Dialogue with Students as a Valuable Tool in Teacher Inquiry for Professional Development A narrative of a novice science teacher educator learning about student interaction in biology classrooms
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
There is a consensus amongst scholars that learning from student feedback depends on how the feedback is sought and used by the individual teachers. Using Hand and Rowe’s (2001) framework of eliciting and using student feedback, the purpose of this self-study was to investigate how I, as a novice teacher educator, can use dialogue with my students to learn about and how to foster student interaction in my biology classroom. I collected data through multiple sources including students’ written feedback, my reflective journal, focus-group interviews with the students, and video-recordings of my teaching. Data was analysed through a narrative approach. Findings indicate that the continuous dialogue with my students helped me learn about student interaction and fostering it in my classroom through a variety of ways. This study also illustrates that the teacher needs to establish trust with students from the onset such that the dialogue cannot only be of professional value to the teacher but also improve the students’ learning. These insights are discussed and recommendations are made in the article.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (JoSoTL) right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC-BY) 4.0 International, allowing others to share the work with proper acknowledgement and citation of the work's authorship and initial publication in the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
- Authors are able to enter separate, additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
- In pursuit of manuscripts of the highest quality, multiple opportunities for mentoring, and greater reach and citation of JoSoTL publications, JoSoTL encourages authors to share their drafts to seek feedback from relevant communities unless the manuscript is already under review or in the publication queue after being accepted. In other words, to be eligible for publication in JoSoTL, manuscripts should not be shared publicly (e.g., online), while under review (after being initially submitted, or after being revised and resubmitted for reconsideration), or upon notice of acceptance and before publication. Once published, authors are strongly encouraged to share the published version widely, with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
References
Ang, L., Breyer, Y. A., & Pitt, J. (2018). Course recommendation as a construct in student evaluations: will students recommend your course?. Studies in Higher Education, 43 (6), 944-959.
Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. International society for technology in education. Washington: DC International Society for Technology in Education
Bianchini, S., Lissoni, F., & Pezzoni, M. (2013). Instructor characteristics and students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness: evidence from an Italian engineering school. European Journal of Engineering Education, 38(1), 38-57.
Borch, I., Sandvoll, R., & Risør, T. (2020). Discrepancies in purposes of student course evaluations: what does it mean to be “satisfied”?. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 32(1), 83-102.
Buma, A., & Nyamupangedengu, E. (2020). Investigating teacher talk moves in lessons on basic genetics concepts in a teacher education classroom. African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 24(1), 92-104.
Carlson, R., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (2003). Learning and understanding science instructional material. Journal of educational psychology, 95(3), 629 -642.
Chin, C., & Osborne, J. (2008). Students' questions: a potential resource for teaching and learning science. Studies in science education, 44(1), 1-39.
Flodén, J. (2017). The impact of student feedback on teaching in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(7), 1054-1068.
Flutter, J. (2007). Teacher development and pupil voice. The Curriculum Journal, 18(3), 343-354.
Golding, C., & Adam, L. (2016). Evaluate to improve: useful approaches to student evaluation. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 41(1), 1-14.
Golombek, P. R., & Johnson, K. E. (2017). Re-conceptualizing teachers' narrative inquiry as professional development. Profile Issues in Teachers Professional Development, 19(2), 15-28.
Hall, E. (2009). Engaging in and engaging with research: Teacher inquiry and development. Teachers and teaching: theory and practice, 15(6), 669-681.
Hand, L., & Rowe, M. (2001). Evaluation of student feedback. Accounting Education, 10(2), 147-160.
Jones, M.-A., & Hall, V. J. (2021). Student voice and student feedback: How critical pragmatism can help frame research and practice. In W. Rollett, H. Bijlsma, & S. Röhl (Eds.), Student feedback in schools - Using perceptions for the development of teaching and teachers (pp. 209–220). Springer.
Kane, R. G., & Maw, N. (2005). Making sense of learning at secondary school: Involving students to improve teaching practice. Cambridge Journal of Education, 35(3), 311-322.
Marsh, H. W., & Dunkin, M. J. (1992). Students' evaluations of university teaching: A multidimensional perspective. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. 8, pp. 143-233). New York: Agathon Press.
Moore, M.G., & Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance Education: A Systems View of Online Learning. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning
Pinnegar, S., & Hamilton, M. L. (2009). Self-study of practice as a genre of qualitative research: Theory, methodology, and practice (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.
Polkinghorne, D.E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5–23
Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching: Pearson new international edition. Pearson Higher Ed.
Samaras, A. P. (2011). Self-study teacher research: Improving your practice through collaborative inquiry. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Samaras, A. P., & Freese, A. (2006). Self-study of teaching practices: Peter Lang publishing, Inc.
Tytler, R., & Aranda, G. (2015). Expert teachers’ discursive moves in science classroom interactive talk. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 13(2), 425-446.
Vaessen, B. E., van den Beemt, A., van de Watering, G., van Meeuwen, L. W., Lemmens, L., & den Brok, P. (2017). Students’ perception of frequent assessments and its relation to motivation and grades in a statistics course: a pilot study. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(6), 872-886.
Wisniewski, B., Zierer, K., & Hattie, J. (2020). The power of feedback revisited: a meta-analysis of educational feedback research. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 3087 -403.