Subject Knowledge and Teacher Education


Book Description

Teachers' knowledge of the subjects they teach has been of enduring interest to governments, the profession and the wider society. In this book, Viv Ellis traces the development of three beginning teachers thinking about their subject knowledge in the context of Standards-based teacher education and the practice of auditing student teachers' subject knowledge. Ellis puts forward a theory of subject knowledge development that moves on from the objectivist and individualistic epistemologies associated with Standards and the practices of auditing to more a contextualist and sociocultural understanding of teachers' cognition and learning. An important implication of this study is that if teacher education wishes to have greater impact on the development of beginning teachers, teacher educators need to pay greater attention to the schools and subject department settings in which these beginning teachers learn.




Cognitive Activation in the Mathematics Classroom and Professional Competence of Teachers


Book Description

This work reports the findings of the Professional Competence of Teachers, Cognitively Activating Instruction, and Development of Students ́ Mathematical Literacy project (COACTIV). COACTIV applies a broad, innovative conceptualization of teacher competence to examine how mathematics teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, motivational orientations, and self-regulation skills influence their instructional practice and teaching outcomes In this project data was collected on various aspects of teacher competence and classroom instruction from the perspective of both the teachers themselves and their students. Moreover, it gauges the effects of these teacher characteristics on student learning, as indexed by the progress students in each class. Questions addressed in the study which are reported in this volume include: What are the characteristics of successful teaching? What distinguishes teachers who succeed in their profession? How can the quality of instruction be improved?




Examining Pedagogical Content Knowledge


Book Description

This ambitious text is the first of its kind to summarize the theory, research, and practice related to pedagogical content knowledge. The audience is provided with a functional understanding of the basic tenets of the construct as well as its applications to research on science teacher education and the development of science teacher education programs.




International Handbook of Teacher Education


Book Description

The International Handbooks of Teacher Education cover major issues in the field through chapters that offer detailed literature reviews designed to help readers to understand the history, issues and research developments across those topics most relevant to the field of teacher education from an international perspective. This volume is divided into two sections: The organisation and structure of teacher education; and, knowledge and practice of teacher education. The first section explores the complexities of teacher education, including the critical components of preparing teachers for teaching, and various aspects of teaching and teacher education that create tensions and strains. The second examines the knowledge and practice of teacher education, including the critical components of teachers’ professional knowledge, the pedagogy of teacher education, and their interrelationships, and delves into what we know and why it matters in teacher education.




Expert Teacher


Book Description

'But what does this look like in the classroom?' This question generally occurs to educators when they enquire into evidence-based approaches to teaching - and often they will get to the end of a teaching manual only to find that it remains unanswered. In The Expert Teacher, however, Darren Mead provides many of the answers. One of the most universally respected teachers in Britain, Darren has devoted his professional life to attaining pedagogical excellence. In this book he examines in depth what expert teachers do to help students progress their learning and strive for academic success. He lays bare the concept of pedagogical content knowledge and eloquently explains how to utilise it to overcome student misconceptions, create contexts and connections in learning and teach difficult and important content - empowering educators to transform their sub-ject knowledge into multiple means of representing it in teachable ways. The intention of The Expert Teacher is to help teachers to reflect on what and how they plan, how they teach and how to improvise around these plans, and to pave the way for deep professional thinking about best practice. It is split into two parts - entitled How is Your Subject Learned? and Expert Teaching and Learning - and provides educators with a variety of practical tools, illuminating examples and flexible frameworks geared to help them underpin and reinforce the very ampersand in expert teaching & learning. A warning though: this book is not for teachers seeking quick fixes or superficial tricks. The Expert Teacher is for educators who are eager to experience the excitement of knowing and teaching their subject masterfully. Suitable for all teachers in all settings.




In Search of Deeper Learning


Book Description

"The best book on high school dynamics I have ever read."--Jay Mathews, Washington Post An award-winning professor and an accomplished educator take us beyond the hype of reform and inside some of America's most innovative classrooms to show what is working--and what isn't--in our schools. What would it take to transform industrial-era schools into modern organizations capable of supporting deep learning for all? Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine's quest to answer this question took them inside some of America's most innovative schools and classrooms--places where educators are rethinking both what and how students should learn. The story they tell is alternately discouraging and hopeful. Drawing on hundreds of hours of observations and interviews at thirty different schools, Mehta and Fine reveal that deeper learning is more often the exception than the rule. And yet they find pockets of powerful learning at almost every school, often in electives and extracurriculars as well as in a few mold-breaking academic courses. These spaces achieve depth, the authors argue, because they emphasize purpose and choice, cultivate community, and draw on powerful traditions of apprenticeship. These outliers suggest that it is difficult but possible for schools and classrooms to achieve the integrations that support deep learning: rigor with joy, precision with play, mastery with identity and creativity. This boldly humanistic book offers a rich account of what education can be. The first panoramic study of American public high schools since the 1980s, In Search of Deeper Learning lays out a new vision for American education--one that will set the agenda for schools of the future.




Understanding Subject Knowledge for Primary Teaching


Book Description

How can trainee teachers begin their careers with a clear understanding of all the curriculum subjects? This book addresses the nature of subject knowledge in all foundation curriculum subjects. It deconstructs the elements of each subject through an exploration of the nature of the subject, a coverage of the ′skills′ a study of this subject develops and through detailed analysis of case studies from practice. At a time when concerns about the lack of breadth in the primary curriculum are being voiced, this book supports busy trainee teachers to truly understand and be ready to teach all curriculum areas.




Subject Teaching and Teacher Education in the New Century


Book Description

This 544-page book has 22 chapters prepared by experienced and renowned scholars and researchers from different parts of the world. Grouped into three sections- "Information Technology, Science and Mathematics", "Social Sciences and General Studies", and "Languages" - the chapters represent an important collection of international endeavours committed to facilitate the much needed paradigm shift in subject curriculum and pedagogy and reinforce the quest for a new knowledge base that can support the search for new conceptions, models, perspectives, innovations, and practices for teaching effectiveness and teacher development in different parts of the world. The target audiences are teacher educators, educators, graduate students, researchers, policy makers and those interested to reform education and teacher education in the new century.




Repositioning Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Teachers’ Knowledge for Teaching Science


Book Description

This book enhances readers’ understanding of science teachers’ professional knowledge, and illustrates how the Pedagogical Content Knowledge research agenda can make a difference in teachers’ practices and how students learn science. Importantly, it offers an updated international perspective on the evolving nature of Pedagogical Content Knowledge and how it is shaping research and teacher education agendas for science teaching. The first few chapters background and introduce a new model known as the Refined Consensus Model (RCM) of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in science education, and clarify and demonstrate its use in research and teacher education and practice. Subsequent chapters show how this new consensus model of PCK in science education is strongly connected with empirical data of varying nature, contains a tailored language to describe the nature of PCK in science education, and can be used as a framework for illuminating past studies and informing the design of future PCK studies in science education. By presenting and discussing the RCM of PCK within a variety of science education contexts, the book makes the model significantly more applicable to teachers’ work.




The Knowledge Gap


Book Description

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.