Features in Pre-Service Teachers' Reflective Discussion on their Practical Work-Based Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze pre-service teachers' reflective discussion on their practical work-based teaching by focusing on the components of instruction and the connectivity of discussion. Eight afterclass discussions were recorded and transcribed, and finally analyzed in terms of theoretically driven categories such as aims, teacher knowledge and learner response which also respectively reflect the actual flow of planning, implementation and evaluation of the teaching practice. The result showed that in their discussion about students, conceptual understanding and scientific skill components were most emphasized, while teaching method and strategy were most frequently addressed in the discussion about teacher knowledge. But this also revealed problems in their discussions such as the lack of discussion about inquiry and student interest, difficulties in clarifying theoretical terms and the lack of discussion about instructional models and theories. Meanwhile, pre-service teachers' discussions were limited in terms of connectivity between the components of instruction, meaning that their discussion tended to deal with each component separately rather than occurred in connection with each other. Furthermore, when connections were made during the discussion, only few components of instruction appeared. Based on this result, the paper suggests the need to develop tools to facilitate effective reflection in ways that incorporate various components of instruction and enhance connectivity between the components and between the instructions.

Analyzing the Growth of a Pre-Service Science Teacher Community through the Lens of Cultural Historical Activity Theory: The Case of a Three-Year Voluntary Science Teaching Program

“…Importantly, in the PSTs' usage of the word, the two meanings were not distinguished, even though having fun does not necessarily lead to interest in scientific phenomena (Abrahams, 2009). For the most part, the PSTs' objectives for the program were concerned with science concepts and science process skills and showed much less focus on inquiry and curiosity (Shim et al, 2013). Also, elementary skills such as observation and measurement dominated the science process skills dimension, with the emphasis on "hands-on" or "not just theories," whereas higher-level, more integrative skills, such as hypothesis-making, interpreting the data, scientific reasoning, and problem-solving, were less focused on.…”