Studying students' geographical relational thinking when solving mysteries

Geographical relational thinking is an important part of geographical thinking. This descriptive research was conducted to seek evidence on students' ability to establish geographical relationships which could help teachers to foster their geographical relational thinking. Sixty-nine small student groups from six secondary schools in the Netherlands were observed when solving a mystery. All relationships students established were analysed and the SOLO-taxonomy was used to analyse how coherent their solutions were. The results revealed that students had difficulties with complex, abstract and physical geographical relationships. A large proportion of the groups also had difficulties understanding the interdependence of the relationships. These findings underpin the usefulness of activities like mysteries which offer opportunities to practise, assess and teach geographical relational thinking in geography lessons

Developing designs for community development in four types of student teacher groups

\u3cp\u3eIt is becoming increasingly important for teachers to collaborate. Teacher community is found to be a fruitful notion when thinking about improving collaboration. Teachers can be prepared for working in such communities during teacher education. We examined how the practice of collaboration within different types of groups in teacher education can be optimised, aiming at an improvement in the shared domain, group identity and shared interactional repertoire of these groups. We included four types of groups: subject matter groups, research groups, mentor groups and reflection groups. Focus groups with teacher educators, student teachers and community experts were conducted to gather ideas for the improvement of the institutional design for community development. Combining these ideas with the research literature, we formulated a list of design principles for each of the types of groups. In conversations with teacher educators, the viability of these principles was reviewed, resulting in particular sets of design principles for each group. These sets consist of principles which are already used within the groups, as well as principles that are completely new to the groups. The design arrangement for the mentor group consists of the largest number of design principles, while the smallest number of principles are applicable to the research group. The procedure used in this study can serve as an example of how to create a design aimed at the development of student teacher groups as social and collaborative learning environments.\u3c/p\u3

Source, respondent, or partner? Involvement of secondary school students in participatory action research

This study addresses the nature and level of school student participation at various stages of participatory action research conducted by pre-service teachers (PSTs). PSTs’ research reports were analyzed by means of the SPinSTAR matrix, in which four levels of student participation were distinguished: Inform, Consult, Participate and Collaborate. Results show that student participation in PST research occurred mostly at the less intensive levels (Inform, Consult). Furthermore, they participated mostly in the preparatory stages of the research projects. However, most PSTs came to see their school students in a broader sense as worthwhile partners in an educational endeavor.Teaching and Teacher Learning (ICLON

Motivation for learning in campus-integrated MOOCs: Self-determined students, grade hunters and teacher trusters

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) integration into campus education is rising, in many different forms. When integrating MOOCs, motivation to learn demands consideration as it is related to academic achievement and well-being. Student motivation in formal integrated MOOC learning is understudied. This study aimed to characterize the shape of motivation to learn in integrated MOOC learning. Motivation profiles of undergraduate students that learn in three different MOOC integration designs were explored, as was the distribution of profiles among integration designs. Finally, factors that underpin motivation were compared between integration designs. Six motivation profiles were recovered through a two-step cluster analysis: Self-determined students, highly self-determined students, grade hunters, and teacher trusters who are moderately, highly, or extremely trusting. Proportions of motivation profiles differed significantly between MOOC integration designs, and psychological needs were satisfied and frustrated significantly different between designs. Implications for future MOOC integration research and practice are discussed

Preparing pre-service teachers to integrate technology into K-12 instruction: Evaluation of a technology-infused approach

The quality of how technology is addressed in teacher education programs is conditional for how student teachers apply technology in secondary schools after their graduation. Two technology-infused courses of one teacher education program were evaluated. In line with studies on the development of pre-service teachers’ technological, pedagogical and content knowledge, two important enablers were distinguished: 1) teaching practice to enact what was learned in teacher education institution as well as to receive feedback from students on this enactment and 2) modeling of teacher educator and teachers in school. Both enablers might ask for further development of knowledge and skills of both teacher educators and school teachers