Expanding Our View of Teaching and Learning: Applying Constructivist Theory(s) to Teachers Education.
TITLE Expanding Our View of Teaching and Learning: Applying Constructivist Theory(s) to Teachers Education. PUB DATE 2003-00-00 NOTE 33p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (New Orleans, LA, January 24-27, 2003). PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) Speeches/Meeting Papers (150) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Portfolio Assessment; Action Research; *Constructivism (Learning); Cooperative Learning; Educational Environment; Elementary Secondary Education; Field Experience Programs; Higher Education; *Inservice Teacher Education; Interpersonal Relationship; *Preservice Teacher Education; Problem Solving; Reflective Teaching; Student Attitudes; Student Participation; Teacher Attitudes IDENTIFIERS Authenticity; Learner Centered Instruction
Clicker Use as an Instructional Strategy: Effects on Student Engagement and Achievement in a College-Level Digital Literacy Course
The authors of this study sought to determine the impact of clicker (student response system) use as an instructional strategy on student engagement and achievement in a college-level digital literacy course taught in face-to-face classroom settings. This was also an attempt to explore students’ learning experiences and attitudes toward instruction utilizing clicker technology-based strategies. This study was conducted in a public college with an open-access admission policy in the rural South. The college has a significant racially and ethnically diverse student population. The students’ levels of preparation to enter college are just as diverse, and there is a large number of students requiring “learning support.” This course in this study had no prerequisites, allowing learning support students to enroll along with everyone else, creating a challenge to teach this course effectively. Eight classes were selected where students were already pre-registered, resulting in convenience sampling. This study used quasi-experimental control group time series design. Data collection continued throughout the duration of a semester. Students’ academic achievement was measured using a series of assessments. Students’ learning experiences and attitudes toward learning were measured using data collected through survey instruments. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, effect size, t-test of independent samples, and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were used for data analysis. A content analysis technique was used to identify trends and themes in qualitative data collected through open-ended survey items. Findings of this study revealed that the academic achievement of students in the group that was taught with extensive use of clicker technology was higher than the achievement of students in the group that was taught using traditional methods. They also revealed that the students who were taught with extensive use of clicker technology reported that they had substantially positive learning experiences. Furthermore,
Exploring interculturally competent teaching in social sciences classrooms
Abstract This paper explores a grounded research-based framework for intercultural competence and discusses the implications of interculturally competent teaching in the classroom and beyond. Given the importance of teachers being interculturally competent in today’s diverse classrooms, a number of questions, based on the framework, are presented, which guide teachers in reflecting upon their own teaching practice and the ways in which they integrate aspects of intercultural competence into their classrooms. The paper also provides some examples from the USA of ways in which intercultural competence development is being addressed in teacher training.