Disrupting My Teaching Practices: A Teacher Educator Living as A Contradiction (original) (raw)
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Constructivism Deconstructed in Science Teacher Education
Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2011
Constructivism posits that the teacher's role is to help their students to actively construct new understanding for themselves. Diagnosis of students' prior understanding followed by carefully planned teaching sequences enables learners to grasp hitherto unknown concepts. Assessing whether they can then apply their new knowledge in new contexts verifies whether or not they have learnt what the teacher has taught. Using these three steps (diagnose, engage, evaluate) to structure a self-study highlighted the gap between rhetoric and reality in a science education methods course. This self-study research-which draws on journal entries; students' and colleagues' perspectives generated through questionnaires and interviews; and critical friends critique and questioning-had a significant impact on my teacher education pedagogy.
2000
This research was designed to describe a constructivist science teacher education program and to investigate how students in the program experienced a constructivist learning environment. Nineteen students enrolled in a four-term program for prospective secondary science teachers participated in this one-year study. A rich description of the constructivist teacher education program established the context for the study. Three focus questions guided the study. They included: (1) What depth of understanding do the students possess and communicate about constructivism? (2) What was students' experience with constructivism in the internships? (3) What pedagogical strategies did the students describe that worked in their internships? Data were collected by means of questionnaires, on-line bulletin board writing, journals, and videotapes of class sessions. Results indicated that students developed a depth of understanding of constructivism even after their internships. Most interns were able to implement constructivism in their classrooms, although nearly 33% felt they would not be able to implement constructivism in their first year of teaching. Interns reported that cooperative learning, alternative assessments, and Internet activities worked best in their internship experiences. Attached to the document are printouts from the TEEMS science Web site, including syllabi, agenda, research projects, and research tools. (Contains 31 references.) (Author) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 2012
There has been a wealth of research examining learning environments as one of the variables that contributes to academic success for students studying science. A constructivist learning environment has been explored as one way to assist students in achieving greater success with science learning. There is a lack of research concerning how and if successful teachers continue to change over time. This study was designed to address such research gaps. The teacher leaders involved served as staff members for Iowa Chautauqua and continue to develop and improve in their use of constructivist practices. There has been a lack of evidence focusing specifically on how participation in the Iowa Chautauqua Professional Development Program actually increases use of constructivist teaching practices. Results of the research indicate that the teacher leaders continue to develop further in their use of constructivist practices over time. The Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) scores were used to indicate improvement. There are implications for planning and improving classroom learning environments for enrollees in new efforts that were suggested by teacher leaders.
As a follow-up to a previous article reporting on curriculum research on teacher education for critical pedagogy, the authors describe practices and processes used in a traditional university-based teacher education program to 1) build a collaborative learning community between faculty and practicing teachers, 2) share our pedagogical strategies for the social construction of knowledge and 3) clarify the role of continuous improvement in assessment.
CONSTRUCTIVISM AND PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES OF SCIENCE TEACHERS
IOER International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2020
This study generally aimed to determine how the theory of constructivism has been translated into pedagogical practices of science teachers among the selected schools in Metro Manila. The study utilized case study adapting passive observation, document analysis and semi-structured interview in the data gathering and thematic interpretation in data analysis. Results uncovered that teachers' practices of planning learning episodes elicit active engagement as an evidence of meaning making. Various learning activities have been conceptualized to thoroughly activate prior knowledge on essential information and concepts and link these to new knowledge being introduced in the lesson through designed activities. The art of questioning has been observed to initiate and induce engagement among learners and was evident in the implementation of different strategies such as pre-assessment, reflection, collaboration, and use of language. Assessment procedures planned and implemented by teachers embodied a constructivist approach in terms of assessing students' understanding of concepts, creation of new knowledge, and integration of ideas to other disciplines. Results of the study further implied to revisit the curricular preparation of teachers in terms of its alignment to the various postulates of constructivist-approach of teaching and learning.
Practical Reasoning: Constructivist Theory and Practice in Teacher Education
1993
Constructivism is a perspective on learning that is initiated from the learner's perspective rather than by that of the teacher; understanding is constructed by the learner rather than placed upon the learner. If constructivism is fostered in teacher education, practical reasoning can encourage teacher development to its fullest. (The concept of practical reasoning was originally proposed by Aristotle and has been further clarified and applied to education by philozophers and educators.) In the course of the teacher education program, interaction takes place between what the preservice teachers are taught and what they bring to the learning situation; practical reasoning provides a mechanism which allows each preservice teacher to develop a constructivist undeistanding. Crucial to a constructivist approach to teacher education is the avoidance of prescribing rules that must be followed by every teacher. While recommendations regarding the best possible teacher practices are common in teacher education, constructivist teacher education will not allow thc same outcomes for each teacher. First, each teacher brings a unique background that will interact with the new material in unique ways to result in unique understandings. Second, when teacher education students become student teachers and teachers, these constructed understandings will interact with yet one more particular aspect, that of their particular classroom situation. A practical reasoning approach to teacher education allows the constructivist perspective on learning to prosper in teacher education. (Contains 29 references.) (ND) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Constructivism in Teacher Education: An Overview
2018
Teacher education is an important vehicle to improve the quality of school education. The quality of school educational process in India largely depends upon the quality of teacher. Innovations play an important role in improving the quality of teachers and the training imparted to them for all levels of teaching. Innovations means the ability to think beyond the boundaries and create something which is different from that which already exists. Traditional teaching approach (lecture method) commonly adopted by teachers in schools involves coverage of the context and rote communication on the part of the students and does not involve the students in creative thinking. The modern trends in education have changed the present scenario and adopted the constructivist approach. Constructivism promotes social and communication skills by creating a classroom environment that emphasizes collaboration and exchange of ideas. Students in constructivist classroom learn to question things and to a...
Students’, Pre-service teachers’ and In-service Teachers’ Views about Constructivist Implementations
This study aimed to examine an implementation of constructivism in elementary school science lessons from the view points of pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and students. A qualitative research method specifically case study was employed in this study. The participants were 3 in-service science teachers working in 3 different public high schools, 3 pre-service elementary school science teachers and 9 7th grade elementary school students. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The individually conducted interviews were lasted about 30 minutes. In order to analyze the data, first, the data gathered from the interview of participants were transcribed. Then, the categories were assigned to meaningful data segments in line with the purpose of the study. Pre-service teachers’, in-service teachers’, and students’ views about the constructivist instruction were examined in terms of five categories which are presentation of content, role of teacher, role of st...