Teacher–student negotiations during context-based chemistry reform: A case study

© 2018 The Authors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Teachers participating in curricular reforms, especially reforms based on constructivism, are expected to bring about change in their teaching approach. This is often a difficult, complex and intensive process, and demands a radical reculturing of the classroom. This is also the case for social constructivist reforms in chemistry education, which are based on a context-based approach. Educational change is a social and interactional process, and during this change teachers will engage in negotiations with their students about the reform. These teacher–student negotiations have a profound impact on the succeeding of the reform. This study explores the teacher–student interactions during the reform that shape and alter the context-based chemistry approach. We focused on two teachers, of whom it was found in an earlier study that one of them succeeded in implementing the reform, while the other one struggled. By following them for one school year, in which in-depth qualitative data was collected through various instruments, we developed insights about the teacher–student negotiations that influenced the educational reform. Three themes emerged from the data: “agency of learning,” “vulnerability,” and “care.” The differences that were found between the teachers regarding these themes help explain why and how the reform can become a success and why the reform often fails to change classroom practice.NRO/PRO

Micro-macro multilevel latent class models with multiple discrete individual-level variables

An existing micro-macro method for a single individual-level variable is extended to the multivariate situation by presenting two multilevel latent class models in which multiple discrete individual-level variables are used to explain a group-level outcome. As in the univariate case, the individual-level data are summarized at the group-level by constructing a discrete latent variable at the group level and this group-level latent variable is used as a predictor for the group-level outcome. In the first extension, that is referred to as the Direct model, the multiple individual-level variables are directly used as indicators for the group-level latent variable. In the second extension, referred to as the Indirect model, the multiple individual-level variables are used to construct an individual-level latent variable that is used as an indicator for the group-level latent variable. This implies that the individual-level variables are used indirectly at the group-level. The within- and between components of the (co)varn the individual-level variables are independent in the Direct model, but dependent in the Indirect model. Both models are discussed and illustrated with an empirical data example

Connecting observations of student and teacher learning: an examination of dialogic processes in Lesson Study discussions in mathematics

Lesson Study is rapidly becoming one of the most adopted models of teacher professional development worldwide. In this paper, we examine the teachers’ discussions that are an integral part of the Lesson Study research cycle. In particular, we investigate the ‘dialogic mechanisms’ that enable teachers’ pedagogical intentions to be developed within the context of discussions that stem from observations of students as they address mathematical problems. In so doing we hypothesize about the nature of the ‘dialogic space’ that is created and how this allows teachers to move from the collaborative analysis of student outcomes to an enhanced understanding of pedagogical intentions in mathematics. Data for this paper derive from a large research project taking place in Camden, London. This project aims to implement Lesson Study in the context of the introduction of a New National Curriculum for Mathematics in England. It involves a large cohort of mathematics teachers across primary and secondary schools. Quantitative analysis of video-recorded Lesson Study discussions is reviewed and one illustrative case study is included to contextualise the quantitative data. Findings suggest that a focus on student outcomes enables teachers to collaborate effectively on developing pedagogical intentions to directly address student need. Further, it seems that particular features of dialogue are evident where teachers move to an agreed perspective on pedagogic change; and evidence of ‘supportive moves’ in interactions suggest that a form of dialogic space is necessary if all teachers in a Lesson Study group are to learn from shared understandings about future teaching and learning needs.The research was funded from the Office of the Lord Mayor of London

Students’ experiences with challenge-based learning at TU/e innovation Space:overview of five key characteristics across a broad range of courses

Challenge-based learning (CBL) has emerged in the last decade as a response to the complexity of problems faced by modern society, new competencies needed for the workplace, and insights from cognitive sciences on knowledge acquisition and learner motivation. In CBL, students work on real-world problems which are open-ended and require interdisciplinary knowledge and entrepreneurial mindset. In the last three years, over 70 CBL experiments have been initiated at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), in order to develop a broad range of CBL teaching practices. Half of these courses have taken place at TU/e innovation Space, which is a learning hub and expertise centre for CBL and entrepreneurship education. We use students’ evaluation surveys to analyse the experiences of Bachelor and Masters students in these courses. In particular, we are focusing on responses to five key course design characteristics set by the teaching staff as important: how interdisciplinary and challenge-based (or linked to real-life problems) the courses are, how entrepreneurial and hands-on they are, and how much they contributed to students’ personal development, as well as their team development. The results show that what attracts students to these CBL courses matches closely these five characteristics, and we discuss why this might be the case. Interestingly, some of the more hands-on aspects of the courses do not seem to have been affected by the COVID-19 disruption in the 2019-2020 academic year

The impact of Lesson Study professional development on the quality of teacher learning

This paper aims to increase our understanding of the impact of Lesson Study (LS) on the quality of teacher learning. It draws on longitudinal and cross-sectional data from three waves of data collection from 214 teachers engaged in LS during one full school year. The findings showed positive effects of Lesson Study on meaning-oriented and application-oriented teacher learning and a negative effect on problematic learning. Less experienced teachers showed the highest gain in meaning-oriented learning. The paper contributes to advancement of our theoretical understanding of teacher learning as it provides evidence of mechanisms through which professional development impacts teacher learning

Teacher learning in the context of Lesson Study: A video-based analysis of teacher discussions

This paper contributes to our understanding of teacher learning in the context of Lesson Study (LS), a model of professional development that involves collaborative lesson planning and evaluation. Video-recorded LS discussions of mathematics teachers based in London were analysed for this purpose. Two inter-related studies are presented: the first involved the construction of a reliable coding protocol for video analysis; the second used this protocol for coding 120 fragments of discussions amongst 91 teachers. Findings are discussed with reference to tests of reliability and results of multilevel analysis, which reveal differential effects of particular forms of interactions on learning processes.This research was made possible through a grant of the London School Excellence Fund