Researchers have reported that transforming socio-constructivist teaching practices supported by information communication technology (ICT) has been slow and stagnant in Quebec and globally, because many contradictions emerged in organizational structure (c.f. Park, 2009; Sicilia, 2007). The primary aim of these case studies is to examine a five-month planned intervention in a technology rich school in order to extend the understanding of designing a socio-constructivist lesson plan supported by ICT. The intervention was designed collectively between researchers, school administrators and grade 7 and grade 8 middle school math teachers. The designed intervention incorporated the assumptions from socio-cultural and socio-constructivist theories and the assumptions found in notable change models. The intervention introduced organizational conditional and learning conditions which created new goals, resources, roles and rules to resolve contradictions found in previous studies. The organizational conditions were: resources, time, agent of change, school and teachers' historical background, and the learning conditions were: social collaboration, community-centered environment, contradictions and problem solving. During the implementation of the intervention, the teachers held bi-weekly "collaborative change meetings" facilitated by myself, the principle researcher who also assumed the role of change implementer (CI). / The actions of the design and implementation of the intervention were traced within the cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) systemic framework. Findings revealed a) although collective actions in designing and implementing the intervention created both new environmental conditions and disequilibria in existing ones, the changing conditions did not always lead to changes in teaching practices b) teachers' internal representation of understanding socio-constructivism hindered them in designing and delivering a socio-constructivist lesson plan because they interpreted socio-constructivism as an in class activity that students solve on their own. / Des chercheurs ont constaté un ralentissement et une stagnation de la transformation des pratiques de l'enseignement constructiviste, appuyé par les technologies de l'information et des communications (TIC), tant au Québec qu'à l'étranger, en raison des nombreuses contradictions qui se sont manifestées dans la structure organisationnelle (c.f. Park, 2009; Sicile, 2007). Cette étude de cas vise principalement à examiner une intervention de second ordre ou prévue, d'une durée de cinq mois, au sein d'une école qui se caractérise par sa technologie, afin de mieux comprendre l'apport de changements aux pratiques d'enseignement, passant de l'enseignement traditionnel à l'enseignement constructiviste appuyé par les TIC. L'intervention a été conçue collectivement entre les chercheurs, cadres scolaires et enseignants des mathématiques d'écoles intermédiaires (secondaires I et II). L'intervention conçue a incorporé les conditions organisationnelles et d'apprentissage, qui ont été constatées dans d'importants modèles et théories du changement, pour présenter de nouveaux objectifs, ressources, rôles et règles afin d'éliminer les contradictions relevées dans des études antérieures. Les conditions organisationnelles étaient les suivantes : ressources, temps, inducteur de changement, aperçu historique des écoles et des enseignants, et les conditions d'apprentissages étaient celles-ci : collaboration sociale, milieu axé sur la collectivité et contradictions, et résolution de problèmes. Au cours de la mise en œuvre de l'intervention, les enseignants ont tenu, toutes les deux semaines, des « réunions collaboratives sur le changement » animées par le chercheur principal, lequel a également joué le rôle de la personne chargée d'apporter des changements. / Les actions découlant de la conception et de la mise en œuvre de l'intervention ont été retracées dans le cadre systémique de la théorie historico-culturelle de l'activité (cultural historical activity theory). Les résultats de recherche ont révélé que a) bien que les actions collectives dans la conception et la mise en œuvre de l'intervention ont créé à la fois de nouvelles conditions environnementales et un déséquilibre dans les conditions en place, on a constaté que les nouvelles conditions n'ont pas toujours mené vers des changements dans les pratiques d'enseignement; que b) la représentation interne du constructivisme par les enseignants les a empêchés de modifier leurs pratiques d'enseignement traditionnel parce qu'ils ont interprété le constructivisme comme étant une activité que les élèves devaient réalisés par eux-mêmes.

This qualitative study in part explores the beliefs, attitudes and intentions of Iranian elementary school teachers about engaging in a curriculum reform endeavour, the Systems Thinking Education (STE) curriculum, and investigates the main motivational factors for the teachers' involvement in the program. Within a social marketing framework, this study also defines and develops the strategies and policies of an Iranian education Non Governmental Organization (NGO) that is steering the STE project. Systems Thinking (ST) is a set of required skills for understanding the systematic structure of a phenomenon and the resulting behaviour of that structure, and improves problem-solving and decision-making abilities. The ST framework is a relatively new concept in the Iranian education system and could be an appropriate alternative for the current memorization based system in formal education. The findings of this study expand the application of a social marketing framework to the field of education for the first time. In this work, social marketing provides a systematic approach to clearly set the goals; define the target group; explore the main barriers and motivational factors for the target group to achieve the goals; and develop strategies, techniques, and tools to remove the barriers and reinforce the motivational factors in order to bring about the desired behavioural change in teachers to successfully implement the reform. In brief, by primary means of individual interviews and focus group conversations, the author examines how Iranian elementary teachers, as the main change agents of curriculum reform, can be motivated to engage in the STE curriculum. / Cette étude qualitative explore en partie les croyances, les comportements et les intentions des maîtres iraniens du primaire à s'engager dans une reforme du curriculum, l'approche systémique, ainsi que les principaux facteurs pouvant motiver les professeurs. Dans un cadre de marketing social, cette étude définit et développe également des stratégies pour la société non gouvernementale iranienne qui s'occupe de ce projet. L'approche systémique consiste en l'acquisition d'une série de compétences nécessaires à la compréhension de la structure systématique d'un phénomène et le comportement résultant de cette structure. De plus, cette approche sert aussi à améliorer l'aptitude des élèves en résolution de problèmes et en prise de décisions. La base théorique de l'approche systémique est relativement chose nouvelle dans le système d'éducation iranien et pourrait représenter une alternative appropriée au système courant axé sur la mémorisation. Les trouvailles de cette étude étendent pour la première fois l'application du marketing social dans un contexte éducationnel.Dans ce domaine, le marketing social fournit une approche systématique dans le but de définir des objectifs clairs et une population cible, explorer les barrières principales a la réalisation des objectifs, ainsi que proposer des techniques et des outils pour éliminer ces barrières et renforcer les facteurs motivants afin d'arriver aux changements de comportements désirés. En bref, au moyen d'interview privés et de groupes de discussions, l'auteur examine comment les maîtres iraniens, comme agents principaux de ce changement de curriculum, peuvent être motivés pour s'engager dans le/la STE.

There is broad agreement that the practicum is a key part of teacher education. In the context of the classroom, the teacher candidate begins to adopt the role of teacher as outlined by the Ministry of Education in Ontario. One challenge for teacher candidates is to translate to the classroom what they have experienced in their university program. Associate Teachers influence this translation of pedagogy by how they shape what Student Teachers have explored in theory. The broad scope of research literature on the role of the Associate Teacher lacks clarity on the varied perceptions of the supportive roles of Associate Teachers. Research is needed on how Teacher Candidates and Associate Teachers perceive their pre-service practice experience and the impact of the Associate Teacher support. This study is a qualitative one. The research is based on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers who were participants in the 2007/2008 elementary pre-service consecutive teacher education program at one Ontario University. Findings from the research suggest that the use of participatory dialogue throughout the practicum is essential to support the learning process of Student Teachers concerning teaching in the classroom. Additionally, differentiated mentored support by the Associate Teacher proved essential to the completion of the practicum by the Teacher Candidate.

There is broad agreement that the practicum is a key part of teacher education. In the context of the classroom, the teacher candidate begins to adopt the role of teacher as outlined by the Ministry of Education in Ontario. One challenge for teacher candidates is to translate to the classroom what they have experienced in their university program. Associate Teachers influence this translation of pedagogy by how they shape what Student Teachers have explored in theory. The broad scope of research literature on the role of the Associate Teacher lacks clarity on the varied perceptions of the supportive roles of Associate Teachers. Research is needed on how Teacher Candidates and Associate Teachers perceive their pre-service practice experience and the impact of the Associate Teacher support. This study is a qualitative one. The research is based on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers who were participants in the 2007/2008 elementary pre-service consecutive teacher education program at one Ontario University. Findings from the research suggest that the use of participatory dialogue throughout the practicum is essential to support the learning process of Student Teachers concerning teaching in the classroom. Additionally, differentiated mentored support by the Associate Teacher proved essential to the completion of the practicum by the Teacher Candidate.

This study sought to understand how a group of pre-service teachers in a combined secondary science and mathematics teaching methods course conceptualized and experienced interdisciplinary approaches to teaching. Although knowing how to plan interdisciplinary activities is an essential teaching practice in Quebec, these pre-service teachers faced many challenges during the process of learning to teach with this approach. By using two interdisciplinary frameworks (Nikitina, 2005; Boix Mansilla & Duraising, 2007), I qualitatively analyzed the development of the pre-service teachers' prior and emerging ideas about interdisciplinarity and their ability to plan interdisciplinary teaching activities. The provincial curriculum and issues related to time greatly shaped students' conceptions about interdisciplinarity in the classroom and constrained their ability to plan for and envision the enactment of interdisciplinary lessons in secondary science and mathematics classes. In addition, images of themselves as content-specialists, self-efficacy beliefs in relation to interdisciplinary teaching, and student learning as a source of teacher motivation emerged as key factors promoting or interrupting the development of interdisciplinary teaching approaches. Examination of these factors highlights the need for teacher-education programs to provide opportunities for pre-service teachers to explore how they see themselves as educators, increase their instructional self-efficacy beliefs, and motivate them to teach in an interdisciplinary fashion. Keywords: interdisciplinary teaching, student-teachers, curriculum, teacher-education program, self-efficacy, motivation / Cette étude a cherché à comprendre comment un groupe d'enseignants en formation qui suivaient un cours sur les méthodes d'enseignement combiné de science et de mathématique au secondaire conceptualisaient les démarches d'enseignement interdisciplinaire et en faisaient l'expérience. Même s'ils savent que le fait de planifier des activités interdisciplinaires est une pratique d'enseignement essentielle au Québec, ces futurs enseignants faisaient face à nombre de défis pendant le processus d'apprentissage de cette démarche d'enseignement. À l'aide de deux structures interdisciplinaires (Nikitina, 2005; Boix Mansilla & Duraising, 2007), j'ai réalisé une analyse qualitative de la progression des concepts antérieurs et émergents des enseignants en formation à l'égard de l'interdisciplinarité et de leur capacité à planifier des activités d'enseignement interdisciplinaire. Le cursus provincial et les enjeux relatifs au temps ont permis de donner une structure solide aux conceptions des étudiants quant à l'interdisciplinarité dans la classe, et ont freiné leur capacité de planifier et d'imaginer la réalisation de cours interdisciplinaires en science et en mathématique au secondaire. En outre, leur perception d'eux-mêmes à titre de spécialistes de contenu, le sentiment d'efficacité personnelle en lien avec l'enseignement interdisciplinaire et l'acquisition des connaissances des étudiants comme source de motivation pour l'enseignant ont émergé comme les facteurs clés faisant la promotion ou interrompant le développement de démarches d'enseignement interdisciplinaire. L'examen de ces facteurs met en lumière le besoin de programmes d'éducation qui offriraient aux futurs enseignants l'occasion d'explorer la façon dont ils se perçoivent en tant qu'éducateurs, d'augmenter leur sentiment d'efficacité personnelle et de les motiver à enseigner dans un mode interdisciplinaire. Mots clés : enseignement interdisciplinaire, étudiant-enseignants, cursus, programme d'éducation à l'intention des enseignants, sentiment d'efficacité personnelle, motivation

<p> This qualitative study focuses on how beginning teachers attain skills to engage families in the educational process. Historical rationale, theoretical frameworks, and key research findings for family engagement training during the last three decades were reviewed, studied, and analyzed for themes. A review of scholarly literature is incorporated into this inquiry to provide a lens into the scope of existing family engagement research regarding the ways in which teachers are trained how to partner with families. This study also includes discussion and analysis of state and federal policies and mandated reporting to support new teachers in engaging families, the identification of theoretical frameworks that provide insight and rationale for teacher-family partnerships, and the inclusion of pre-service beginning teacher training focusing on partnering with families in the elementary school. Data for this case study includes beginning teacher training, interviews, document analysis, and anecdotal accounts, including teacher reflective journals. Utilizing case study and participant action research (PAR) methodology, the author identifies how providing professional development opportunities for beginning teachers supports increasing teacher-family engagement. The study focuses on beginning teacher training, as well as identifying attitudes and interactions with families, emerging patterns, and further research themes. Utilizing research in this case study, I set out to identify trends in the literature, research, and participant training modules to enhance training for beginning teachers in engaging families in the educational process. </p>

<p> Teaching writing has long been neglected as in schools. Findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicated that most students have basic writing skills, but cannot write well enough to meet the needs of employers or for college. The writing programs in prescriptive literacy programs, which were adopted to ensure student achievement have not proven to be effective for developing proficient student writers. This design study is an attempt to provide teachers trained to teach in a prescriptive literacy program with the writing content and pedagogical knowledge necessary to engage elementary students in writing as a complex, intellectual activity so that they become proficient writers. </p><p> From the literature on effective writing instruction and on teacher learning, I developed a theory of action to guide the design. A key feature of the design was to situate teacher learning in the context of a study group led by a facilitator with knowledge about writing instruction. The design emphasized teachers learning from writing themselves, reviewing student work, learning effective strategies and procedures of writing instruction, and developing knowledge through collaborative talk and reflections. Seven teachers, Grades 2 to 5, from a Title I urban school that required teachers follow the script of <i>Open Court Reading </i> (<i>OCR</i>) participated in the study. At the time of this study a window of opportunity had opened up to modify the <i> OCR</i> writing component. </p><p> I framed teacher learning in two dimensions&mdash;Dimension 1: Instructional Strategies and Procedures, and Dimension 2: Writing as a Process. I investigated the impact of the design and the process of the design's development. Overall teachers' knowledge about writing content increased; their knowledge about writing pedagogy increased to a lesser degree; however their level of growth varied. Moreover growth in the elements of instructional strategies also varied. Growth ranged from 15% for teacher modeling writing and 109% for teacher referring to literature to teach writing strategies. Thus, I found the design basically sound but recommended modifications for future iterations.</p>

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