Learning Processes Of Teacher Students In An Inquiry-Based Learning Setting

Author(s):

Jan-Hendrik Hinzke(presenting / submitting)Angelika Paseka(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 12 B, Programmes and Approaches: Strategies - Settings - Tools

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-25

09:00-10:30

Room:

K5.20

Chair:

Angelika Paseka

Contribution

The concept of inquiry based learning has become widespread in teacher education in Europe. A variety of goals shall be reached by engaging teacher students in research: the competency to conduct studies should be constituted or strengthened and an inquiry-focused attitude should be developed. These goals often go along with the concern to increase the competencies of reflection, cooperation and problem solving (e.g. Fichten & Meyer 2014: 30; Spronken-Smith & Walker 2010: 726). Behind these goals there is the idea that teachers have to become researchers in and of their own practice (Paseka et al. 2011; Paseka & Hinzke 2014).

The ability to produce academic knowledge (Smith 2015: 44) is connected with an understanding of teachers as professionals. Teachers are neither craftsmen who can rely solely on their practical know-how nor executive technicians who follow suggestions derived from studies about ‚what works‘ or ‚what works best‘ in teaching (Winch et al. 2014: 20). Because teaching practice is uncertain and contingent teachers must decide case- and situation-specifically how to go on and how to evaluate critically their own actions (Schön 1983: 68f.; BERA/RSA 2014: 5).

Having that in mind it seems necessary to prepare teacher students for their future practice by inquiry-based learning to give them a chance to develop an inquiry-focused attitude. However, there exist only few studies on inquiry-based learning (e.g. Spronken-Smith & Walker 2010: 726; Cox et al. 2008; Levy & Petrulis 2012). Neither do we know much about the effects of different forms and different settings of inquiry-based learning nor what teacher students really learn nor how they learn.

This presentation wants to close some of these gaps. It looks more closely at the learning processes of teacher students in so-called research courses at the University of Hamburg and asks how and what teacher students learn. The link between learning setting and learning processes (Spronken-Smith et al. 2011) will be emphasized as well as the question how research courses structure the way students learn (Giddens 1984).

Basis for the reconstruction of the students’ inquiry-based learning processes is the experience-based theory of learning (“Erfahrungstheorie des Lernens”, Combe & Gebhard 2012). This theory provides an insight into the irritations student teachers experience during their own studies and how these irritations function as starting points of their learning processes. It also allows to reconstruct resistance against dealing with irritations in a productive manner and how some students use their creativity and the resources of the learning community and the instructions of the lecturer to overcome this resistance.

Method

To answer the research question authentic discussions taking place in five research courses at the University of Hamburg were audio-taped, transcribed and analyzed by using documentary method. In these courses, the teacher students conducted a study focused on inclusion in classrooms on their own: they created a research question, carried out observations at schools, wrote a research report and gave the teachers a feedback. The role of the lecturers was to facilitate the research process and to advise the students. The authentic discussions took place at the beginning and at the end of the research process. By using the documentary method to analyze the transcripts (Bohnsack 2014), it becomes evident how the students deal with the tasks they had to manage and how they reflect their experiences. Two different types of knowledge were reconstructed: 1) discursive knowledge refers to the knowledge students can speak about, e.g. their descriptions, argumentations and evaluations; 2) practical knowledge is embedded in the way the students produce their statements. Gaining access to the tacit dimension of the practical knowledge requires a change in analytical stance from the question of what constitutes social reality to the question of how this reality is produced. The analysis of both types of knowledge allows to reconstruct the learning processes initialized by the research courses.

Expected Outcomes

First results show that inquiry-based learning processes take place and that the organizational setting has an important role in initiating these learning processes. The experience-based theory of learning acts as a useful basis to get an access to and reconstruct the processes of inquiry-based learning. For example, using research literature for their own studies irritated the students because they were used to consume research instead of producing new knowledge. A second irritation is based on a challenging change of perspective: the students did not visit schools for learning how to teach a special subject (role: novice in teaching) but they observed lessons systematically to answer their research questions (role: researcher). In sum, it becomes evident that the learning processes and the chances for the development of the professional capacity of the students are based on the structures of the learning setting and on the orientations which lead the thinking processes of the students. If the effects of such research courses want to be sustainable these structures and orientations have to be kept in mind by planning and car-rying out such courses. By doing so, there is a chance to transform the orientations of the students.

References

BERA & RSA (2014). The Role of Research in Teacher Education: Reviewing the Evidence. Interim Report of the BERA-RSA Inquiry. London: BERA & RSA. Bohnsack, R. (2010). Documentary Method And Group Discussions. In Bohnsack, R., Pfaff, N. & Weller, V. (eds.). Qualitative Analysis And Documentary Method In International Educational Research (pp. 99-124). Opladen et al.: Budrich. Combe, A. & Gebhard, U. (2012). Verstehen im Unterricht. Die Rolle von Phantasie und Erfahrung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Cox, A., Levy, P., Stordy, P. & Webber, S. (2008). Inquiry-based learning in the first-year Information Management curriculum. In ITALICS, 7 (1), 3-21. Fichten, W. & Meyer, H. (2014). Skizze einer Theorie forschenden Lernens in der Lehrer_innenbildung. In Feyer, E., Hirschenhauser, K. & Soukup-Altrichter, K. (Eds.): Last oder Lust? Forschung und Leh-rer_innenbildung (pp. 11-42). Münster: Waxmann. Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society. Berkeley & Los Angeles: The University of California Press. Levy, P. & Petrulis, R. (2012). How do first-year university students experience inquiry and research, and what are implications for the practice of inquiry-based learning? In Studies in Higher Education, 37 (1), 85-101. Paseka, A. & Hinzke, J.-H. (2014). Der Umgang mit Dilemmasituationen. Ein Beitrag zu Fragen der Pro-fessionalität von Lehrpersonen und Lehramtsstudierenden. In ZISU, 3, 14-28. Paseka, A., Schratz, M.& Schrittesser, I. (2011). Professionstheoretische Grundlagen und thematische Annäherung. Eine Einführung. In Schratz, M., Paseka, A. & Schrittesser, I. (eds.). Pädagogische Profes-sionalität quer denken – umdenken – neu denken (pp. 9-47). Wien: facultas. Schön, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books. Smith, K. (2015). The role of research in teacher education. In Research in Teacher Education, 5 (2), 43-46. Spronken-Smith, R. & Walker, R. (2010). Can inquiry-based learning strengthen the links between teaching and disciplinary research. In Studies in Higher Education, 35 (6), 723-740. Spronken-Smith, R., Walker, R., Batchelor, J., O’Steen, B., Angelo, T. (2011). Enablers and constraints to the use of inquiry-based learning in undergraduate education. In Teaching in Higher Education, 16 (1), 15-28. Winch, Ch., Orchard, J. & Oancea, A. (2014). Philosophical Reflections on the Contribution of Research to Teacher Education. In BERA & RSA (eds.). The Role of Research in Teacher Education: Reviewing the Evidence. Interim Report of the BERA-RSA Inquiry (pp. 20-21). London: BERA & RSA.

Author Information

Jan-Hendrik Hinzke (presenting / submitting)

University of Hamburg

Hamburg

Angelika Paseka (presenting)

University of Hamburg, Germany

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