General

Corporate EdTech Certification Programs (CECPs) have the potential to disrupt the traditional ways professional development has been offered to teachers. With large companies creating CECPs to demonstrate the ways their products can be used for educational purposes, this study utilized a content analysis methodology to analyze which knowledge bases from the Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework were being integrated into CECPs. Overall, the knowledge bases that included technological knowledge were emphasized, and the ones connected to content knowledge were seldom addressed, if at all. The study is first contextualized, followed by a description of its methodology before reporting findings. The implications section identifies the collective strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the CECPs before concluding with recommendations for stakeholders to improve and use CECPs for educational purposes.

Extended reality experiences for mathematics teachers can allow them to understand both pedagogy and the mathematics itself in new ways. In this study, the authors explored a virtual reality simulation for learning about geometric shapes, where teachers could engage in joint, shared manipulation of holograms in three dimensions. The authors examined what teachers saw as the affordances and limitations of this activity, as well as how the activity transformed their understanding of extended reality, through three cases of groups of teachers. Important themes emerged related to engagement, tangibility, collaboration, and dynamicity of the virtual reality environment, as well as serious concerns relating to space, cost, and physical issues. Implications are discussed for training teachers and teacher educators to implement embodied approaches to mathematics instruction.

This article reports outcomes from a working conference focused on the role of simulations in K-12 mathematics and science teacher education. The authors synthesized work shared via conference papers and presentations organized around three questions: (a) How are simulations defined and used? (b) How do simulations work? and (c) What evidence is being collected and what evidence should be collected about the use of simulations to prepare K-12 mathematics and science teachers? Results suggested that, while simulations vary in terms of format and foci, one common element is that they serve as responsive and interactive learning spaces where preservice and in-service teachers can rehearse critical instructional practices essential to the work of teaching in these disciplines. Attendees noted the importance of learning cycles to achieve the full benefit of these simulations to promote teachers’ learning and advocated for using experimental and quasi-experimental designs to better understand for whom, under what conditions, and for what purposes simulations are best used to prepare K-12 mathematics and science teachers. Connections to and implications for ongoing work within mathematics and science practice-based teacher education are discussed.

Effective teachers require a variety of skills, including the ability to provide and incorporate feedback from others. Self-review and peer review are two methods that help preservice teachers develop feedback skills. Teacher educators face a number of challenges utilizing peer and self-review within their courses, especially in large university classes where preservice teachers of different majors are enrolled in the same course. Online peer review tools offer a promising approach to support peer review in preservice teacher education. Guided by adult learning theory, an experimental study was conducted to determine the effect of online peer review, using the peer review tool Peermark™. Preservice teachers in the experimental group used online peer review to provide feedback to peers about the creation of a content specific graphic organizer. Results show that online peer review resulted in higher quality graphic organizers when compared to self-review. Limitations, implications for practice, and future research suggestions are discussed.