Routes into student engagement as part of the pedagogical reasoning of teachers

Stephen Keast, Debra Panizzon, Ian Mitchell, John Loughran, Melissa Tham, Lucy Rutherford

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperResearchpeer-review

Abstract

This paper reports on a large study investigating the pedagogical reasoning of 40 expert science teachers in Australia in an attempt to explicate expert practice. Over a three-year period, the teachers were divided into two cohorts involving both elementary and high school teachers of science. Each cohort experienced eight days of a professional program that helped to focus their attention and unpack the complex and detailed tacit knowledge about teaching ‘carried in their heads’. The main sources of data were the recorded planning conversations of teachers as they worked with peers in designing, preparing and developing a unit of work for their students along with interviews that were conducted with all 40 teachers involved in the project. Additional data was extracted from notes, summaries and conversations captured during the days of the professional program. Coding of these data identified major themes that were compared to those from an earlier pilot study. Emerging from a comparison of these analyses were four key foci, which form a framework for elucidating the tacit pedagogical reasoning of teachers. These included: Big ideas, Generation of quality learning and quality learners, Responding to contextual constraints and opportunities, Teacher personal and professional identify, and Routes to engagement. Careful mapping of teacher thinking (as evidenced from their conversations) between these foci demonstrated rapid and complex movement from one focus to the other as teachers planned their teaching. We termed this ‘pinball reasoning’. Within this paper we report on the findings in relation to latter focus, Routes to engagement using the phenomena of pinball reasoning to discuss the multiple ways teachers could be led to thinking about engagement.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationConexão Ciência
EditorsGillian Kidman
Place of PublicationFormiga Brazil
PublisherCentro Universitário de Formiga
Pages278-283
Number of pages6
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2017
EventInternational Organization for Science and Technology Education International Symposium 2016 - Institute of Education of UM, Braga, Portugal
Duration: 11 Jul 201616 Jul 2016
Conference number: XVII
http://www.eventos.ciec-uminho.org/ioste2016/

Publication series

NameConexão Ciência
PublisherCentro Universitário de Formiga
Number2
Volume12
ISSN (Electronic)1980-7058

Conference

ConferenceInternational Organization for Science and Technology Education International Symposium 2016
Abbreviated titleIOSTE International Symposium 2016
Country/TerritoryPortugal
CityBraga
Period11/07/1616/07/16
Internet address

Keywords

  • Pedagogical reasoning
  • Student engagement
  • Learning
  • Pinball reasoning

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