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Eric.ed.gov – What Goes on inside Latin American Math and Science Classrooms: A Video Study of Teaching Practices

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Beyond common associated factors, such as teacher characteristics and socioeconomic background of students, little is known about how student achievement relates to differences in the pedagogical approaches used in Latin American classrooms. This paper highlights the main findings from a qualitative study on cross-country differences in teaching practices in three Latin American countries. Of the three countries selected for the study, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic perform at the bottom of the regional comparative test, “Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study” (SERCE), and the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon is one of the top performers. Our findings, based on a large sample of video recordings from sixth-grade classrooms in the three countries, indicate that certain classroom practices appear to be associated with higher levels of learning. Teachers… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Professional Identity Development in Teachers of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Science and Math Education

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Much of the science education community has advocated for a new vision of instruction emphasizing inquiry-based teaching (National Research Council, 1996). Unfortunately, as Anderson (2002) notes, many science teachers are not adopting inquiry-based teaching practices for a variety of reasons such as that teachers commonly favor text-book approaches to instruction. To facilitate the adoption of reformed teaching, Luehmann (2007) argues that teacher education must address the development of one’s professional identity as a teacher. Unfortunately, little is known about the beliefs, values, experiences, and ways of acting and interacting that teachers in science and related fields use to form their professional teaching identity. Through repeated interviews with 18 graduate students who taught science and related disciplines, this study outlined generalizations defining the developmental trajectory of science educators’… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Preservice Teachers’ Observations of Children’s Learning during Family Math Night

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Family math night can easily be implemented into mathematics methodology courses providing an opportunity for field-based learning. Preservice teachers were asked to develop and implement an inquiry-based activity at a family math night event held at a local school with personnel, elementary children and their parents in attendance. This action research examines what preservice teachers discovered about how children learn mathematics during their interactions with parents and children. Preservice teachers’ individual reflections focusing on children’s learning were qualitatively analyzed and clustered. In addition, data from teacher educator’s observation notes was used to triangulate findings. Four themes were identified in relation to children’s needs for promoting learning in mathematics: (1) activity adjustment (2) engagement through guiding and questioning (3) motivational issues and (4) the use of manipulatives and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Making Sense of a Trial Maths Intervention Program for Students with Disability in Australia: Interim Report

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Success in primary and secondary school mathematics is becoming increasingly important to today’s teachers, students, parents and employment providers in Australia. Mathematics is viewed as high status and essential for a range of employment opportunities. The Disability Standards for Education [1] and the Australian Curriculum, Reporting and Assessment Authority [2] underscore the rights of students with disability to access the curriculum on the same basis as students without disability. They are entitled to rigorous, relevant and engaging learning opportunities drawn from Australian Curriculum content on the same basis as students without disability. Taking this context into account, this paper provides a work-in-progress report about a two year mathematics intervention project conducted in twelve special schools (Preparatory to Year 12) in Queensland, Australia. The purpose of the project… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – An Action Research Project by Teacher Candidates and Their Instructor into Using Math Inquiry: Learning about Relations between Theory and Practice

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper reports on what two teacher candidates and their instructor learned from an action research project into the use of inquiry to teach mathematics. We use a model of the relation between theory and practice in teacher education to interpret what we learned about inquiry. This model describes three modes for teacher candidates to learn about teaching: (1) applying theory to practice; (2) interpreting theory and practice, and (3) building/refining personal, practical and professional theories. We learned to (1) apply the 4D-Cycle Model of inquiry, (2) interpret what it means for inquiry to be flexible, and (3) build a theory of teaching with inquiry based on non-linear and community-based dispositions of teachers toward learning. We conclude by suggesting that this model could constitute a developmental pathway… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Teacher-Led Math Inquiry in Belize: A Cluster Randomized Trial

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In Belize, the percentage of untrained teachers (i.e. teachers with the equivalent of a high school education or less) is one of the highest in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. In response to growing student cohorts, the increased demand for more classroom teachers has led to significant decrease in the proportion of trained teachers at both the primary and secondary levels. Fewer than 45% of teachers at primary and secondary levels are trained, whereas some countries in the region report more than 80% are trained. Perhaps as a result of the lack of training, a content test that was applied to a representative sample of teachers nationwide as part of this study design revealed important gaps in teachers’ math content knowledge. The authors hypothesized… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Evaluating Pre-Service Teachers Math Teaching Experience from Different Perspectives

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Are pre-service teachers able to notice their strengths and challenges in teaching? This article reports on a study of pre-service teachers’ teaching performance being simultaneously evaluated by themselves and their professor. Thirty-two pre-service teachers created and planned mathematics lessons approved by their professor to be taught in elementary classrooms. The teaching experience of those teachers was videotaped and evaluated by the professor using the Field Assessment Observation Form in the areas of content knowledge, instruction, assessment, classroom management, and affective skills. Furthermore, the pre-service teachers completed a Self-Reflection answering their professors’ questions regarding their teaching experience. Mixed methods research analyzed the data. The findings of the quantitative data indicate pre-service teachers evaluated themselves higher than what their professor did in assessment and time management. Moreover, the findings… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Tail of a Whale: A Real-World Problem for the Maths Classroom

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Southern Cross University (SCU) educators and local teachers have developed a five-lesson instructional sequence built around fluke identification as a way of resolving the question: How fast do humpback whales travel up the east coast of Australia? Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Developing Science and Mathematics Teacher Leaders through a Math, Science & Technology Initiative

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study explores the effects of a professional development teacher leadership training program on the pedagogical and content development of math and science teacher leaders at the elementary level. The study is qualitative in nature, and the authors collected data using the online survey instrument Survey Monkey. The major implications of the study are twofold: (a) The professional development training that the fellows received enhanced their pedagogical and content knowledge and provided them the necessary experience to be effective teacher leaders; and (b) meaningful teacher leader-teacher relationships have a positive impact on teachers embracing an inquiry-based style of teaching using a Math, Science, and Technology Initiative program. Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Investigating Students’ Perceptions of Motivating Factors of Online Class Discussions

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: One of the goals of teacher education is to prepare our citizens to communicate in a variety of ways. In our present society, communication using digital media has become essential. Although online discussions are a common component of many online courses, engaging students in online discussions has been a challenge. This study queried 86 educators in a math/science teacher education graduate program to examine their perceptions on the factors that motivate them to participate in online discussions. The results revealed a pragmatic outlook on online education. In terms of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, the participants’ main motivation to participate in online class discussions was extrinsic (85.88%), specifically so that they could earn an acceptable participation grade. With regards to discussion grouping formats, they preferred small group discussions… Continue Reading