The what and the how of teaching and learning
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Cited by 9 publications
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Abstract:Awareness of teacher scripts is of crucial importance to reflection on practice, and represents one means of widening the scope of classroom performance. The first part of this work provides a detailed description of three scripts employed by a novice science teacher within the topic of The Structure of Flowers, and illustrates the process by which they were derived through a Modelling Instrument. In the second part, the relationships between beliefs and actions are explored through tree diagrams. Finally, there is a discussion of how entrenched scripts may act as obstacles to professional development. Key words:Teacher's beliefs and actions, Modelling instrument, Scripts, Science Teaching, Tree diagrams Theoretical frameworkTo understand teaching is to understand the teacher's thinking and practice (Shulman 1986), and this is fullest when these two domains, thinking and practice, are studied together and examined in relation to each other (Clark & Peterson 1986).Several approaches are available to the researcher in this respect. Modelling teaching (Schoenfeld 1998, AUTHOR 1 2006, AUTHOR et al. 2007, for example, focuses on the teacher's cognitions (beliefs, knowledge, goals) and actions. Schoenfeld (1998) believes that if, in a specific context, there is a good comprehension of the beliefs, goals and knowledge underlying a teacher's decisions and actions, then a coherent and detailed explanation of what that teacher did and why can be achieved. He proposes an instrument composed of three columns, the first specifying information about goals, knowledge and beliefs, along with the triggering and terminating events of each episode, the second providing an overview of the teacher's actions from a general perspective, and the final column giving a very detailed description of each action performed by the teacher. This paper presents an instance of such modelling through the application of a Modelling Instrument (MI) (AUTHOR 1 2006, AUTHOR 1 et al. 2007, 2008a, derived from adaptations to Schoenfeld (1998aSchoenfeld ( ,b, 2000, in addition to studies by Aguirre and Speer (1999), Schoenfeld et al. (2000), Zimmerlin and Nelson (2000), Sherin et al. (2000), Shulman (1986Shulman ( , 1987, AUTHOR 2 (1998), Climent (2002), Cañal (2004 and Santos (1991). The adaptations to Schoenfeld's instrument take two forms. On the one hand, the first column takes into account different dimensions relating to the teacher's knowledge. On the other, the second and third columns are conflated into one, as the focus of the paper is on the identification of meaningful action sequences and the context which produces them, rather than the accumulated minutiae of each brief action. This adaptation will be implemented in section three.Through the application of the MI, a wide variety of scripts, routines and improvisations employed by a novice teacher was detailed, in respect of the topic Plant Diversity, of which three scripts are presented here by way of example, along with one routine and one improvisation, all sharing the theme T...
Abstract:Awareness of teacher scripts is of crucial importance to reflection on practice, and represents one means of widening the scope of classroom performance. The first part of this work provides a detailed description of three scripts employed by a novice science teacher within the topic of The Structure of Flowers, and illustrates the process by which they were derived through a Modelling Instrument. In the second part, the relationships between beliefs and actions are explored through tree diagrams. Finally, there is a discussion of how entrenched scripts may act as obstacles to professional development. Key words:Teacher's beliefs and actions, Modelling instrument, Scripts, Science Teaching, Tree diagrams Theoretical frameworkTo understand teaching is to understand the teacher's thinking and practice (Shulman 1986), and this is fullest when these two domains, thinking and practice, are studied together and examined in relation to each other (Clark & Peterson 1986).Several approaches are available to the researcher in this respect. Modelling teaching (Schoenfeld 1998, AUTHOR 1 2006, AUTHOR et al. 2007, for example, focuses on the teacher's cognitions (beliefs, knowledge, goals) and actions. Schoenfeld (1998) believes that if, in a specific context, there is a good comprehension of the beliefs, goals and knowledge underlying a teacher's decisions and actions, then a coherent and detailed explanation of what that teacher did and why can be achieved. He proposes an instrument composed of three columns, the first specifying information about goals, knowledge and beliefs, along with the triggering and terminating events of each episode, the second providing an overview of the teacher's actions from a general perspective, and the final column giving a very detailed description of each action performed by the teacher. This paper presents an instance of such modelling through the application of a Modelling Instrument (MI) (AUTHOR 1 2006, AUTHOR 1 et al. 2007, 2008a, derived from adaptations to Schoenfeld (1998aSchoenfeld ( ,b, 2000, in addition to studies by Aguirre and Speer (1999), Schoenfeld et al. (2000), Zimmerlin and Nelson (2000), Sherin et al. (2000), Shulman (1986Shulman ( , 1987, AUTHOR 2 (1998), Climent (2002), Cañal (2004 and Santos (1991). The adaptations to Schoenfeld's instrument take two forms. On the one hand, the first column takes into account different dimensions relating to the teacher's knowledge. On the other, the second and third columns are conflated into one, as the focus of the paper is on the identification of meaningful action sequences and the context which produces them, rather than the accumulated minutiae of each brief action. This adaptation will be implemented in section three.Through the application of the MI, a wide variety of scripts, routines and improvisations employed by a novice teacher was detailed, in respect of the topic Plant Diversity, of which three scripts are presented here by way of example, along with one routine and one improvisation, all sharing the theme T...
This article discusses how current South African primary maths curriculum pedagogical changes are characterised by a strengthened frame. This strengthened pedagogical frame results from strong sequencing and pacing and a transformed regulative discourse combining positional and expressive social features denoting mixed pedagogies. Sociological research indicates that the strong sequencing and pacing of pedagogic practices resonate with middle-class children and disadvantages poor and working-class learners. Drawing from both educational sociological studies and Bernstein's central thesis about the social-class basis of pedagogic framing, the paper shows how responsive pacing, sequencing, and mixed pedagogies that reflectively relate with the mathematical concepts to be relayed, ensure learning for children from different social classes. Based on the theoretical framework and related literature review, the paper explores second sites of learning strategies and compensatory pedagogic interventions that can disrupt middle-class social assumptions and support learning access for lowincome-background learners in South African primary maths classes. Contextual tensions within the suggested approaches are also considered. Thus, this review offers sociological insights on humanising primary maths interactions that may interrupt social reproduction and ensure low-income children's pedagogic realisation.
This article examines the forms of knowledge that constitute ‘science’ in the early school curriculum in South Africa. We examine curriculum excerpts which represent the subject ‘science’ in key curriculum texts for Grade R, the year in which learners are generally sixyears- old. Drawing on neo-Vygotskian theory, these representations are described in relation to simple scientific concepts, i.e. concepts that are consistent with scientific criteria and function as entry level concepts leading to the acquisition of more complex scientific concepts. The study found that these key curriculum texts do not represent any science concepts in ways that conform to the criteria for simple scientific concepts. Instead, these texts represent most science knowledge in terms of everyday concepts while a few concepts are introduced in a way that could potentially prompt the Grade R educator to translate an everyday concept into a simple scientific concept, i.e. as ‘potential’ scientific concepts. The implications are that the curriculum is not oriented to giving Grade R learners the opportunity to acquire the form or content of scientific knowledge or to develop the cognitive skills required for formal schooling.
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