Session Information
10 SES 08 B, Research on Values, Beliefs and Understandings in Teacher Education
Paper Session
Contribution
The main purpose of theoretical studies in educational sciences is developing of relevant pedagogical concepts in student teachers. The notions of learning and teaching play a central role in this list. Considering teaching as creating favorable conditions for learning (as suggested by Tyler, 1949/1969) means that teaching can be seen a derivation from the notion of learning. This is probably the main reason why student and active teachers’ representations of learning became a research object of many studies. This research is also fueled by the fact that teachers’ convictions and beliefs in understanding learning and teaching change very slowly and once established, they become very persistent (Richardson, 1996). Therefore, teacher educators are often facing dilemma: how to reach reasonable balance between what student teachers learn (memorize) in courses of theory and what they really think of pedagogical phenomena. A student teacher may be familiar with different theories of learning, i.e. in terms of how they explain formation of learning outcomes but still, in reality, they take lead of personal imaginations in real decision-making. If student teachers’ formal knowledge is easily identifiable using traditional assessment procedures, then getting information on their personal and hidden knowledge is much more complicated.
To this end it is necessary to get an idea of teachers’ possible concepts of learning as a first step. Conceiving teaching as creation of conditions for learning allows characterizing it in terms of learning that it supports. Secondly, it is necessary to get an idea of methods that could be used for clarifying teachers’ concepts of learning and teaching. For achieving the first objective many attempts have been made for categorizing teachers’ conceptions of learning in the former research. For example, Martinez, Sauleda, and Huber (2001) investigated student and experienced teachers’ metaphorical conceptions of learning from behaviorist, cognitive and socio-cultural perspectives; Leavy, McSorley ja Boté (2007) identified in metaphors used by Irish and American student teachers behaviorist, constructivist, situational and self-referential conceptions of learning; Cheng, Chan, Tang, Cheng (2009) divided student teachers’ conceptions of teaching into traditional and social-constructivist approaches depending on their epistemological beliefs.
For uncovering teachers’ understandings of learning and teaching, different methods have been used. One way of data collection has been making inferential conclusions from teachers’ deliberations when planning, delivering and reflecting on lessons. The other frequently used approach is to ask research subjects to describe metaphorically to what is learning and/or teaching like. The last mentioned approach has become quite popular in investigating student and active teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching (see e.g. Calderhead, 1996; Saban, Kocbecker, Saban, 2007; Meirink, Meijer, Verloop, Bergen, 2009; a/o).
In the former research the main focus has been on identifying student and active teachers’ conceptions and understandings of learning and teaching. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of a course of educational psychology on the development of student teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Calderhead, J. (1996). Teachers: beliefs and knowledge. In D. C. Berliner & R. C. Calfee (Eds). Handbook of Educational Psychology. (709 –725). New York: Macmillan.. Cheng, M. M. H., Chan, K.-W., Tang, S. Y. F, Cheng, A. Y. N. (2009). Pre-service teacher education students’ epistemological beliefs and their conceptions of teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 319 – 327. Goffman, E. (1986). Frame analysis. An essay on the organization of experience. NH, USA: Northeastern University Press. Husu, J. and Tirri, K. (2003). A case study one teacher’s moral reflection. Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 19, No 3, 345–356. Leavy, A, M, McSorley, F. A. Boté, L. A. (2007). An examination of what metaphor construction reveals about the evolution of preservice teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 1217–1233. Martinez, M. A., Sauleda, N., & Huber, G. L. (2001). Metaphors as blueprints of thinking about teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 965–977. Meirink, J.A., Meijer, P.C., Verloop, N., Bergen, C.M. (2009). Understanding teacher learning in secondary education: The relations of teacher activities to changed beliefs about teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(1), 89–100. Moser, K. S. (2000). Metaphor analysis in psychology: method, theory, and fields of application. Forum: Qualitative social Research [On-line journal], 1(2). Available from http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/2-00/2-00moser-e.htm (visited on January 20, 2011) Richardson, V. (1996). The role of attitudes and beliefs in learning to teach. In Handbook of research on teacher education. Second edition. John Sikula, ed. (102 –119). New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan. Saban, A. Kocbecker, B. N., Saban A. (2007). Prospective teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning revealed through metaphor analysis. Learning and Instruction, 17(2), 123–139. Tyler, R. W. (1949/1969). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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