Learning to Plan by Learning to Reflect?—Exploring Relations between Professional Knowledge, Reflection Skills, and Planning Skills of Preservice Physics Teachers in a One-Semester Field Experience

Abstract

Following concepts describing lesson planning as a form of anticipatory reflection, preservice physics teachers’ reflection skills are assumed to be positively connected with their planning skills. However, empirical evidence on this is scarce. To explore how relations between these specific skills change over the course of a field experience controlling for influences of professional knowledge, we conduct a pre-post field study with N = 95 preservice physics teachers in a one-semester field experience. Content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (paper-and-pencil tests), and reflection and planning skills (standardized performance assessments) were assessed before and after the field experience. Path analyses revealed almost no influence of reflection skills on planning skills. Reflections skills did not contribute to preservice teachers planning skills beyond knowledge, indicating both constructs might represent rather independent abilities. The results show the need for further development of models describing the development of teachers’ professional knowledge and skills in academic teacher education and for the development of concepts for a better integration of reflection and lesson planning in field experiences.

Assessing the quality of science teachers' lesson plans: Evaluation and application of a novel instrument

“…Moreover, by our expectations, the more experienced TSTs scored significantly higher than the PSTs (RQ 1.6; Table 7; Figure 5). Even though we did not conduct a longitudinal but a cross‐sectional study, our findings connect to previous research on the development of lesson planning competence during teacher training (Backfisch et al, 2020; König et al, 2021, 2022; Mutton et al, 2011; Vogelsang et al, 2022; Westerman, 1991). TSTs gained much more field experience and professional knowledge during their induction phase than PSTs during their studies (Figure 3).…”

“…Proceeding from the assumption that lesson planning requires professional knowledge in general (Zaragoza et al, 2021) and PCK in particular (Alonzo et al, 2019; Carlson et al, 2019; Großmann & Krüger, 2022c; Vogelsang et al, 2022), it appears reasonable to operationalize lesson planning competence in terms of PCK. Figure 1 shows that the 24 cognitive demands during lesson planning built upon König et al's (2021) CODE‐PLAN model can be assigned to four of the five PCK components and their interconnections (Park & Oliver, 2008).…”

“…Due to that, we could not collect demographic information about the participants or the schools they teach at. Since the RALP (Supporting Information: Appendix ) is intended to display performance level descriptions up to the highest level that can be expected for each criterion, this sample can be regarded as suitable: Lesson planning competence develops in the course of teacher training (Backfisch et al, 2020; König et al, 2021, 2022; Mutton et al, 2011; Vogelsang et al, 2022; Westerman, 1991). Moreover, the focus of teacher education shifts from acquiring CK during Bachelor studies (Figure 3a) to PK and PCK during Master studies (Figure 3b) and particularly during the practice‐oriented induction phase (Figure 3c; Kotthoff & Terhart, 2013).…”

“…After ensuring that the RALP scores allow for valid interpretations of scores, we intend to provide qualitative insights into prospective science teachers' lesson planning competence. More specifically, based on the assumption that lesson planning competence develops during teacher education (Backfisch et al, 2020; König et al, 2021, 2022; Mutton et al, 2011; Vogelsang et al, 2022; Westerman, 1991), we aim to illustrate in detail how PSTs and TSTs approach significant challenges in the process of lesson planning. First, we compared the PSTs' scores with the TSTs' scores, which were generally higher, and identified the three criteria showing the largest effect sizes.…”

“…König et al (2020) showed that trainee teachers teaching the school subject German elaborate on their planning decisions in lesson plans significantly more often by use of generic (PK) instead of subject‐specific (PCK) features. Vogelsang et al (2022) found a significant positive correlation between preservice physics teachers; PCK and their lesson planning competence (measured using a standardized performance assessment instrument) before and after a 6‐month practical semester. In line with that, Backfisch et al (2020) showed that lesson plans written by trainee and in‐service mathematics teachers are of higher instructional quality than those written by preservice teachers.…”