Enhancing science and mathematics teacher education: evaluating an enhancement module for science pre-service teachers

Abstract

Motivated and well-trained science and mathematics teachers are a requirement for sustaining an industrialized economy. The Australian government has funded several projects to satisfy this requirement designed to improve pre-service teacher education in regional and rural Australia. One such project uses a collaboration nexus model with lesson feedback and reflection modules in an iterative process using a repeated sequence comprised of an Enhancement Module, a subsequent Teaching Lesson and a Reflection Module. This paper reports on qualitative investigations of the effectiveness of the collaboration nexus in the Enhancement Module and comments on the value of the iterative process. Results from small-scale trials with pre-service teachers indicate that the Module positively engages participants, pre-service teachers, university scientists and specialist educators. The Module and its iterations appear to be effective in grounding pre-service teacher education in targeting regional contexts relevant to the daily lives of both pre-service teachers and their classroom students.

Design and implementation of a smart learning environment for teaching computer networking

“…New teaching approaches were based on an instructional design that included modified learning activities and assessment protocols built around problem-based scenarios to be delivered online. These scenarios are designed to engage students through activity in the situated investigative approaches that are drawn from the subject syllabus and which consider the relative nature of context in learning via solving real-world or open-ended problems (Barab & Plucker, 2002;Chris et al, 2018;Savery, 2015;Woolcott et al, 2017aWoolcott et al, , 2017b. These approaches arise therefore not from traditional didactic pedagogies but from theoretical approaches to student-centred learning that developed from research on problem-based learning and the related anchored learning and inquiry learning (Barab & Plucker, 2002;Barab & Squire, 2004;Savin-Baden & Howell-Major, 2004;Willis, 2006).…”

Mathematics teacher specialization in elementary schools

“…These teachers may have an undergraduate degree in mathematics and qualifications through a teacher education program (Boscariol & Neden, 2008), but in other cases may have taken a basic mathematics certification program . It is important to note that though typically accompanied by undergraduate mathematics courses, the ability to effectively teach mathematics can also be developed through teacher education courses that instruct on mathematics content and pedagogy (Woolcott et al, 2017). Internationally, the mathematics specialist teacher model is not uncommon.…”