Editorials

English/Language Arts Education

Amplifying Historically Marginalized Voices Through Text Choice and Play With Digital Tools: Toward Decentering Whiteness in English Teacher Education

by Jennifer M. Higgs, Steven Z. Athanases, Alexis Patterson Williams, Danny C. Martinez & Sergio L. Sanchez
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

This article reports on a case study of an English language arts (ELA) teacher education course that prioritized amplification as a method to decenter whiteness in English teacher preparation. The researchers demonstrate how they engaged in designing a course that aimed to use interactive digital technologies and multimodal texts to amplify racially and ethnically marginalized voices in ELA preservice education. Design principles that facilitated amplification included saturation of the learning environment with mediational resources and tools (Gutiérrez & Vossoughi, 2010) and the notion of “low floor and wide walls” (Resnick & Silverman, 2005). The analysis revealed ways in which the course design supported engagement with culturally sustaining pedagogies and the amplification of authors, literary characters, and preservice teachers from historically marginalized groups. Concrete examples are provided of intentional design decisions and course features that opened up opportunities for preservice teachers to engage in discourse that foregrounded identities related to race, ethnicity, language, and gender/sexual orientation.

“Crazy, Brave New Kid Learning a New [Virtual] Land”: Multidirectional Mentorship for, With, and by a Bilingual Teacher Candidate/Writer

by Beth. A. Buchholz, Jason DeHart, Beth M. Frye, Devery Ward & Liliana Martinez
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

The closing of universities and pK-12 schools in March 2020 pushed teacher preparation programs to explore virtual models of providing teacher candidates with clinical experiences. This case study chronicles a multiple-semester collaboration between a bilingual graduate-level teacher candidate (TC) and university faculty members (authors) exploring what it might mean to enact writing instruction in a fully virtual community of in-service teachers, undergraduate- and graduate-level TCs, and children in grades K-5. Drawing on Garcia et al.’s (2016) current/corriente metaphor, the TC’s translanguaging performances in the community across time were examined to track the multidirectional flows of mentorship that shifted the community’s engagement as digital writers and writing teachers. Findings identified three critical flows of mentorship made possible by the virtual infrastructure: (a) mentorship between TCs and in-service teachers; (b) mentorship between TCs and faculty members; and (c) and mentorship between families/caregivers and TCs. These multidirectional flows disrupted traditional hierarchical notions of university-pK-12 school demarcations, offering insights into possibilities for reimagining more effective virtual clinical models for preparing TCs who can enact culturally sustaining writing pedagogy as a means of sustaining all children’s cultural and linguistic practices.

Mathematics Education

Equity and Equality: How Data Visualizations Mediate Teacher Sensemaking About Racial and Gender Inequity

by Daniel Reinholz & Niral Shah
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

This manuscript focuses on the role of data analytics in mediating how teachers make sense of racial and gender inequity in patterns of student participation in their classrooms. Five middle school mathematics teachers participated in a year-long professional development program, centered on data analytics generated by the EQUIP observation tool. Through the authors’ analyses, they documented six distinct teacher logics used to make sense of the data. The articles discussed how these logics were mediated by particular features of the given data visualizations. It closes with recommendations for the future study of the design of data visualizations and a discussion of implication for mathematics teacher education.

Professional Development Supporting Teachers’ Implementation of Virtual Manipulatives

by Lindsay Reiten
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

Supporting teachers’ implementations of technology in the classroom is a critical and longstanding issue in mathematics education. As access to various technology resources grows, a need exists for professional development opportunities that prepare teachers to integrate technology effectively to support students’ mathematical learning opportunities. Virtual manipulatives (VMs) are one technology tool receiving increased attention. Despite the benefits to student learning, secondary mathematics teachers use VMs less frequently than elementary teachers. Therefore, this study investigated a professional development opportunity aimed at supporting middle and high school mathematics teachers’ implementation of VMs. Findings indicate two tools (a repository of resources and a task analysis framework) supported teachers as they prepared to implement VMs and tasks. Additionally, teachers were further supported via time for active learning (teachers interacting with VMs related to their upcoming instructional units) and collaborative planning.

Science Education

Lessons Learned from an Elementary School Citizen Science Project

by Janet Mannheimer Zydney, Lauren Angelone & Erin Rumpke
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

This article describes a pilot study on the use of a computer supported collaborative citizen project with elementary school students. From public data available on the web, the researchers sought to understand how students engaged in science practices within a citizen science project. In addition, the researchers examined the different roles that emerged within the citizen science community. A social media feed, including posts and comments, was collected from one project within the citizen science site and analyzed qualitatively using a content analysis and role analysis. The results were contextualized to determine what guidance is needed to help teachers set up this type of project in their classrooms. The recommendations include scaffolding science practices, providing expectations for students on how to post on social media sites, and establishing productive partnerships with scientists in the community. Incorporating these guidelines within teacher education and professional development programs may help teachers provide their students with authentic research experiences through citizen science projects.

Effects of an Asynchronous Online Science Methods Course on Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Science Self-Efficacy

by Daniel Bergman & Greg Novacek
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

To address a statewide demand for elementary teachers, a midsized Midwestern (U.S.A.) university created an undergraduate licensure program for para-educators, nontraditional students who are already working full-time in schools. Although fieldwork experiences and mentoring occur in the schools where they work, the para-educator preservice teachers (PSTs) completed all college coursework via online classes with course readings, writings, videos, discussion board, home activities, and videoconference class sessions. Their coursework included an inquiry-based science methods course, taught asynchronously over 8 weeks in the summer, emphasizing the 5E Learning Cycle Model (Bybee, 2002; Bybee et al., 2006; Contant et al., 2018) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Pre- and posttest measures were collected from the participating PSTs (N = 57), including the STEBI-B (Enochs & Riggs, 1990) to analyze self-efficacy beliefs about teaching science. Findings between pre- and postassessments included statistically significant increases with large effect sizes in both STEBI-B subscales (Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy; Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Belief). Responding to open-ended follow-up questions, participants perceived writing lesson plans and doing at-home science activities as the most helpful course elements in their confidence about teaching science.

Social Studies Education

Editorial: The Metaphor Is the Message: Limitations of the Media Literacy Metaphor for Social Studies

by Lance E. Mason, Daniel G. Krutka & Marie K. Heath
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

In this editorial the authors drew upon metaphor studies to identify limitations of the literacy metaphor, which has become a master metaphor for competency in education, particularly through discussions of media literacy. It considers how the literacy metaphor ignores media forms within media literacy education. Building on the authors’ initial editorial as CITE—Social Studies Education editors and drawing on the work of media ecologists, the authors suggest different avenues for media and technology education that view media as environments.

General

Understanding the Role of Simulations in K-12 Mathematics and Science Teacher Education: Outcomes From a Teacher Education Simulation Conference

by Jamie N. Mikeska, Heather Howell, Lisa Dieker & Michael Hynes
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

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.

Current Practice

Can You Picture This? Preservice Teachers’ Drawings and Pedagogical Beliefs About Teaching With Technology

by Denise Lindstrom, Gwen Jones & Jeremy Price
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

This study was conducted in the context of an introductory three-credit course in a master of arts and teacher certification program offered at a large land grant public university in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. Researchers examined preservice teacher drawings of teaching with technology and their reflection on their drawings to identify their pedagogical beliefs. Unlike prior research that shows classroom technology is mainly used by the teacher, most of the drawings in this study depicted students using handheld technology, an indication of more student-centered teaching. However, analysis of preservice teacher descriptions of the drawings shows that change in preservice teacher depictions of teaching with technology is likely the result of more ubiquitous access to handheld technology in K-12 schools rather than a change in pedagogical beliefs. The researchers suggest that teacher educators should work to develop preservice teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge to facilitate technology integration to support constructivist teaching practices.

An Investigation of Preservice Teachers’ Integration of an Immersive Virtual Reality Technology

by Jason Abbitt & Darrel R. Davis
Full Article PDF Show Abstract

This article describes the results of a retrospective study of preservice teachers’ ability to plan learning experiences that integrated an immersive virtual reality (VR) technology. The study was conducted over multiple academic terms as VR technology featuring a head-mounted display (VR HMD) was evolving from a prototype to a commercially available technology system. Within the context of a one-semester (3 credit hour) course focusing on technology integration in K-12 education, undergraduate students were introduced to the different models of VR HMDs, for which they would then created learning activities that would integrate this technology. This analysis compared the lesson planning artifacts of preservice teachers using the Technology Integration Matrix measurement rubric. The data analysis revealed differences in some dimensions, as when preservice teachers used different versions of VR HMD technology. Additionally, ratings of learning activities using VR HMDs were compared according to student academic experience and revealed that a majority of ratings were at entry and adoption levels of technology integration. The implications of the findings for course improvement and future research are discussed.