proficiency across 125 algebra-based tasks and we analyzed the characteristics of questions they posed during the interviews. We found that prospective teachers with lower algebraic thinking proficiency did not ask any probing questions. Instead, they either posed questions that simply accepted and affirmed student responses or posed questions that guided the students toward an answer without probing student thinking. In contrast, prospective teachers with higher algebraic thinking proficiency were able to pose probing questions to investigate student thinking or help students clarify their thinking. However, less than half of their questions were of this probing type. These results suggest that prospective teachers’ algebraic thinking proficiency is related to the types of questions they ask to explore the algebraic thinking of students. Implications for mathematics teacher education are discussed

Design approaches in technology enhanced learning

Design is a critical to the successful development of any interactive learning environment (ILE). Moreover, in technology enhanced learning (TEL), the design process requires input from many diverse areas of expertise. As such, anyone undertaking tool development is required to directly address the design challenge from multiple perspectives. We provide a motivation and rationale for design approaches for learning technologies that draws upon Simon's seminal proposition of Design Science (Simon, 1969). We then review the application of Design Experiments (Brown, 1992) and Design Patterns (Alexander et al., 1977) and argue that a patterns approach has the potential to address many of the critical challenges faced by learning technologists

Lessons from the Past and Future Directions for Corporate Real Estate Research

This study seeks to answer several questions about corporate real estate research. The first, Where should corporate real estate research be focused in the future? is addressed by a proposed alternative corporate real estate research framework that differs from what has been followed in the past. A second question that follows from the first is then addressed: Given such an alternative research framework, what types of corporate real estate issues merit research consideration? Finally, a third closely related question is then examined: Which research methodologies, databases and statistical tools are likely to prove useful to academic researchers seeking promotion and tenure, as well as corporate executives and others interested in better understanding the impacts of corporate real estate decisions?

Sound Before Symbol Strategies and Beginning Band Performance Skills

Beginning instrumental instruction often ignores the common elementary pedagogical practice of teaching by sound before symbol, instead focusing on learning through notation. This paper provides a literature review of peer-reviewed, correlational, and experimental control-group studies, that examine the effects of sound before symbol teaching strategies on the development of beginning instrumentalists’ performance skills. Limited research on this question has been conducted; search results generated fourteen peer-reviewed studies and seven dissertations with beginning instrumentalists as participants. Research has found a significant relationship between using the sound before symbol strategies of tonal pattern training by ear, improvisation, echo, rote, and playing by ear, and the development of rhythmic, ear-playing, and sight-reading skills of beginning instrumentalists. Findings suggest that rhythm skills are efficiently developed when instruction includes melodic and rhythmic patterns that are taught by ear, and rhythmic accuracy increases with instruction without notation. Additionally, sight-reading skills have been found to increase as a result of learning tonal patterns by ear. Ear playing skills are also developed when tonal patterns are taught prior to introducing notation. The results of these studies suggest an opportunity for further research and provide guidance for changing curricular resources and pedagogical practices of beginning instrumental teachers

Engagement with virtual learning environments : a case study across faculties

Original article can be found at: www.herts.ac.uk/blip Copyright University of HertfordshireThe Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) at the University of Hertfordshire (UH) not only supports institutional and national strategies in learning and teaching, but represents a significant investment in capital. Studies show that VLEs offer a variety of pedagogical benefits and usage of such systems can be effectively measured through the analysis of a system’s log files. However, although the increase in engagement with the VLE at UH as a whole has been considerable over recent years, there appears to be a wide variation in engagement across faculties, suggesting that tutors of some faculties could benefit from increased support to improve engagement. For example, during each of the academic years under study, the range of student engagement between two particular faculties dif-fered by at least 290%. Having identified faculties that show consistently low VLE engage-ment, we need to ask why this is, and ask whether there needs to be further investigation into the reasons behind this disparity.Peer reviewe