This study was situated in a Primary Teacher Education program in the Netherlands. The participants (N=16) comprised four each of: Pre-Service Teachers (PST); Mentor Teachers; School-Based Teacher ...Educators; and University-Based Teacher Educators. Video-recordings of four mentoring conversations for each PST which transcribed and translated for analysis. A mixed methodology was applied with analysis based on examining mentoring conversations in relation to the MERID-model through turn-taking analysis and Propositional Discourse Analysis. The study illustrates that mentors tend to use a more directive mentoring approach and that they dominate dialogue suggesting that there is aneed for reconsideration of the mentor-PST learning relationship and how it is understood in teacher education.
•Mentoring roles are influential to the kind of knowledge PSTs acquire.•Summarizing and questioning lead PSTs to the elicitation of practical knowledge.•The encourager role improves PSTs' learning of generalized knowledge of practice.•The imperator role leads to situation-specific knowledge development of PSTs.
There are doubts about the effectiveness of teacher education regarding professional behavior of pre-service teachers. Theory is part of teacher education, but is not embedded in teaching practice. ...This research examines whether a curriculum succeeds in linking theory to preservice teachers' experiences. In this study, 136 first year pre-service teachers carried out a case test and a card-sorting task, both before and after a specific curriculum program. Measurements show that pre-service teachers' cognitive schemata had grown, that their conceptual knowledge had expanded and that they experienced a linkage of practice to theory to a reasonable degree within the program.
•Pre-service teachers' cognitive schemes had grown and their conceptual knowledge had expanded.•Pre-service teachers experienced a linkage of practice to theory within the program.•A good preparation for the practicum includes sufficient, useful and enforceable assignments and suggestions.
Reflective writing by student teachers on their experiences is a key factor in the development of a teacher identity. Being able to identify aspects of teacher identity in written reflections, ...provides insight in the process of student teachers’ professional development. Starting from a model that conceptualises teacher identity learning, we developed a category system that supports the identification of these aspects. Content elements and identity learning concepts were taken from theory, to form the basis of a category system. This category system facilitates disentangling aspects of teacher identity learning from reflective blogs in a reliable manner.
•Content elements and identity learning concepts shape teacher identity learning.•Practical, theoretical, personal and professional experiences are content elements.•Identity learning is seen through the lenses of sensemaking, ownership and agency.•Identifying teacher identity, provides insight in teachers' professional development.•A category system facilitates disentangling teacher identity aspects from reflective blogs.
Learning basic concepts of programming resulting in a development on computational thinking (CT) can be reached by means of digital programming environments. As a counterpart, the application of ...unplugged programming activities seems also to have promising potential regarding the impact on CT. The main characteristic of unplugged programming is that it comprises activities without the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Since previous research has shown that the application of sense-reason-act (SRA) programming with different types of output demonstrated a better understanding of underlying complex programming concepts with an impact on CT, our research investigates whether the application of unplugged programming, offered via SmartGames, can also generate such a distinctive impact on developing CT. To capture the effects of the different interventions applied, a mixed-methods study was conducted among primary school students aged ten to twelve. Research data were obtained by means of a pretest–posttest questionnaire survey using the validated Computational Thinking Test (CTt), and by conducting interviews to determine the effects of CT and to ascertain identifiable learning effects. Our research indicates that unplugged programming by applying SmartGames can be a consummate regarding the development of CT, similar to SRA-programming using either robotics with tangible output or robot simulations with on-screen output. The research findings identified support our claim that the application of unplugged SmartGames shows equivalent development on CT sub-characteristics in comparison with plugged-in SRA-programming with tangible or on-screen output. A better understanding of complex programming concepts and positive identified learning effects could only be partly demonstrated.
This article illustrates that the task design and problem selection are of characteristic influence to evoke sense-reason-act programming (SRA) among primary school pupils when programming robots. ...Research shows that the task design influences the development of computational thinking (CT). The literature provides evidence that the context, the problem space, and the representation of the problem to apply SRA-programming require the programming task to be embedded in a dynamic context in which a programmable robot must use sensory information to anticipate changes in the environment. In order to ascertain whether the problem space and the task design influence the evocation of SRA-thinking, this article uses a research design comparing the differences between two programming conditions (static/dynamic). In these conditions, pupils use Lego EV-3 robots and Mindstorms software to solve programming problems. As a post-measurement, a Lego challenge is applied. In this article, it is shown that the integration of a dynamic task design to solve a programming problem is essential for a deeper understanding of CT skills. Furthermore, when pupils can immediately test the consequences of their program in a dynamic environment and, thus, the learning environment provides an appropriate problem, they gain a deeper understanding of the added value of sensors and will be better able to reason about complex problems. It is found that programming in a dynamic problem environment almost naturally evokes SRA-thinking, as opposed to programming in a static environment. The influence of SRA-programming as demonstrated identifies characteristics of CT.
In this study, a two-dimensional model of mentor teacher roles in mentoring dialogues, entitled MERID, is explored empirically. Data regarding five aspects of mentoring dialogues were collected, ...using a sample of 20 transcriptions of mentoring dialogues, in which 112 topics were discussed and 440 mentor teacher utterances emerged. Correlations between the five aspects were determined and a cluster analysis was conducted. There is empirical support for the model and it is a useful framework to promote reflection on mentor teachers’ supervisory behaviour.
► In the study, a two-dimensional model of mentor teacher roles in mentoring dialogues, entitled MERID, is explored empirically. ► The MERID model can be helpful in providing a language which enables mentor teachers, educators and researchers to observe, describe and analyse mentor teachers’ supervisory behaviour. ► The findings indicate that there is empirical support for the model. ► It provides a viable tool for mentor teachers’ reflections and, subsequently, for changes in and enhancement of mentor teachers’ role repertoires. ► Drawings of role profiles based on the MERID model can be helpful to set the stage for reflective conversations about mentor teachers’ supervisory behaviour in mentoring dialogues.
The application of sense-reason-act (SRA) programming in contemporary education can ensure the development of computational thinking (CT) at a more advanced level. SRA-programming has been identified ...as an instrumental way of thinking for learning to program robots and encourages the development of the more complex concepts of programming. Visual programming environments are diverse in appearance and prove to be an excellent way to teach pupils the basic ideas of programming. It is important to investigate whether the type of output has a characteristic influence on the level of development of CT in visual programming environments. In this research, we therefore explore whether characteristic differences in the development of CT can be measured when SRA-programming is applied in a visual programming environment with an on-screen output or a tangible output. It was expected that the observed effect of pupils' programming actions through the application of SRA would show that the type of output influences the understanding of complex programming concepts at a higher level. Our results indicate that SRA-programming with visual, on-screen output yields a significant increase in the development of CT, as opposed to SRA-programming with a tangible output. The development of complex programming concepts can also be demonstrated.
This study investigates the development of algorithmic thinking as a part of computational thinking skills and self-efficacy of primary school pupils using programmable robots in different ...instruction variants. Computational thinking is defined in the context of twenty-first century skills and describes processes involved in (re)formulating a problem in a way that a computer can process it. Programming robots offers specific affordances as it can be used to develop programs following a Sense-Reason-Act (SRA) cycle. The literature provides evidence that programming robots has the potential to enhance algorithmic thinking as a component of computational thinking. Specifically there are indications that pupils who use SRA-programming learn algorithmic skills better and achieve a higher level of self-efficacy in an open, scaffold learning environment than through direct instruction. In order to determine the influence of the instruction variant used, an experimental research design was made in which pupils solved algorithm-based mathematical problems (grid diagrams) in a preliminary measurement and their self-efficacy determined via a questionnaire. As an intervention, pupils learn to solve programming issues in pairs using “Lego NXT” robots and “Mindstorms” software in two instruction variants. The post-measurement consists of a Lego challenge, solving mathematical problems (grid diagrams), and a repeated self-efficacy questionnaire. This research shows an increase of our measures on algorithmic thinking dependent on the amount of SRA usage (though not significant). Programming using the SRA-cycle can be considered as the cause of the measured effect. The instruction variant used during the robotic intervention seems to play only a marginal role.
The aim of this study is to clarify how pre-service teachers perceive mentor teachers’ use of mentoring skills. Sixty stimulated-recall interviews were conducted, each in connection with a previously ...recorded mentoring dialogue. A quantitative analysis showed that six types of mentoring skills appeared to be perceived by pre-service teachers as offering emotional support and five others as offering task assistance. After mentor teachers were trained in mentoring skills, shifts in their frequencies of use of distinct skills, as observed by independent raters, corresponded to a considerable extent with shifts in frequencies of pre-service teacher perceptions of mentor teachers’ mentoring behaviour.
► We identificate Pre-service teachers perceived two clear sets of observable mentoring skills. ► Six types of skills appeared to be perceived as offering emotional support. ► Five types of mentoring skills appeared to be perceived as offering task assistance. ► After mentor teachers were trained, shifts in use of mentoring skills occurred. ► After training, pre-service teachers recognise shifts in use of mentoring skills.
Mentor teachers need a versatile supervisory skills repertoire. Besides taking the prevalent role of daily advisor and instructor, mentor teachers should also be able to stimulate reflection in ...student teachers. Video recordings of 60 mentoring dialogues were analysed, both before and after a mentor teacher training aimed at developing the encourager role. Mentor teachers’ repertoires of supervisory skills were found to consist of an average of seven supervisory skills. After training, a shift was observed in the frequencies and duration with which supervisory skills were used. Although considerable inter-individual variability existed between mentor teachers, training positively affected the use of supervisory skills for stimulating reflection in student teachers.
PDF
