Using collaborative CoRe design in chemistry education to promote effective partnerships between associate and student teachers

This article is a follow-up to my paper published in 2010 (Hume, 2010). In that paper I reported on the use of Content Representations (CoRes) in a chemistry education course to give student teachers insights into the professional knowledge of experienced practitioners: notably their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), which is “… [the] understanding of how particular topics, problems, or issues are organised, represented, and adapted to the diverse interests and abilities of learning, and presented for instruction” (Shulman, 1987, p. 8). introduced by Shulman (1987) as an academic construct to describe a tacit category of teachers’ professional knowledge base, the exact nature of PCK has been extensively explored and debated. From this debate some agreement has emerged about the components that comprise a teacher’s PCK. This has been identified by Magnusson et al. (1999) as a teacher’s: • orientations towards science teaching (since teachers’ knowledge and beliefs related to their teaching goals and approaches will influence their classroom practice); • knowledge of curriculum; • knowledge of assessment (since what is to be assessed, how and why also influences a teacher’s practice); • knowledge of students’ understanding of science; • knowledge of instructional strategies

Becoming a teacher: conceptual and practice development in the learning and skills sector

Drawing on a mixed-methods study of in-service learning and skills sector (LSS) trainees, comprising beginning- and end-of-year surveys and six longitudinal case studies together with literature on trainees’ development in the LSS, schools and higher education sectors, conceptual and practice development continua are proposed. Conceptions become more multi-dimensional and increasingly link teaching and learning whilst initial concern with the practicalities of teaching is followed by recognition of learners’ needs. Next, greater emphasis is placed on learner autonomy and catering for individuals’ needs and finally assessment and evaluation is used systematically to shape practice. The continua offer an understanding of the subtleties and complexities of trainee development allowing for different starting and end points and accommodating varied work contexts. I argue that this provides a more adequate basis for the development of initial teacher education (ITE) than the prescriptive approach embedded within recent LSS ITE policy reforms

Democratic Hopes in the Polycentric City

The polycentric model of municipal governance suggests that multiple jurisdictions may approximate an efficient market for local public services: citizens move to jurisdictions offering services they value at tax rates they are willing and able to pay. The model is appealing to political theorists for its emphasis on free association and responsive governance, but problematic insofar as institutions prescribed by the model permit exclusionary practices and objectionable inequalities. I argue for a revised conception of polycentricity: efficient spatial patterns of boundaries and services are acceptable only if they are consistent with (inter alia) fair opportunities for both mobility and loyalty to place. This suggests a vision of the polycentric city in which fairness and contestation are as important as freedom and efficiency

How the Conception of Knowledge Influences Our Educational Practices: Toward a Philosophical Understanding of Epistemology in Education

This paper explores how the conception and valuation of the knowledge within our educational practices determines the planning, writing, and implementation of the curriculum. There is a pressing need for educators to philosophically and systematically understand the relationship between the foundational epistemological beliefs that ground a curriculum and its relationship to forming the notions of competency, pedagogy, and the methods for evaluating and assessing student progress. These issues are not only relevant, but crucial when attempting to justify a particular conception of education, which relates directly to the student\u27s potential for intellectual growth and social development. It may be argued that the comprehensive theory of curriculum planning manifests the intersection of philosophical critique, social inquiry, and psychological theory, and the author believes that bringing philosophy, and a formal methodology, to bear on the problems of education represents an instance where philosophy might contribute in a direct manner to the active and ongoing process of current educational reform

Examining the Role of Reciprocity within the Formative Assessment Process Alongside Prospective Teachers

This self-study examines the role of reciprocity within the formative assessment process in order to explore preservice teacher understandings of the complexities of the teaching/learning/assessment process. I study myself in relation to my practice in order to provide an account of how my knowledge of teaching is lived out in practice. Through the various chapters, I give the reader glimpses of my background and the particular situations that draw out theory/practice relations. The conceptual framework gives the reader an idea of the assumptions that frame my thinking. In particular, I articulate knowledge as experiential and perception as multi-layered. Self-study methodology enables a sharing of my professional history in relation to my practice by making the interaction of theory/practice relations transparent. The chapters on formative assessment and the depth of reciprocity share my knowledge in action as seen through the course design, materials used, social interactions, temporality of the daily schedule and pivotal moments. There is a recognition of the importance played by noticing the details and being open to the unexpected during these pivotal moments. Interaction, complexity and growth are seen as pervasive qualities that permeate the reciprocity of formative assessment when it is used to promote embodied understandings. What emerges by studying the dynamics of reciprocity is the range of depth of understanding that is encountered and allowed by various students. A pedagogy of embodiment is revealed as being connected with the role of reciprocity in formative assessment. When formative assessment is used as a process to expose student thinking and foster interaction, the complexity of the teaching/learning/assessment interaction is brought to light. Students who actively attempt to give meaning to and make sense of this complexity, through the reciprocity of formative assessment, come to embody a new, lived understanding of the teaching/learning/assessment process. By examining how preservice teachers come to understand and use the formative assessment process, pedagogical thinking is illuminated. These insights gained may lead to a greater responsiveness between instruction and assessment and reposition accountability toward meaning making rather than knowledge accumulation

Defining Authentic Classroom Assessment

A commonly advocated best practice for classroom assessment is to make the assessments authentic. Authentic is often used as meaning the mirroring of real-world tasks or expectations. There is no consensus, however, in the actual definition of the term or the characteristics of an authentic classroom assessment. Sometimes, the realistic component is not even an element of a researcher\u27s or practitioner\u27s meaning. This study presents a conceptual analysis of authentic as it is used in educational research and training to describe an approach to classroom assessment. Nine distinct components or dimensions of authenticity are identified and only one of those is the realistic nature of the assessment. Accessed 54,632 times on https://pareonline.net from January 12, 2012 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right