Integrating Technology in Physical Education Teacher Education: A Socialization Perspective

ABSTRACT

Physical education teacher education (PETE) programs are encouraged to develop teachers capable of delivering technology integrated learning experiences. Technological pedagogical content knowledge provides a framework for integrating technology into teacher education programs. Occupational socialization theory describes an educator’s recruitment, training, and socialization in the teaching profession. The purpose of this article is to propose a conceptual framework for helping preservice physical educators develop technological pedagogical content knowledge that is grounded in occupational socialization theory. We specifically recommend a four-phase approach to help preservice teachers (a) build their knowledge and learn to value technology in physical education, (b) observe and explore through instructor modeling and integration, (c) experiment and collaborate with mentoring and scaffolding, and (d) discover through innovation and utilization. These suggestions acknowledge the sociopolitical aspects of learning to teach with technology and implications are discussed along with the need to help preservice teachers transfer technology integration into their professional careers.     

Argumentation in Science Teacher Education: The simulated jury as a resource for teaching and learning

In this article, we focus on the contributions that a simulated jury-based activity might have for pre-service teachers, especially for their active participation and learning in teacher education. We observed a teacher educator using a series of simulated juries as teaching resources to help pre-service teachers develop their pedagogical knowledge and their argumentation abilities in a physics teacher methods course. For the purposes of this article, we have selected one simulated jury-based activity, comprising two opposed groups of pre-service teachers that presented aspects that hinder the teachers' development of professional knowledge (against group) and aspects that allow this development (favor group). After the groups’ presentations, a group of judges was formed to evaluate the discussion. We applied a multi-level method for discourse analysis and the results showed that (1) the simulated jury afforded the pre-service teachers to position themselves as active knowledge producers; (2) the teacher acted as ‘animator' of the pre-service teachers' actions, showing responsiveness to the emergence of circumstantial teaching and learning opportunities and (3) the simulated jury culminated in the judges’ identification of the pattern ‘concrete/obstacles–ideological/possibilities' in the groups’ responses, which was elaborated by the teacher for the whole class. Implications from this study include using simulated juries for teaching and learning and for the development of the pre-service teachers’ argumentative abilities. The potential of simulated juries to improve teaching and learning needs to be further explored in order to inform the uses and reflections of this resource in science education.     

Teacher education for World English speaking pre-service teachers: Making transnational knowledge exchange for mutual learning

Pre-service teachers are taught that the funds of knowledge their students bring to school provide intellectual resources to be engaged through productive pedagogies. Teacher education may assist and/or hinder World English Speaking (WES) pre-service teachers in gaining access to the teaching profession by doing likewise. The interpretative case study presented in this paper involves exploring possibilities for teacher education programs to make transnational knowledge connections through WES pre-service teachers. Evidence from interviews with WES pre-service teachers and their Anglophone teacher educators are analysed to elaborate issues confronting teacher education programs involving World English Speakers. The findings indicate that teamwork which is constructed to privilege the knowledge of Anglophone pre-service teachers over their WES peers is questionable. Further, WES pre-service teachers are not only structurally disadvantaged by teamwork practices that privilege local knowledge, they are also challenged by teacher educators’ assessment procedures. The pressures created on teacher educators’ workloads, may lead to ‘lean and mean’ assessment procedures which serve to contain excessive demands on their labour, but do not necessarily resolve the dilemma of how to use assessment practices that minimise WES pre-service teachers’ learning.     

促进师范生实践性知识发展的课程开发研究——以高师信息技术教学法课程的设计与实施为例

我国教师教育课程的突出问题是理论与实践的割裂,为促进信息技术教育专业的师范生实践性知识的发展,作者尝试在高师信息技术教学法课程中实施全新的课程设计,将"真实问题"、"可操作的"项目、"大学-中小学合作"的学习环境和"反思性行动"四要素融入课程教学,完成信息技术教育专业师范生实践性知识的发展。     

Structure and development of pre-service physics teachers’ professional knowledge

ABSTRACT

Teachers’ professional knowledge is considered one of the most important predictors of instructional quality. According to Shulman, such professional knowledge includes content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge. Although recent research shed some light on the structure of the dimensions of professional knowledge, little is known how teacher education impacts pre-service physics teachers’ professional knowledge. In an effort to address this issue, we examined the content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge of N?=?200 pre-service physics teachers enrolled in different years of teacher education at 12 major teacher education universities in Germany. We used structural equation modelling (1) to examine the relations amongst pre-service physics teachers’ content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge, (2) to explore how the three kinds of knowledge and their relations differ across different stages of teacher education and (3) to identify factors affecting the level of each component of professional knowledge. Our findings suggest that content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge represent distinct types of knowledge. Furthermore, our findings show that in the first years of professional education, pedagogical content knowledge is more closely related with general pedagogical knowledge while in later years, it is more closely related with content knowledge, suggesting that it develops from a general knowledge about teaching and learning into knowledge about the teaching and learning of specific content. Finally, beyond school achievement and years of enrolment as predictors, we find in particular the amount of classroom observations to have a positive impact on the professional knowledge of pre-service physics teachers.     

Intercultural Competence: Physical Education Teacher Education Recommendations

ABSTRACT 

The increasing diversity of the K-12 student population presents challenges and opportunities for growth in the physical education profession. To address the cultural gap in today’s classroom, many people highlight the need to improve the intercultural competence of teachers. The focus of this article is to summarize the shifting demographics of American society, its impact on K-12 education, and how one California physical education teacher education (PETE) program is preparing pre-service teachers for the multicultural classroom. The article also outlines recommendations for PETE programs to address intercultural competence.     

Introducing e-portfolios to pre-service teachers as tools for reflection and growth: lessons learnt

E-portfolios are being introduced into initial teacher education programmes internationally to help pre-service teachers build records of their learning journeys and develop into reflective practitioners; to allow them to assemble collections of evidence of their achievements against graduate standards, which can function as digital CVs; and to facilitate the seeding of personal learning networks that will support lifelong learning after graduation. Despite certain tensions between these aims, the potential benefits of e-portfolios make them an increasingly popular choice in teacher education. In this article, we discuss the introduction of Wi-Fi-based e-portfolios into a Master of Teaching programme at an Australian university. These served primarily as developmental e-portfolios, or personal learning environments (PLEs), and were designed to place particular emphasis on reflective practice. We describe how the e-portfolios were perceived and used by pre-service teachers in the first year of their implementation, and indicate the challenges and limitations encountered. Lessons learnt from the implementation are outlined and recommendations are proposed.     

Helping Pre-Service and Beginning Teachers Examine and Reframe Assumptions About Themselves as Teachers and Change Agents: “Who is Going to Listen to You Anyway?”

The focus of this article is how to ensure (beginning) teachers’ needs as practitioners are part of the discursive dialogue in physical education teacher education programs. We consider the relationship between ‘structure’ and ‘agency,’ teachers as ‘change agents’ and refer to ‘workplace learning’ as we examine the extent to which the social structure of the school and the teaching profession, and?/?or the capacity of the individual to act independently, ultimately determines a teacher's behaviour in reaction to teaching expectations. We are interested as physical education teacher education faculty in how we (1) strive to help pre-service teachers examine and reframe assumptions about themselves as teachers and change agents, and (2) examine taken-for-granted school practices and processes. We share ways that physical education teacher education programs could encourage pre-service teachers agency and the relationship between initial teacher education and induction.     

What do we know and where do we go? Formative assessment in developing student teachers’ professional learning of teaching science

In the context of teacher education, it could well be suggested that assessment activities that build on formative interactions between student teachers and teacher educators might offer new windows into better understanding teaching and learning. This paper presents findings from a study into a primary science teacher education initiative that seeks to build the foundations on which 24 primary science student teachers, through the use of formative assessment of their science teaching and learning, can begin developing their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). In the project, formative assessment consists of activities used by teacher educators to stimulate interactions, self- and peer-assessment in order to provide insights into how student teachers develop their PCK during a semester. Content Representations (CoRes), were used as a tool to unpack the student teachers’ approach to teaching a science topic and the reasons for that approach. The results indicate that the use of CoRes, together with subsequent self-assessment and formative interactions with teacher educators and peers, do have the potential for PCK development for student teachers. The results further highlight the need for developing reliable and valid tools for capturing and assessing student teachers’ PCK in pre-service teacher education.     

Preparing Preservice Teachers for Life in Schools: The Role of Doctoral Education

ABSTRACT

Physical education teachers face considerable sociopolitical challenges that can impede quality instruction and complicate recruitment into the profession. Physical education teacher education faculty members may not be prepared to address these challenges during their doctoral education. Accordingly, the purpose of the paper was to utilize the lessons learned from occupational socialization research to propose competencies that can be integrated into doctoral education to help future faculty members integrate sociopolitical learning into physical education teacher education. These include: (a) understanding socialization literature and the implications for teacher education, (b) helping doctoral students understand their own prior socialization experiences, (c) recruiting highly qualified preservice teachers, (d) helping preservice teachers question their subjective theories, (e) developing and coordinating field experiences, and (f) preparing preservice teachers for the sociopolitical realities of schools. These competencies align with the proposed addition of a new standard for initial teacher education that addresses sociopolitical learning.     

(Re)turning to practice in teacher education: embodied knowledge in learning to teach

Contemporary research conversations about the utility of practice theories to professional education support the reconceptualisation of pre-service teacher education in ways that provide strong preparation for continued professional learning. This paper reports on an empirical inquiry that introduced a theoretically informed practice-based intervention in a pre-service teacher education course in order to judge the utility of such an approach for student learning. Innovations within the Study of Teaching programme illustrate the bringing together of pedagogies of observation, pedagogies of enactment, and pedagogies of reflection toward an integrated theory of teacher education that focuses on the teaching body as a central site for research and for the building of preparatory knowledge and skill for ongoing learning. Data was collected from pre-service teachers involved in the programme through video and audio recordings along with individual and focus group interviews, questionnaires and student reflection on video recordings. These were analyzed within an emerging theoretical framework derived from both practice-theoretical literature and international empirical research into core practices. Initial findings suggest that a focus on practice within pre-service teacher education may enhance traditional understandings of ‘practice-based’ approaches that situate the study of practice outside of the university, in school settings. These findings have implications for the ongoing reform of teacher education in increasingly regulated contexts framed in terms of teacher quality.     

A proficiency model for pre-service physics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)—What constitutes high-level PCK?

This study identifies proficiency levels in pre-service physics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and reveals how teacher education can promote transitions into higher proficiency. Teacher education plays a fundamental role in supporting pre-service teachers' PCK development. Proficiency levels are a powerful source when evaluating this PCK development because they characterize what learners are likely to be able to know on a specific level. Previous research has presented a model of proficiency levels in pre-service physics teachers' PCK; however, evidence for the model's validity is still lacking. According to the Refined Consensus Model of PCK, factors such as teachers' content knowledge (CK), their teaching experience, and their beliefs about teaching and learning science promote PCK development. Thus, understanding how and when pre-service physics teachers' CK, teaching experience, and beliefs contribute to their proficiency can bring insights into how teacher education can promote PCK development. To address this issue, N = 427 observations of pre-service physics teachers were analyzed. Utilizing the scale anchoring procedure, four different proficiency levels in pre-service physics teachers' PCK were identified. Analyzing these proficiency levels showed that lower levels can be characterized as remembering content-unspecific knowledge, whereas higher levels encompass content-specific strategies to structure and elaborate lessons. Additionally, logistic regression models revealed that pre-service physics teachers' CK is crucial for an increase in PCK proficiency. However, transitions into higher levels of PCK additionally require teaching experience and adequate beliefs about teaching and learning. Thus, our proficiency levels can be used to bring insights into how proficiency in PCK can be supported during teacher education. For example, teacher education should provide courses focusing on the science curriculum and the assessment of student learning to promote pre-service physics teachers' progression in PCK.     

Establishing a portfolio assessment framework for pre-service teachers: a multiple perspectives approach

In the field of initial teacher training, portfolios are widely used to assess pre-service teachers' performance as well as the outcomes of university-based teacher preparation programmes. However, little is known about the explicit design of portfolio assessment mechanisms in teacher preparation programmes. Issues related to the design and validation of portfolios for pre-service teacher assessment are a critical area of inquiry for the field of initial teacher training. In this study, perspectives were elicited from school trainee teachers and faculty from a secondary teacher preparation programme to examine the relationships identified among core competencies of a portfolio assessment framework and pre-service candidate learning outcomes. Comparative findings are presented about the relationships identified by the trainee teachers and faculty across the secondary education programme's portfolio core competencies and trainee learning outcomes. A discussion of the findings is presented with implications and future directions highlighted.     

职前教师教育课程评价：范式、理念与方法

对教师专业以及良好教师形象的不同理解,决定着职前教师教育课程评价的不同选择。将教师定位为“反思性实践者”,就意味着职前教师教育课程评价需要一种能检测真实情境中的实践性知识的评价范式——基于表现的评价。基于表现的职前教师教育课程评价所遵循的理念包括检测全面而整体的素养、引发真实情境中的表现、发挥学习者的主体作用和促进专业的持续发展。档案袋评价法、微格教学评价法、课堂观察评价法、开放性试题与小论文是基于表现的职前教师教育课程评价的几种常用的评价方法。     

Drawing Nature of Science in Pre-service Science Teacher Education: Epistemic Insight Through Visual Representations

Developing pre-service science teachers’ epistemic insight remains a challenge, despite decades of research in related bodies of work such as the nature of science (NOS) in science education. While there may be numerous aspects to this problem, one critical element is that the NOS is a meta-concept that demands higher-order cognitive skills. One possible strategy to facilitate pre-service teachers’ understanding of epistemic aspects of science is visualisation. Visual representations of objects and processes can be tools for developing and monitoring understanding. Although the NOS and visualisation literatures have been studied extensively, the intersection of these bodies of literatures has been minimal. Incorporating visual tools on the NOS in teacher education is likely to facilitate teachers’ learning, eventually impacting their students’ learning of the NOS. The objective of this paper is to illustrate how the visual tools of scientific knowledge and practices aspects of the NOS can be integrated in science teacher education in order to develop pre-service teachers’ epistemic insight. The paper presents an empirical study that incorporated visual tools about the NOS in primary science teacher education. Data on 14 pre-service teachers’ are presented along with in-depth case studies of 3 pre-service teachers illustrating the influence of the teacher education intervention. The qualitative analysis of visual representations before and after the intervention as well as verbal data suggests that there was improvement in pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the NOS. Implications for future research on visualisation of the NOS are discussed.     

职前教师教育实践的范式变迁与模式革新

职前教师教育所面临的一个核心议题是如何帮助职前教师恰如其分地将理论知识运用于教育教学实践中。越来越多的研究者认为,职前教师应该在习得和建构教育教学的理论知识的同时,需要充分理解、体验和建构实践知识,"从实践中学习,为实践而学习"。基于这种主张,本文重点讨论:大学场域中职前教师的理论知识习得与教育教学实践(田野经验)之间的关系。讨论的过程分为三个部分:教育实践内涵的再讨论、教育实践的范式变迁过程,以及教育实践的模式变革。     

The Emotionality of Whiteness in Physical Education Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

The physical education teacher education (PETE) pipeline makes it clear to historically racially minoritized pre-service teachers the value of White norms and experiences while simultaneously “othering” their cultural knowledge. Using Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, and emotionality as theoretical frameworks, this visual narrative inquiry explored self-identified Black and Latinx pre-service physical education teachers’ (n = 10) stories of a racialized identity within predominantly White PETE programs as well as the emotionality of whiteness for myself as a White researcher and teacher educator. I utilized narrative-based semi-structured and conversational interviews, along with photo-elicitation, as methods of data collection. The results contrast participants’ experiences of normalized racism with my heightened emotions of shock and dismay, shedding light on my own white emotionality toward racism. The critical examination of the emotions of whiteness demonstrated the potential to lead PETE faculty toward deeper reflection as to how whiteness is upheld, but also how they might further work to de-center whiteness within their pedagogies, curricula, and programs.     

Understanding the Realities of School Life: Recommendations for the Preparation of Physical Education Teachers

While quality physical education teacher education requires recruits to be trained in the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for effective teaching, research stemming from socialization theory and role theory indicates that this may not be adequate. Pre-service teachers also need to be made aware of organizational challenges they will face when transitioning into their first teaching position. These challenges stem from the ways in which recruits are socialized into physical education, and are related to the complex, sociopolitical structure of schooling. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the organizational challenges faced by beginning physical education teachers and to present recommendations for how teacher training programs can better prepare pre-service teachers to meet these challenges. The discussion includes both general and specific strategies that can be implemented to provide pre-service teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to enhance their ability to navigate life in the sociopolitical contexts of schools. Preparing students for the realities of school life should correspond with a decrease in reality shock and the washout effect.     

The impact of inquiry-based learning on the critical thinking dispositions of pre-service science teachers

ABSTRACT

In the study, the impact of inquiry-based learning on pre-service teachers’ critical thinking dispositions was investigated. The sample of the study comprised of 56 pre-service teachers in the science education teacher education programme at the public university in the north of Turkey. In the study, quasi-experimental design with an experimental and a control group were applied to find out the impact of inquiry-based learning on the critical thinking dispositions of the pre-service teachers in the teacher education programme. The results showed that the pre-service teachers in the experimental group did not show statistically significant greater progress in terms of critical thinking dispositions than those in the control group. Teacher educators who are responsible for pedagogical courses in the teacher education programme should consider that the inquiry-based learning could not be effective method to improve pre-service teachers’ critical thinking dispositions. The results are discussed in relation to potential impact on science teacher education and implications for future research.     

Understanding the Theoretical Framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A collaborative self-study to understand teaching practice and aspects of knowledge

This paper describes a self-study research project that focused on our experiences when planning, teaching, and evaluating a course in initial teacher education. The theoretical framework of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) was used as a conceptual structure for the self-study. Our understanding of the framework in relation to our teaching practice was in focus. The principal educational goal of the course was to develop the pedagogical use of web 2.0 resources to support learning in the preschool/school context. As a result, the focus, content, form of distribution, teaching, and assessment of the course went beyond what is common in initial teacher training in Sweden. The potential of the different digital tools was explored by situated use in the design and teaching of the course. Analysis highlights the challenges and opportunities that teacher educators and student teachers may encounter while working with, and learning about, information and communication technologies to support learning. Some of the findings discussed are related to the identified challenges and opportunities for both teachers and students to integrate content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge into a TPACK. Taken-for-granted organizational and institutional assumptions about teaching, learning, and assessment in teacher education were identified in the study.