IEA Teacher Education Study in Mathematics Prepared for American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 9-13, 2007 ©

Prepared for American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 9-13, 2007© International Teacher Education Study Center MSU 2007.

IEA Teacher Education Study in Mathematics

Conceptualizing and measuring the general pedagogical knowledge of

graduating teacher education students

American Educational Research Association

Chicago

April 12, 2007

Prepared for American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois; April 9-13, 2007© International Teacher Education Study Center MSU 2007.


Contributors to Presentation

Lynn Paine, Michigan State University (USA) Sigrid Bloemeke, Humboldt University (Germany) Maria Teresa Tatto, Michigan State University (USA) Catherine Vistro-Yu, Ateneo de Manila University

(Philippines ) Seung-Hwan Ham, Heng Jiang, Paul Tanner, Lu Yang,

Michigan State University (USA) Many others across the world



TEDS-M Research Questions Guiding This Talk

What is the level and depth of the knowledge of general pedagogy attained by prospective primary and lower secondary teachers at the end of their teacher preparation programs?

How does this knowledge vary across countries?



Issues Addressed Today

Why study general pedagogical knowledge? What is general pedagogical knowledge:

Conceptualizing GP Knowledge Domains and Sub-domains Sample Formats & Items

Measuring GP Knowledge coding



TEDS-M Conceptualization of Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics

Knowledge of MathematicsKnowledge of Mathematics PedagogyKnowledge of General Pedagogy



Conceptualizing Knowledge for Teaching Shulman (1986, 1987)

Subject-matter knowledge Pedagogical content knowledge Curricular knowledge General pedagogical knowledge Knowledge of learners and their characteristics Knowledge of educational contexts Knowledge of educational ends, purposes,and

values, and their philosophical and historical grounds



General pedagogy, bounded uniquely in different settings

Curriculum and instructionDidaktics (forming,rather than instructing)

guided by Bildung (Westbury, Hopmann and Riquarts, 2000)

Reflecting conceptions of teaching and teachers’ work--contrasting examples of US and Germany



General pedagogy as contested terrain

Debates about its proper scopeDebates about its location in the academyDebates about who has knowledge to

teach it



Why study general pedagogy?

Despite tremendous variation in definition of this category and emphasis given it, general pedagogy is part of teacher education

For some countries, motivation for cross-national study linked to understanding the contribution of this dimension

General pedagogy as: foundations, general methods, curriculum and instruction



Debates about its role and contribution

Pedagogical preparation “varies considerably across institutions”in the U.S. (Wilson et al, 2001)

Array of components and role of theory and practice reflect institutional/faculty orientation in the U.S. (Zeichner and Liston, 1990)

Longstanding criticism--devalued knowledge taught by those occupying “lowly status” (Labaree, 2005)

Research on impact in U.S. “scant” (Floden and Meneketti, 2006)

No published answer to the question “do general methods have more impact than do content specific methods” (Clift and Brady 2005)



Examining the place of General Pedagogy in the preparation of teachers and

what future teachers learn

What is the level and depth of the knowledge of general pedagogy attained by prospective primary and lower secondary teachers at the end of their teacher preparation programs?

How does this knowledge vary across countries?



Challenges in Studying General Pedagogy

Defining it in ways that make sense cross-nationally

Measuring it in ways that are feasible for a cross-national survey



Domains of General Pedagogy General pedagogical knowledge

Knowledge of students •Learning theories •Motivation •Human development •Social diversity

Classroom environment •Managing groups •Managing individual students

Instructional design •Planning •Teaching strategies

Diagnostics & assessment •Theories of assessment •Models of assessment & evaluation

Know about, know that (theoretical knowledge)

Know how (practical knowledge)



Process for development

Framework development Literature review Focus groups Expert panel

Process of item development and review Item pool--international team, NRCs Expert panel and recommendations Refine matrix and revise and create items Pre-pilot and preliminary analysi Second round expert panel Revise and develop additional items



Principles in item development

General pedagogical knowledge

Sensitive to context

Situated

Embeddedness a mixed blessing



Principles in item development

Recognize the absence of extensive international comparative base

Draw on authentic situations

Involve reasoning and not just factual recall



Item development and format considerations

Balancing theoretical and practical knowledge items

Tension in working with multiple choice and open-ended items

Balancing time demands for response and coding with richness of response and sensitivity to cross-national nature of survey



Summary of focus group and expert panel recommendations

Language Length Heated debate about value and validity of multiple

choice Scenario

--recommend make more contextualized Question of appropriateness for future teacher Strengths--integration, make people think



Sample Item 1--illustrations of challenges in item construction

As a teacher, how would you view student errors and misconceptions?

I would see student replies that reveal a misconception as[choose one]

__More important than correct ones, as they provide an opportunity to extend learning for that student and for others in the class who may share the same misconception

__To be avoided at all cost

__Useful for assessing student ability

__Needing to be immediately countered by the teacher’s intervention about what the correct solution is



Sample Item 2

Two students in your class get into a disagreement and one says something to the other that is both derogatory about the other’s family and very hurtful. You believe it is your responsibility to intervene.

• What choices would you have and what would help you decide what option to select?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Content Validity: Item Development Process

MSU - items for primary and secondary teachers Items from expert review panelists Items from TEDS-M National Research Centers Items from other researchers, e.g. P-TEDS Items piloted in 6 countries; field trial in at least

12 countries



Content Validity: External Expert Review

Clarity / correctness / cultural relevanceCategory in Framework Relevance to teacher preparation

Curricular Level



Coding Constructed Response Items

Coding not scoringBalancing low inference with ability to

describe patternsGenerating empirical basisFuture possibility of scoring



Rationale for Coding Principles in General Pedagogy Items

Key dimensions for understanding general pedagogical knowledge

Substantive knowledge of theory Practical knowledge Professional language Reasoning and judgment Connection between theory and practice



Controlling and Monitoring Reliability of Coding

Detailed Manuals written for all aspects of study (sampling, survey administration, etc.)

Coding Guides (rubrics) prepared for all CR items Sample Responses provided for training

Some papers with codes Some practice papers without codes

Coding Training workshop, February 2007 Double coding during Field Trial within countries

Prepared for American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 9-13, 2007© International Teacher Education Study Center MSU 2007.


We look forward to your comments and questions.

IEA Teacher Education Study in Mathematics Prepared for American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 9-13, 2007 ©

Documents

iea teacher education

conceptualizing knowledge

conceptualization of

gp knowledge coding

teacher preparation

research questions

world slide

teaching shulman