Growing a Garden with Water: Enriching the Teaching Practice Course with Mentoring and Explicit PCK Use

Author(s):

Ayşegül Tarkın(presenting / submitting)Sevgi Aydın Betül Demirdöğen Esen Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES C 03, Teachers' Education

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-09

11:00-12:30

Room:

A-103

Chair:

Ozge Hacifazlioglu

Contribution

The purpose of the study was to share our experience, as teacher educators, in re-designing teaching practice course (TPC) (i.e., also known as practicum). PCK is special knowledge that teachers should have in order to make topics more understandable for learners (Shulman, 1986). Scholars have conceptualized PCK with different components, however, one of the mostly cited PCK model was proposed by Magnusson, Krajcik and Borko (1999). In the model, PCK is a new type of knowledge that is formed through the special interaction between subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and contextual knowledge. Moreover, PCK has five components that are orientations to science teaching, knowledge of curriculum, knowledge of learner, knowledge of assessment, and knowledge of instructional strategies. Grossman (1990) stated that teaching experience, teacher education, and the apprenticeship of observation in K-16 education are the sources of PCK (Grossman, 1990). For pre-service teachers (PTs), the sources of PCK are limited when it is compared to those of experienced teachers’ PCK. Both the teacher education literature revealed that PTs do not posses robust PCK (Magnusson et al., 1999). Therefore, providing support and guidance to PTs is essential in the TPC. Mentoring is a valuable approach to support PTs (Darling-Hammond, 1998). Feiman-Nemser (1998) described mentoring as “cultivating a disposition of inquiry, focusing attention on student thinking and understanding, and fostering disciplined talk about problems of practice” (p.28). Therefore, we started to think about how to enrich TPC (e.g., by integrating mentoring and explicit PCK use) in order to scaffold PTs’ PCK development through TPC. We believe our experience will supplement other teacher educators’ courses provided to PTs in all around the world. The reforms made in our context are both informed by teacher education research and tested through two semesters.

Method

This study is a case study. Case can be an event, a subject or setting (Merriam, 1998). Here, it was TPC, a setting, through which PTs’ PCK development. We drew on multiple data sources (i.e., Content Representation (CoRe), semi-structured interviews, and reflection papers). The data were coded deductively by the use of PCK components (e.g. use of instructional strategy) suggested by Magnusson et al. (1999). Data and investigator triangulation, and member check were used for ensuring credibility. We re-designed existing PTC with help of teacher education literature (i.e., PCK and educative mentoring). Alterations can be grouped under four categories: (a) Changing instruments used for lesson planning. We started to use CoRe instruments developed by Loughran and his colleagues (2004) instead of classic lesson plan. (b) We realized that mentoring provided by teachers in cooperating schools is not enough for PTs to develop solid PCK. Hence, we inserted mentoring provided by teaching assistants (TAs). TAs helped PTs how to plan and teach. (c) PCK was introduced and used as a basement for new TPC. (d) Changes in assessments; new assignments are reflections (i.e., self-PCK development through TPC and mentors’ PCK in cooperating high school).

Expected Outcomes

After the changes, we offered TPC two semesters. PTs stated that planning with CoRe was easier and more useful for them to see integration of teaching and assessment. Moreover, mentoring support helped them focus on learners’ prior knowledge and objectives stated in the national curriculum. For instance, one of the PTs stated: “I was not able to know how to use learners’ pre-requisite knowledge. Owing to TA mentor guide and applying the suggestions in my microteachings, I learned it. “Also, at the beginning, PTs relied primarily on subject-specific strategies (e.g., 5E learning cycle) and demonstrated little evidence of topic-specific strategies. However, through the end, all participants made progress in using topic-specific strategies (e.g., animation for collision theory) effectively. Furthermore, through the end, PTs used assessment to get feedback about how much students learned whereas they used assessment just for grading at the beginning. Our experience will help other teacher educators in terms of making reforms in TPC, which will influence quality of future teachers and learners’ science understanding. Implications for PT education will be provided.

References

Darling-Hammond, L. (1998). Teacher learning that supports student learning. Educational Leadership, 55(5), 6-18. Feiman-Nemser, S. (1998). Teachers as teacher educators. European Journal of Teacher Education, 21(1), 63-74. doi:10.1080/0261976980210107 Friedrichsen, P. J., Abell, S. K., Pareja, E. M., Brown, P. L., Lankford, D. M., & Volkmann, M. J. (2009). Does teaching experience matter? Examining biology teachers’ prior knowledge for teaching in an alternative certification program. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46 (4), 357-383. Grossman, P.(1990). The Making of a Teacher. New York: Teachers College Press. Loughran, J., Mulhall, P., & Berry, A. (2004). In search of pedagogical content knowledge I science: Developing ways of articulating and documenting professional practice. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 41, 370-391. Magnusson, S., Krajcik, J., & Borko, H. (1999). Nature, sources and development of pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching. In J. Gess-Newsome & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge: The construct and its implications for science education (pp. 95-132). Boston: Kluwer. Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. London: Sage. Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching, Educational Researcher, 15, 4-14.

Author Information

Ayşegül Tarkın (presenting / submitting)

Yuzuncu Yil University

Ankara

Sevgi Aydın

Yuzuncu Yil University, Turkey

Betül Demirdöğen

Bulent Ecevit University, Turkey

Esen Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci

Middle East Technical University