Õpetajate uurimistööalane kirjaoskus väljendub teaduspõhises praktikas, oma õpetamise ja õpilaste õppimise uurimises ning õpilaste uurimistööalaste teadmiste omandamise toetamises. Kasutades ...kombineeritud uurimismeetodit, oli siinse uuringu eesmärk selgitada välja, millised on Eesti õpetajakoolituse üliõpilaste ja õppejõudude ning õpetajate uurimistööalased teadmised ning kirjeldada, kuidas kasutavad õpetajad uurimistööalast kirjaoskust oma õpetamistöös. Tulemused näitavad, et kui õppejõududel on teiste valimirühmadega võrreldes paremad teadmised, siis õpetajate ja üliõpilaste uurimistööalased teadmised on pigem sarnased. Intervjuudest õpetajatega selgus, et igapäevases õpetamistöös rakendatakse uurimistööalaseid teadmisi eelkõige õpilastele uurimistööga seotud ülesannete koostamisel. Teaduspõhisele õpetamisele eelistatakse praktilisi koolitusi ja arutelusid kolleegidega ning enda õpetamist ja õpilaste õppimise uurimist intervjuudes osalenud õpetajad pigem ei rakenda. Tulemused näitavad, et uurimistööalase kirjaoskuse kujunemist tuleb rohkem toetada ning kõige enam toetust vajavad just töötavad õpetajad.
Summary
Õpetajakoolitus on praktikaga tihedalt seotud õppevaldkond, kuid siiski on teooria ja praktika sidumine õpetajakoolituses veel paljudes riikides proovikivi (Darling-Hammond, 1999; Hammerness & ...Klette, 2015). Tartu Ülikoolis hakati selle kitsaskohaga ulatuslikult tegelema 2013. aastast, uuendades õpetajakoolituse alus- ja praktikamoodulit. Selleks, et läbi aastate tehtud muudatuste tulemuslikkust seirata, on alates 2014. aastast igal sügisel alusmooduli üliõpilaste seas (n = 572) kogutud andmeid nende hinnangute kohta õppekava sidususele. Tulemused näitavad, et üliõpilaste hinnangul on märgatavalt paranenud nii teoreetiliste õppeainete kooskõla praktikal kogetuga kui ka võimalused õppekava osi omavahel siduda. Samas leiti, et ülikooli õppetöös on liiga vähe tegevusi, mis valmistaksid üliõpilasi ette õppija arengust lähtumiseks õpetajatöös. Ülikooli õppeained keskenduvad enam õppe kavandamisele ja analüüsile, vähem tegeletakse õppetöö tegevustega.
Summary
Kaasava hariduse teemalise õpetajakoolituse arendamine on aktuaalne nii Eestis kui ka rahvusvaheliselt. Õpetajate oskuste ja teadmiste kujundamisel on otsustav roll spetsialistidel, kes õpetajaid ...koolitavad või nõustavad. Seejuures on tähtis, et spetsialistid omaksid ühist arusaama kaasava hariduse tähendusest ning tõhusatest rakendamise viisidest. Siinse uuringu eesmärk oli välja selgitada, kuidas mõistavad õpetajaid koolitavad või nõustavad spetsialistid kaasava hariduse tähendust ja milliseid tegureid nad peavad oluliseks, et tagada kaasava hariduse tõhus rakendumine. Andmeid koguti poolstruktureeritud intervjuudega 15 spetsialistilt. Kvalitatiivse induktiivse sisuanalüüsi tulemused näitasid, et kaasavat haridust mõisteti nii hariduslike erivajadustega laste eraldi õpetamisena eriklassides ja erikoolides kui ka kõigi laste koosõppena. Võtmekomponentidena kaasava hariduse paremal rakendumisel nähti õpetajate koolituse tõhustamist, vajalike ressursside olemasolu, õpetajate toetamist ja motiveerimist ning poolte senisest suuremat koostööd.
Summary
Several studies have reported that adaptivity and personalization in educational computer games facilitate reaching their full educational potential. However, there is little effort to develop ...adaptive educational computer games for promoting students' computational thinking (CT). In this study, an adaptive computer game is introduced, called AutoThinking, that not only promotes both CT skills and conceptual knowledge, but also provides adaptivity in both game-play and learning processes. To evaluate the possible effects of the game, an experimental study was carried out with 79 students in an elementary school in Estonia. AutoThinking and a conventional technology-enhanced learning approach were used for teaching CT to the experimental and control group, respectively. Our results reveal that AutoThinking improved students’ CT skills and conceptual knowledge better than the conventional approach. It was also found that students with a low and high level of prior knowledge made higher improvement in knowledge gain using the adaptive game compared to the traditional approach, especially those students with lower prior knowledge. Finally, our findings show that the adaptive game could also improve students' learning attitude toward CT better than the conventional approach, especially those students with higher prior learning attitudes.
•We developed an adaptive educational game for promoting computational thinking.•The game improved students' CT conceptual knowledge and skills.•The game improved students' learning attitude toward CT.•Students with lower prior knowledge benefited more from the game.•Students with higher prior learning attitude benefited more from the game.
Teachers' general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) has been emphasized as an important factor in pupils' learning, although a gap appears when describing this concept in the context of school practices. ...The aim of this study is to identify how teachers define and use GPK in their everyday teaching. Data were collected using video stimulated recall interviews with seven experienced teachers of science, mother tongue, and mathematics. The results show that teachers define GPK as knowledge of teaching, classroom management, and child development despite the subject. The findings reveal a variety of dimensions that are used in practice. Also, we identified areas of overlapping between the dimensions which concern teachers' intention and activity. These findings are relevant for further research on GPK as well as for teacher education.
Educational games have been increasingly used to improve students’ computational thinking. However, most existing games have focused on the theoretical knowledge of computational thinking, ignoring ...the development of computational thinking skills. Moreover, there is a lack of integration of adaptivity into educational computer games for computational thinking, which is crucial to addressing individual needs in developing computational thinking skills. In this study, we present an adaptive educational computer game, called AutoThinking, for developing students’ computational thinking skills in addition to their conceptual knowledge. To evaluate the effects of the game, we conducted an experimental study with 79 elementary school students in Estonia, where the experimental group learned with AutoThinking, while the control group used a traditional technology-enhanced learning approach. Our findings show that learning with the adaptive educational computer game significantly improved students’ computational thinking related to both conceptual knowledge and skills. Moreover, students using the adaptive educational computer game showed a significantly higher level of interest, satisfaction, flow state, and technology acceptance in learning computational thinking. Implications of the findings are also discussed.
Teachers' knowledge has been an important research focus for many decades. Although many empirical studies have been carried out regarding content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, less ...attention has been paid to general pedagogical knowledge (GPK). The focus of this study is the exploration of different definitions and dimensions of GPK and how it has been assessed. A systematic literature review was conducted on the EBSCOhost Web following the PRISMA guidelines. The search and evaluation of eligibility criteria resulted in 23 articles. The results show that the definitions of GPK cover three broad areas: student-related, teaching-related and contextual characteristics. However, the scope of GPK in the empirical studies is more narrow, focusing mainly on student-related and teaching-related dimensions. The results also showed that GPK has been assessed through teachers' own perceptions and, recently, by measuring it with tests. These findings are further discussed and a framework for analysing, developing and assessing teachers' GPK in further studies is proposed.
•It is possible to have a unidimensional instrument for measuring teachers’ GPK.•Item difficulty levels were found regarding practical and theoretical knowledge.•In-service teachers struggled more ...with specific theoretical concepts.•To teacher educators, questions about practical school situations were demanding.•Suggestions on linking theory and practice in GPK tests are made.
This paper aims to investigate a test instrument measuring teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge. Pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and teacher educators from Estonia participated in a pilot study (N = 393). Item response theory analysis showed that the items fit to a unidimensional instrument assumption. Three levels of difficulty were identified: questions based on a situation description (easiest), questions connecting situations with theoretical concepts (moderate), and questions requiring theoretical knowledge (difficult). When comparing the sample groups, pre-service teachers struggled with topics that had not been part of their curriculum yet. Interestingly, in-service teachers had more difficulty with questions requiring specific theoretical knowledge while teacher educators struggled more with practical situations in a school context. An overall suggestion for future research is to review the conceptual framework in terms of linking theory and practice to connect rather than to distinguish these characteristics of teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge. The results of the study also contribute to further improvement of the instrument.
School leaders have an important role in supporting implementation of inclusive education practices in schools. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how school leaders' attitudes towards ...inclusive education are formed. We used the Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale that was developed to measure different facets of attitudes towards inclusive education for all students. The instrument was completed by 301 school leaders in Estonia. Three factors describing attitudes in facets of inclusive education practices, vision, and supports were distinguished. Structural Equation Modelling revealed that school leaders' practices towards implementing inclusive education approaches are driven more strongly by their vision than the support available to them, although both aspects have a significant effect on their attitudes towards these practices. However, participation in in-service courses focusing on inclusive education and working as a school leader in a special school had negative association with school leaders' attitudes towards inclusive education practices.
Computational thinking (CT) and problem-solving skills are increasingly integrated into K-8 school curricula worldwide. Consequently, there is a growing need to develop reliable assessments for ...measuring students' proficiency in these skills. Recent works have proposed tests for assessing these skills across various CT concepts and practices, in particular, based on multi-choice items enabling psychometric validation and usage in large-scale studies. Despite their practical relevance, these tests are limited in how they measure students' computational creativity, a crucial ability when applying CT and problem solving in real-world settings. In our work, we have developed ACE, a novel test focusing on the three higher cognitive levels in Bloom's Taxonomy, i.e., Analyze, Evaluate, and Create. ACE comprises a diverse set of 7x3 multi-choice items spanning these three levels, grounded in elementary block-based visual programming. We evaluate the psychometric properties of ACE through a study conducted with 371 students in grades 3-7 from 10 schools. Based on several psychometric analysis frameworks, our results confirm the reliability and validity of ACE. Our study also shows a positive correlation between students' performance on ACE and performance on Hour of Code: Maze Challenge by Code.org.
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