Changes in teaching beliefs of early-career chemistry faculty: a longitudinal investigation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maia Popova ◽  
Annika Kraft ◽  
Jordan Harshman ◽  
Marilyne Stains
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Teaching Beliefs ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Faculty Beliefs ◽  
Beliefs About Teaching ◽  
Over Time

Literature at the secondary level has demonstrated a tight interconnectedness between one's beliefs about teaching and learning and one's instructional practices. Moreover, this research indicates that personal and contextual factors influence beliefs and that growth and changes in beliefs are most notable during the early years of one's teaching experience. Despite the substantial influence of teaching beliefs on educational decisions, very little research has been conducted at the post-secondary level in both characterizing and monitoring changes in beliefs over time of early-career faculty members. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating (1) the changes over two and half years in the beliefs of early-career chemistry professors in the United States, and (2) patterns between changes in beliefs and personal and contextual factors as defined in the Teacher-Centered Systemic Reform Model. Nine faculty were interviewed using the modified Luft and Roehrig's Teaching Beliefs Interview protocol in Fall 2016/Spring 2017 and then again in Spring 2019. Combination of constant-comparative analysis and cluster analysis were utilized to characterize faculty beliefs after each data collection cycle. Faculty also completed four surveys over the course of this longitudinal study. These surveys were analyzed to identify personal and contextual factors that could relate to changes in faculty beliefs over time. Overall, the participants expressed more unique beliefs about teaching and learning during the second interview. Despite this increase, the substance and the message of the beliefs remained fairly similar to the beliefs expressed during the first interview, which suggests that beliefs do not change as an artifact of teaching experience. Four of the faculty demonstrated a desirable shift to student-centered thinking, while three did not change and two shifted toward teacher-centered. Analysis of the survey data revealed that access and use of chemical education research journal and researchers, repeated opportunities to teach the same course, and instructor's continued learning efforts with respect to teaching were more pronounced among faculty who shifted toward student-centered thinking.

Untangling a complex relationship: teaching beliefs and instructional practices of assistant chemistry faculty at research-intensive institutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 513-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maia Popova ◽  
Lu Shi ◽  
Jordan Harshman ◽  
Annika Kraft ◽  
Marilyne Stains
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Instructional Practices ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teaching Beliefs ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
Beliefs About Teaching ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
And Cluster Analysis

In this era of instructional transformation of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses at the postsecondary level in the United States, the focus has been on educating science faculty about evidence-based instructional practices, i.e. practices that have been empirically proven to enhance student learning outcomes. The literature on professional development at the secondary level has demonstrated a tight interconnectedness between ones’ beliefs about teaching and learning and one's instructional practices and the need to attend to faculty's beliefs when engaging them in instructional change processes. Although discipline-based education researchers have made great strides in characterizing instructional practices of STEM faculty, much less attention has been given to understanding the beliefs of STEM about teaching and learning. Knowledge of instructors’ thinking can inform faculty professional development initiatives that encourage faculty to reflect on the beliefs that drive their classroom practices. Therefore, this study characterized the interplay between beliefs and instructional practices of nineteen assistant chemistry professors. Luft and Roehrig's Teaching Beliefs Interview protocol was used to capture beliefs; classroom observations and course artifacts were collected to capture practices. Clear trends were identified between faculty's beliefs (characterized through constant-comparative analysis and cluster analysis) and practices (characterized with Blumberg's Learner-Centered Teaching Rubric). Overall, beliefs of most of the participants were somewhat aligned with their instructional practices, with the exception of one cluster of faculty who held student-centered beliefs, but received only moderate scores on the Learner-Centered Teaching Rubric.

Science Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching and Learning Implementing Inquiery-based Learning - A Case in Qatar Government Primary Schools

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alshaima Saleh Alyafei
Keyword(s):  
Science Teachers ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Years Of Teaching Experience ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Beliefs About Teaching ◽  
Voluntary Basis

The current study investigates the beliefs held by science teachers on constructivism and a traditional approach in Qatar government primary schools. More specifically, it aims to investigate the challenges that science teachers experience during inquiry-based learning implementation. A web-based survey was conducted in order to collect data from grades 4 to 6 science teachers. A total of 112 science teachers responded and completed the survey on a voluntary basis. The results indicate that science teachers hold a higher beliefs in constructivism than traditional approach. A T-test and ANOVA analysis have showed that there is no significant differences between the beliefs of science teachers’ and their gender, level of education, and years of teaching experience. In addition, science teachers faced challenges in lesson planning, assessment, and teacher support.

Exploring the Use of Social Media to Advance K12 Science Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 547-560
Author(s):  
Jinjin Ma ◽  
Dickson K.W. Chiu ◽  
Jeff K.T. Tang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Student Centered Learning ◽  
Use Of Social Media

The astonishing popularity of social media and its emergence into the education arena has shown tremendous potential for innovations in teaching and learning. It enables student-centered learning in a more collaborative and interactive way in the online learning environment. However, few research has been conducted about how to use social media appropriately and effectively in Science education. The main purposes of this project is to explore the experience and perceptions of teachers with relevant teaching experience in using social media for K12 Science education, including the current level and scope of social media use, perception of utility, and its potential impact on science education. The implications, considerations, and challenges for and against the possible use of social media in science education were discussed with possible further research suggestions.

Boundarylessness as a dynamic construct: the case of Chinese early career expatriates

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 683-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Yao ◽  
Kaye Thorn ◽  
Noeleen Doherty
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Career Mobility ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Template Analysis ◽  
Boundary Properties ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Boundaryless Careers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic nature of boundaryless careers of Chinese early career corporate expatriates. It also investigates the demographic and contextual factors influencing individual perceived career mobility. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 31 Chinese corporate expatriates were conducted and a template analysis approach was used to analyze the data. Findings – Results suggest that Chinese early career corporate expatriates’ perceptions of boundaries as facilitating or limiting career mobility change over time. Changing boundary properties are found to be linked to the salience of Chinese cultural values, demographics and career/life stages. Based on expatriates’ narratives, this study highlights how these demographic and contextual factors shape domains of career boundarylessness. Originality/value – Using an under-researched sample of Chinese corporate expatriates, this paper contributes to the conceptualization of boundaryless careers identifying the changing nature of the boundaries that facilitate or restrict mobility over time. The study calls for the use of combined, multi-dimensional approaches incorporating individual agency, organizational and cultural factors to understand individual career development.

scholarly journals A short Teaching Residency Spanning 1,657 Miles

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-90
Author(s):  
Michèle Shuster ◽  
Karen Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Training ◽  
Geographic Distance ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Undergraduate Teaching ◽  
New Faculty ◽  
Faculty Positions ◽  
Academic Faculty

In scientific disciplines, most postdoctoral fellowships focus on research training. Postdoctoral fellows (“postdocs”) develop research expertise and research projects that they will use in future independent faculty positions. This research focus often precludes opportunities for undergraduate teaching. However, most academic faculty positions require faculty to teach at the undergraduate level. The result is that many postdocs are exceptionally well-qualified to meet the research expectations of future faculty positions, but lack experience and training in innovative and evidence-based undergraduate teaching strategies. Training in evi-dence-based teaching approaches can result in two tangible outcomes. First, the quality of applications by the postdocs for tenure-track faculty positions at institutions with substan-tive teaching expectations can be improved. Second, we can anticipate stronger alignment of teaching and learning expectations between new faculty and their undergraduate students. There are many programs that provide training in teaching to early career researchers. We describe the design and implementation of a mentored teaching experience that faced some unique challenges, including a large geographic distance between the postdocs and the teaching mentor and teaching site. We describe how we addressed the challenges, what the benefits to various stakeholders have been, and the key elements that contributed to the success of the program.

scholarly journals The Impact of External Contextual Factors on Teaching Candidates

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-74
Author(s):  
Alexander S. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Portfolio Assessment ◽  
Teaching Context ◽  
Stimulated Recall ◽  
The Face ◽  
Beliefs About Teaching ◽  
The Impact

The formation of a teacher’s identity is considered a dynamic process influenced by internal and external contextual factors. This article explores the impact that external contextual factors have on teacher candidates’ identities by presenting the findings of an empirical qualitative study that investigated the relationship between teacher candidates’ beliefs and their demonstrations and representations of teaching and learning on a nationally standardised portfolio assessment. Metaphor analysis and stimulated recall were used to explore this relationship. The study found that teacher candidates’ teaching demonstrations while student teaching and representations of teaching found in a nationally standardised portfolio assessment were severely constrained by cooperating teachers and scripted curriculums. However, the study also found that candidates could articulate the differences between their beliefs about teaching and learning and their demonstrations and representations of teaching and learning. Candidates routinely made suggestions in the portfolio assessment to align their future teaching more closely to their metaphors for teaching. The study concluded that candidates did not change their beliefs but took up temporary teaching identities based on these findings. They found ways to navigate the assessment and their (teaching) context while remaining committed to their teaching identity and beliefs about good teaching. This article suggests how education system contexts impact the formation of teacher candidates’ identities and what teacher education programmes need to do to strengthen candidates’ identities in the face of negative external influences.

Longitudinal study of persistence in professional development outcomes of early career biology faculty

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan C Emery ◽  
Jessica Middlemis Maher ◽  
Diane Ebert-May
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Development Outcomes ◽  
Teaching Professional Development ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThe diversity of teaching professional development (PD) programs that occurred over the last few decades merits our collective attention to assess the impact of these programs over time. In general, the goal of PD programs is that participants continue to practice what they learn in the long term. However, we do not know the degree to which the outcomes of these programs were achieved and ultimately persist. We tracked postdoc participants from the Faculty Institutes for Reformed Science Teaching (FIRST) IV program into their current position as early-career faculty at institutions across the United States. We assessed their teaching approaches, practices, and student perceptions of the learning environment over 6-10 years. Additionally, the FIRST IV faculty were paired with colleagues of similar status in the same departments. We found that professional development outcomes from the FIRST IV program persisted over time and across a significant career transition, from postdoc to faculty. These participants not only maintained their student-centered practices, but were significantly more student-focused than their peers. Lastly, we found that faculty approaches to teaching were correlated with observed teaching practices in the classroom for both groups of faculty. These results provide compelling evidence for the success of the FIRST IV program and the long-term persistence of professional development outcomes.

scholarly journals Experiences and pedagogical considerations of training the trainers in Saudi Arabia

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Ikonen ◽  
L Eklund Karlsson ◽  
M Palianopoulou ◽  
A R Aro
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Teaching Skills ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Basic Approaches

Abstract Introduction A student-centered teaching method engages the student to take responsibility for his/her own learning. In this pedagogical approach, the role of the teacher has become to be a supportive coach rather than an authority and one-way superior knowledge provider. A teacher with good teaching skills actively involves and engages students in the learning process. Qualified teacheŕs competence consists of the substance of the subject taught, pedagogical skills as well as of the teaching experience gained after teacher training. Lessons learnt In our case we organized a 9-day workshop to enhance the teaching skills of teachers in one department of our collaborator university in Saudi Arabia (KSA). The workshop included lectures on-site and individual and group assignments such as integrating active learning methods into teaching. The pedagogical workshop was a part of the cross-cultural knowledge transfer project between SDU and (case 1) university in KSA in the Bachelor level education in 2013-2017. The project disclosed the cultural differences in teaching and learning and the different traditions of education. We found that there was a strong tradition of memorizing among students in KSA, which reflected into the attitudes of both teachers and students. This workshop was the first pedagogical training for the most of participants and it revealed that they lacked theoretical knowledge on teaching, e.g. the concepts of student-centered teaching were new to the participants. However, they had extensive teaching experience and strong knowledge of the content of the subjects taught. The acquired knowledge of the basic approaches of student-centered teaching expanded participantś thoughts on how they could better interact with students instead of one-way lecturing. In the workshop, dialogue was used as a teaching method, and participants found the sharing of learning experiences in a peer group a useful and new way to learn at work.

Exploring the Use of Social Media to Advance K12 Science Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinjin Ma ◽  
Dickson K.W. Chiu ◽  
Jeff K.T. Tang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Online Learning Environment ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Student Centered Learning ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Use Of Social Media

The astonishing popularity of social media and its emergence into the education arena has shown tremendous potential for innovations in teaching and learning. It enables student-centered learning in a more collaborative and interactive way in the online learning environment. However, few research has been conducted about how to use social media appropriately and effectively in Science education. The main purposes of this project is to explore the experience and perceptions of teachers with relevant teaching experience in using social media for K12 Science education, including the current level and scope of social media use, perception of utility, and its potential impact on science education. The implications, considerations, and challenges for and against the possible use of social media in science education were discussed with possible further research suggestions.

Physical Education Teachers’ Metaphors of Teaching and Learning

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michalis Stylianou ◽  
Pamela Hodges Kulinna ◽  
Donetta Cothran ◽  
Ja Youn Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Time Allocation ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Professional Socialization ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Physical Education Teachers ◽  
Occupational Socialization ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Evolutionary Forces

This study was informed by the literature on teaching metaphors and the theory of occupational socialization. Its purpose was to examine in-service Physical Education teachers’ initial (before entering the profession), current, and ideal metaphors of teaching, related factors, and potential differences in participants’ metaphors based on their teaching experience. A mixed-methods approach was employed for this study, including a modified version of an existing survey (N = 66; Alger, 2009) and interviews (N = 13). Descriptive statistics indicated that while participants predominantly embraced teacher-centered metaphors initially, about half of them reported their current and ideal metaphors as student-centered. Constant comparison and analytic induction techniques revealed three themes and several subthemes: (a) fluidity (own definitions, combination of metaphors), (b) formation of initial views of teaching (acculturation, professional socialization), and (c) evolutionary forces and constraints (experience, pressure of test scores, time allocation, resources). These results have implications both for preservice and in-service teacher education programs.

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