M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Professional development and in-service training are often used as synonymous terms. However, for the purposes of this study it is useful to stipulate differences. From my experience as science consultant, inservice training has been a short term plan the objective of which is to ask teachers to change their practices after information has been presented to them. Inservice training seems to assume that teachers possess forms of professional knowledge that may lead to changes in their classroom practices. In contrast, professional development maybe defined as a long term support for teachers who seek additional knowledge to guide their classroom practices. If teachers do not possess knowledge that will assist them in classroom practices, and they wish to do so, then the opportunity to acquire this knowledge should be provided. Providing professional development opportunities to teachers in remote schools is a challenge. There are few people offering professional development opportunities and remote schools suffer when in competition with their urban counterparts. Even if experienced personnel were available, the cost of getting teachers to a central site or the presenter to remote schools is more costly than most school divisions can afford. This study explored video technology as a tool to overcome professional development problems of distance, cost and shortage of presenters involved in professional development. Central to understanding how video technology may be used to overcome professional development problems is describing how teachers respond to video technology. Video technology has the capability of presenting actual classroom practices demonstrated in vignettes. The vignettes used in this study demonstrated how teachers engage students in manipulating materials to discover scientific principles. A qualitative design was used to collect data on how teachers responded to these vignettes. The data were collected from four teachers in three phases. These phases were initial interview, classroom observation and follow up interview. During the initial interview each teacher viewed the vignettes and was interviewed. Data were also collected during a classroom visit and follow up interview. Once the data were collected and transcribed they were placed on cards and categorized by topic. The data from one teacher were cross referenced by juxtaposition the data with other data collected from that teacher. Data collected from each teacher were then cross referenced with the other teachers' data using triangulation. The data were then reported using a case study format which allowed this researcher to include his interpretations. Three teachers reported that the vignettes were idealistic, and none of the teachers discussed the main message of the vignettes. Instead the teachers used knowledge suggestive of knowledge categories constructed by Shulman (1987) to interpret the videotaped vignettes. Further, teachers framed problems with their classroom practice after viewing the vignettes. Three teachers framed problems with grouping their students for science and explored aspects of their framed problem. The notion that teachers frame problems and explore different aspects of their problem suggests that teachers engage in a complex mental process called reflection-on-action by Schon (1983, 1987). Since vignettes prompt teachers to critically examine their practices and provide information that is useful to them in solving problems with their practice, vignettes maybe used as a professional development tool in remote schools. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of the study was to explore the nature of teacher expertness and its attainment. The study was founded upon studies of expert teaching practice and studies of cognitive development. Data for the study were collected from forty secondary school teachers in one large school district in British Columbia. Data analysis involved two procedures. The first was a form of content analysis designed by the researcher to examine teachers' explicit and implicit descriptions of teaching practice. The second, done in order to gain insight about the nature of expert teachers, was an adaptation of Baltes’ method of identifying five wisdom criteria. These criteria are factual knowledge, procedural knowledge, contextualism, relativism, and uncertainty. Some themes that were found to pervade teachers' discussions were also reported and discussed separately. It was found that listening to expert teachers as they discuss their practice confirms what is known about expertness in a number of domains as well as what is known about expert teaching practice. New insights about expert teaching practice are yielded by paying attention to what is implicit in teacher-talk. It was also found that the model developed by Baltes and his associates was useful in extending knowledge of the teaching domain and might well be applied to studies of experts in other domains. Three principal conclusions were drawn. Expert teachers are prepared to assume responsibility for their own continuing development They appear not to be prepared to assume that responsibility for their less expert colleagues. It was also concluded that administrative officers in secondary schools do not increase the expertness of teachers through the supervision of instruction and that the practice of instructional supervision for this purpose requires further study. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This qualitative case study of two primary teachers during their first year of using a new provincial art curriculum was concerned with the effect of a special relationship between the two teachers on their implementation efforts. The relationship was part of an implementation strategy devised by arts consultants in the school board office; one teacher in every school was designated a “Catalyst Teacher” with a loosely defined role of acting as an on-site “cheerleader” (or catalyst) for the implementation activities of colleagues. This use of a non-specialist member of a staff is related to peer-centred improvement and change efforts discussed in recent literature under such terms as “peer coaching,” “cooperative professional development,” and “collaborative consultation.” It has been shown that a collegial approach to change efforts tends to contribute to the successful implementation of change. Through a series of semistructured interviews with the two teachers individually and together, and supplemented by observations of their art teaching and by interviews and informal conversations with Ministry of Education personnel, the local art consultant, and the school principal, a picture was produced of the meanings constructed by the two teachers about the new curriculum, their roles as teachers and colleagues, the place of art in their total programs, and the effect of the Catalyst Teacher Program on their own implementation efforts. At the end of the interview series, the teachers considered their own progress with the help of Hall and associates’ Levels of Use scale (1975). Looking through the lens of a symbolic interactionist approach to studying this working relationship, I was able to focus on the interdependence of all the elements in the cyclical process of data gathering, sorting, coding, reflecting, and analyzing. The qualitative causal network described by Corbett and Rossman (1989) provided a framework within which the case data could be analyzed and compared to Corbett and Rossman’s findings. The progress of the participants in this study showed the positive effect of the implementation strategy in use in their board. These two teachers’ special qualities of collegiality contributed to their early success, suggesting that conditions of teacher empowerment and collegiality need to precede other specific change efforts. Conditions of distancing between grade-level units within the school, that may have contributed to differences in implementation progress, point to a need to reconsider the wide scale of most implementation efforts. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

D.Ed. (Education Management) / The literature on teacher traInIng shows that an effective balance between the academic, professional and practical components of a teacher training programme is essential. The literature on teacher traInIng shows that an effective balance between the academic, professional and practical components of a teacher training programme is essential. Despite the general acceptance of this fact, there are still widespread misgivings about the absence of the desired balance between the various components. Although. this reference regards the total training programme of teachers, the same can also be said about the more specific training aimed at the creating of properly constituted didactical situations. The problem of ineffective integration between the theoretical and practical components in the training of teachers in constituting didactical situations is regarded as the central problem of this study. In order to probe this problem several sub-problems had to be resolved, namely: the problem regarding the need for a justifiable practice theory (didactical performance theory) that will provide integrated theoretical and practical guidelines for establishing school based practice (supplying a basis for practice oriented training); the problem regarding the choice of a properly founded point of departure that would give access to a practice-oriented theory (didactical performance theory); the problem involving reliable guidelines for a training programme and, specifically, an integrated theoretical and practical programme for students in order to constitute purposeful secondary didactic situations. Emanating from Despite the general acceptance of this fact, there are still widespread misgivings about the absence of the desired balance between the various components. Although. this reference regards the total training programme of teachers, the same can also be said about the more specific training aimed at the creating of properly constituted didactical situations. The problem of ineffective integration between the theoretical and practical components in the training of teachers in constituting didactical situations is regarded as the central problem of this study. In order to probe this problem several sub-problems had to be resolved, namely: the problem regarding the need for a justifiable practice theory (didactical performance theory) that will provide integrated theoretical and practical guidelines for establishing school based practice (supplying a basis for practiceoriented training); the problem regarding the choice of a properly founded point of departure that would give access to a practice-oriented theory (didactical performance theory); the problem involving reliable guidelines for a training programme and, specifically, an integrated theoretical and practical programme for students in order to constitute purposeful secondary didactic situations.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Orientador: Newton Duarte / Banca: Dermeval Saviani / Banca: José Luís Vieira de Almeida / Banca: Sandra Della Fonte / Banca: Robson Loureiro / Resumo: O presente trabalho consiste em uma análise crítica sobre a centralidade do conceito de conhecimento tácito na formação de professores a partir das reformas políticoeducacionais desencadeadas no Brasil na década de 1990. Investiga os pressupostos teóricos e epistemológicos subjacentes aos documentos oficiais que conduzem a reforma da educação nacional à luz das contribuições da pedagogia histórico-crítica no que se refere à formação humana, ao trabalho educativo e à educação escolar. O desenvolvimento da argumentação se organiza em torno das temáticas: vinculações entre a reestruturação produtiva e as reformas político-educacionais da década de 1990; relações entre as transformações no mundo do trabalho e as demandas para a educação; profissionalização docente nos documentos oficiais; o conhecimento tácito. As conclusões da investigação apontam que: a preocupação com a formação docente no contexto da reforma educacional mais ampla é estratégica do ponto de vista de sua consecução; a perspectiva oficial de formação docente, fundamentada em teorias pedagógicas que tomam o conhecimento tácito como categoria central na construção da profissionalização do professor reforçam, por um lado, a desvalorização de conteúdos de natureza teórico-científica, assim como da reflexão filosófica, na formação de professores e, por outro, a descaracterização do trabalho educativo como atividade de ensino / Abstract: Not available / Doutor

The successful teacher possesses certain indispensable personal traits and professional attitudes. Are these traits and attitudes associated with high intelligence? Are high intelligence test scores predictive of success in teaching? Do successful teachers have a high degree of scholarship? What is the relation of a high college scholarship to success in teaching? Can the major professors predict success in teaching on the basis of success in college? How accurate is the critic teacher's report in predicting professional ability? Finally, what personal traits and professional attitudes are considered the most important by the principals and how are teachers rated on these? Consideration will be given to these questions to find out what constitutes success in teaching as indicated in the principals' and superintendents' reports.

The purpose of this study was to investigate what pre-service teachers focus on when reflecting on their mathematics instruction with the use of video clubs. Video clubs are groups where teachers meet and watch videos of their lessons and provide feedback to one another. The participants were pre-service teachers enrolled in an early childhood education program. The study was conducted during the fall semester within a mathematics methods course. Twenty-five students chose to participate in the study. The participants were grouped based on the grade level they were placed in for their field placements. There was a total of five groups who participated in the research. Only one of the groups was used in this study. The video club group used in this research included six pre-service teachers who volunteered to participate in this semester-long study. All the participants were placed in kindergarten classes for their field placements. Using qualitative research methods, the researcher investigated what pre-service teachers focused on when reflecting on their instruction as well as that of their peers, the quality of those reflections, as well as the perceived benefits of video club sessions. The data collected consisted of one micro teaching written reflection, two videotaped lessons, two written reflections, two revised reflections after video club session, and two transcribed video club sessions. The findings indicate that pre-service teachers focus on three main categories of teaching and learning classroom management, instruction, and understanding of students. Within each of these categories, themes emerged that illustrated how these participants viewed each category. When pre-service teachers reflected on classroom management their reflections included child blame, logistics and transitions, student engagement, and positive affirmations. First, pre-service teachers often make excuses or blame students for issues during a lesson. They also focus on logistics, mobility, and transition during their instruction and note these items in group discussions. Finally, they look at student engagement as a form of classroom management. When the focus of their conversation shifts to instruction the discussion is often surface-level, they focus on questioning as a tool to help themselves as teachers, not to help clarify student understanding. There is considerable conversation around assessment, but not to drive instruction, only as confirmation they have effectively taught a lesson. When looking at instruction they try to make connections with mathematics but these connections are surface-level and provide little insight into math practices. The final areas that pre-service teachers focus on is the focus understating their students which included discussion on student prior knowledge and misconceptions of students and pre-service teachers. The quality of written reflections were descriptive and evaluative in nature. The video club conversation was analyzed for the substance of the conversation. However, the findings suggest that the conversation remains surface-level and often off task. The video clubs’ discussion evolved over the two sessions from logistical concerns to a greater focus on instruction. All the participants reported positive feedback on the video club process and watching their own instruction. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2016. / July 8, 2016. / Early Childhood Education, Mathematics, Pre-service teachers, Reflection / Includes bibliographical references. / Lindsay Dennis, Professor Directing Dissertation; Motoko Akiba, University Representative; Ithel Jones, Committee Member; John Myers, Committee Member.

Geometric proof-writing is a widely known cause of stress for secondary school students and teachers alike. As the textbook is the primary curricular tool utilized by novice teachers, a two-part qualitative study was conducted to determine (a) the types of proofs presented in a typical high school geometry textbook and (b) teachers’ preparedness and confidence to teach proof and proving. I conducted a qualitative analysis of the selected textbook based on its presentation of proofs and proof tasks, and then used said analysis to inform the creation of a five-question content assessment on proof, which was administered to 29 preservice and in-service secondary mathematics teacher participants. During the administration of the assessment, I interviewed each participant regarding their thought processes, as well as their knowledge, beliefs, and preparedness to teach proof and proving. The data were analyzed using a qualitative coding system to categorize participants’ responses to the interview questions according to their beliefs and attitudes, as well as issues with mathematical language and content that they encountered. The qualitative analyses indicated that the selected textbook largely underemphasizes the role of proof in the secondary school geometry curriculum, and that most participants are largely underprepared to teach proof at the secondary level. Participants expressed sentiments about the nature of proof and proving, verifying trends from the literature and providing the impetus for future study. The findings support that more studies are needed to analyze the intersection between curricular knowledge and content knowledge for secondary mathematics teachers.