Coteaching is one instructional delivery model that purports to provide students with supports they need to succeed in the general education setting. This case study used qualitative methodology, which was supplemented by quantitative data, to explore the instructional factors that may contribute to the achievement of high school students with learning disabilities who are placed in a cotaught setting. An optimal environment was created for coteaching and included careful selection of the cotaught team, support from the campus administration, initial and ongoing training for the coteachers, and the creation of common planning periods. Two cotaught classrooms were observed for one semester, and five students with learning disabilities were selected from these classrooms for observation and interview. Additional data included interviews with the campus principal, campus teachers, and the coteachers, as well as weekly observations using the Stallings Observation System. Interviews and observations suggested that there was little change in teacher or student behaviors.

The aim of this study was to investigate how an experienced chemistry teacher gains and refines her pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) by cooperating with two grade 12 students (age 18) as coteachers while teaching chemical bonding in a grade 10 Upper secondary class. The study has been conducted from a sociocultural perspective, especially Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1978). Other theoretical concepts and models that has framed this study are Shulman´s Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and Pedagogical reasoning and action model (Shulman, 1986, 1987). When analysing the data, Magnusson, Krajcik, and Borko´s (1999) model of PCK and the 2017 Refined consensus model of PCK (Carlson, Daehler, et al., in press) was used. Empirical data was collected by video- and audio recorded lessons, coreflection sessions, coplanning sessions and interviews. During 10 weeks, about 28 hours of video and audio recordings was collected. Selected parts of the material were transcribed and analysed in order to answer two questions: (1) How can chemistry teachers refine their PCK when coteaching together with senior students in an Upper secondary science class? (2) How do Upper secondary senior student coteachers´ conceptual knowledge of representations and chemical bonding shape a teacher’s foundation of personal PCK (pPCK) when teaching chemical bonding in an Upper secondary science class? The results relating to research question one indicates that the coteachers contributed with their own learning experiences to help the teacher understand how students perceive difficult concepts. The coteachers were mediating between the teacher and the students, thus bridging the gap between the teacher and the students’ frames of references. The experienced chemistry teacher improved her understanding of students´ thinking about themselves as learners of chemical bonding. Regarding the second research question, the findings showed that the creative process of reconstructing concepts of chemical bonding in the coplanning sessions meant that these were a useful tool for developing new teaching strategies and to further develop representations such as drama to illustrate chemical bonding. Together, the teacher and student coteachers, constructed a new representation that better illustrated polar covalent bonding. Taken together, these results provide important insights into how the chemistry teacher´s pPCK was refined and how the coteachers contributed to improve instructional strategies.

The coteaching classroom has grown with the influx of special needs students in general education classrooms. New state and federal laws mandated the need for collaboration when instructing special education students, and middle school teachers in a Northern New Jersey school district are experiencing challenges with the implementation of coteaching in inclusion classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of collaboration challenges that resulted from coteaching in the classroom. The key research question of this study involved general and special education teachers' lived experiences in relation to the inclusion classroom and their attitudes and beliefs that influenced them in the classroom. This study was guided by Vygotsky's zone of proximal development theory, which addressed the importance of socialization and the development of relationships among all learners. Purposeful sampling was used to select 7 general education and 7 special education teachers who had coteaching experience. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and field notes. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed a need for additional professional development focused on the areas of teamwork, trust, and cooperative planning. Based on the findings, a 3-day professional development was created to increase teachers' growth and self-efficacy of the implementation of successful collaboration in the inclusion classroom. This professional development may bring about positive social change by providing coteaching teams with the guidance needed to implement the coteaching framework with fidelity.

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A professional learning community (PLC) is designed to increase pedagogical knowledge and encourage collaboration amongst teachers. Many schools are using a variety of PLCs to increase collaboration and improve teaching and learning. The study school implemented a PLC, but collaboration and effective coteaching practice have not improved. Guided by social constructivism and social cognitive learning theories, the goal of this research was to explore coteachers' perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about the overall effectiveness of the PLC coteaching model to improve instructional strategies. A qualitative case study with semistructured interviews to collect data and a narrative analysis for reporting was utilized. The population was limited to 5 general and 4 special education teachers. A hand analysis method was used to identify and code recurring themes before using thick description to report the findings. The findings showed that the teachers perceived an ineffective PLC implementation, a lack of coteaching training and collaboration, and a lack of administrative support. Improvements in these areas are needed to boost the effectiveness of the coteaching model. The findings from this study led to a project consisting of a series of professional development workshops for coteachers and school leaders. The goal of the project is to eliminate barriers to coteaching practice and create an effective PLC. This study may bring about positive social change by providing insight into understanding how an effective PLC, administrative supportive, and meaningful professional development can enhance coteaching practice. This knowledge can provide school leaders with insight to make adaptations to coteaching practice that may lead to positive student learning outcomes.

A professional learning community (PLC) is designed to increase pedagogical knowledge and encourage collaboration amongst teachers. Many schools are using a variety of PLCs to increase collaboration and improve teaching and learning. The study school implemented a PLC, but collaboration and effective coteaching practice have not improved. Guided by social constructivism and social cognitive learning theories, the goal of this research was to explore coteachers' perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about the overall effectiveness of the PLC coteaching model to improve instructional strategies. A qualitative case study with semistructured interviews to collect data and a narrative analysis for reporting was utilized. The population was limited to 5 general and 4 special education teachers. A hand analysis method was used to identify and code recurring themes before using thick description to report the findings. The findings showed that the teachers perceived an ineffective PLC implementation, a lack of coteaching training and collaboration, and a lack of administrative support. Improvements in these areas are needed to boost the effectiveness of the coteaching model. The findings from this study led to a project consisting of a series of professional development workshops for coteachers and school leaders. The goal of the project is to eliminate barriers to coteaching practice and create an effective PLC. This study may bring about positive social change by providing insight into understanding how an effective PLC, administrative supportive, and meaningful professional development can enhance coteaching practice. This knowledge can provide school leaders with insight to make adaptations to coteaching practice that may lead to positive student learning outcomes.

No description available.

Os trabalhos sobre formação de professores sempre estiverem presentes na área de pesquisa em Ensino de Ciências, especialmente, as investigações sobre os cursos de licenciatura. Estudos sobre a formação dos professores de ciências no Brasil apontam três elementos centrais que estiveram constantemente presente: os gestores públicos, a universidade e a escola, cujas ações são movidas por necessidades distintas, provocando uma tensão na formação docente. Contudo, investigações que abordem o problema da articulação desses elementos são menos frequentes. O presente trabalho, então, trata de algumas questões relativas a articulação entre a universidade e escola, no contexto de uma disciplina do curso de Licenciatura em Física do Instituto de Física da USP- Práticas em Ensino de Física- em que os licenciandos tinham que cumprir parte do estágio supervisionado na Escola de Educação Básica. O objetivo da pesquisa é caracterizar o processo de tornar-se professor, circunscrito ao contexto dessa disciplina, que ao focalizar as mudanças dos licenciandos aborda alguns aspectos da relação Universidade - Escola. A nossa hipótese básica está na ideia de que a formação inicial do professor ocorre na universidade e na escola e que ser professor se constitui historicamente na trama de relações sociais, especialmente, entre essas duas instituições, por meio da apropriação e objetivação da prática docente vivenciado pelo sujeito no processo da atividade do tornar-se professor. A nossa metodologia é baseada nos procedimentos da pesquisa qualitativa. Os dados foram coletados por meio de vídeo-gravação das aulas e das oficinas de preparação do estágio, ambas na universidade; e por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas realizadas com alguns licenciandos ao final daquele ano. A Teoria da Atividade constitui o nosso referencial teórico, a partir do qual conduzimos a análise dos dados seguindo uma heurística de multi níveis: (i) macro, evidenciando os aspectos mais gerais da disciplina e as relações com a instituição; (ii) meso, focalizando as aulas da disciplina ao longo do ano e as mudanças dos objetos da atividade dos licenciandos como indicativo de mudança de estudante para professor; (iii) micro, indicando as relações entre a professora da disciplina e os licenciandos, considerando o papel das contradições no processo de tornar-se professor. Em especial, no nível micro, a nossa atenção se volta para contradição entre a iniciativa e limitação vivenciada pelos licenciandos no desenvolvimento da atividade de confeccionar o roteiro. Ao final, vamos mostrar como a rotina da disciplina de ir e vir entre a universidade e a escola teria provocado uma mudança nos licenciandos de estudante para professor. Concluímos este trabalho destacando que é preciso haver um momento durante o estágio que tenha um caráter intermediário e organizador do processo, no qual a escola deixa ser o local de mera aplicação do estágio e passa a ser o local de ensinoaprendizagem; e que a codocência, enquanto uma prática de ensino de Física, pode se constituir em um aspecto importante para construir pontes entre a universidade e a escola. / Situated among investigations on Teacher Education in Brazil, which has been taking part in research agenda on Science Education for many years, the purpose of this study is to present our findings about a research focused on the pre-service physics teacher program, in which undergrad students had to take their practicum in the High School. The methodology is based on the qualitative research methods and data were gathered by videotaping classes at university involving about 75 people and 70 hours of video. In addition, in the very beginning the students were invited to respond to a questionnaire about their perspectives about the High School reality and the work that would be held throughout the internship. The research takes place in course termed Practices on Physics Teaching, addressed to third-year undergraduate physics students (pre-service physics teachers) at a Brazilian public university. Classes were taken as our object of research, in which students and professor gathered every fifteen days to discuss different sort of topics. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Multi-level analysis we will reveal a process of becoming teacher and will highlight changes that happened within the activity system, especially, modifications of objects and instruments. To extend the possible we will present two situations in which (I) in the very beginning undergrad students were asked to sketch one lesson based on a set of low-cost hands-on experiment and (II) in the opposite way, in the second semester they were asked to discuss how these experiments worked regarded to concepts of physics. As a result students failed in both tasks. We will argue in terms of the changes of objects of activity, that is, whereas in the first moment it was contents of physics, in the third, the object was how physics could be taught at High School. It seems High School was an important element in this process because schoolchildren became part of pre-service activity. Indeed different objects indicate that changes have happened between human subjects relations embedded in certain activity. In this particular case, new instruments were required when undergraduate students went to the High School. Therefore, by the third moment a new type of relationship arises, that is, the prospective-teacher and High School student, absent at the first part of the classes. Thus, that new relationship, that requires new instruments, works as a guide to the future teachers, making them shift from student\'s perspective to teacher\'s. In conclusion, we argue both University and High School are the appropriate places where physics teacher education should be held, and coteaching seems to be an important action to bridge both University and High School.

Despite a rural Georgia school district's effort to increase the academic performance of all students, the achievement gap persists between general education and special education students. The purpose of the study was to explore what factors hindered coteachers from consistently applying differentiated instruction in elementary inclusion classrooms. The conceptual framework for the study emanated from Vygotsky's social development theory as it related to teachers learning from each other through professional collaboration. The research questions explored coteachers' perceptions about differentiated instruction for students with disabilities. Using a case study methodology and purposeful sampling of 6 general education and 6 special education teachers, who met the criteria and agreed to participate, qualitative data were gathered through surveys, semistructured teacher interviews, and lesson plan documentation. Open-ended surveys, transcribed interviews, and lesson plans were coded and analyzed through open and axial coding to generate themes. The major themes identified included teacher perceptions of differentiated instruction, implementing differentiated instructional practices, and supports needed for successful differentiated instructional practices. The findings indicated a need for a systematic approach to professional development on differentiated instructional strategies to improve educational growth for students with disabilities. The recommended professional development may contribute to positive social change by increasing coteachers' impact on the learning environment for special needs students. This increased impact may lead to higher graduation rates and more self-sufficiency among students.

Inclusion classrooms were introduced in the United States in 1990 when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act required that special education students be instructed in a general education setting. Ensuing changes in instructional formats have caused role confusion for special and general education teachers, resulted in mixed attitudes toward teacher responsibilities, and lowered teachers' sense of efficacy about being able to teach their students. Guided by Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory, this bounded case study design in a rural elementary school in a southeastern state was used to understand the perceptions of general and special educators regarding their work in inclusive co teaching environments and how their perceptions influenced teaching methods and student learning in the inclusion classroom. Data collection consisted of interviews and observations with a purposeful sample of 8 general and 3 special education teachers, grades 3-5, who had participated in co-teaching during the past 2 years. Data were coded and 6 themes were found. Themes that emerged included teachers' needs for collaboration, shared responsibilities, common planning time, and professional development. Other themes involved understandings of teacher attitudes toward co teaching, the components of student success, and the basis for administrative decisions. A professional development project based on the findings was designed to address needs, attitudes, and understandings of special and general education teachers in inclusive classroom settings. This project may foster positive social change by providing a vehicle to assist general education and special education teachers so that they can work together with confidence and cooperation to enhance learning for all students, regardless of their abilities.