A Critical Analysis of the Research on Learning to Teach: Making the Case for an Ecological Perspective on Inquiry
01 Jun 1998-Review of Educational Research (American Educational Research Association)-Vol. 68, Iss: 2, pp 130-178
TL;DR: In this article, a review of empirical studies on learning to teach was conducted to establish what is currently known about how people learn to teach and to critique the quality of the reporting of that research.
Abstract: 93 empirical studies on learning to teach were reviewed in order to establish what is currently known about how people learn to teach and to critique the quality of the reporting of that research. Among other observations concerning teacher education, the review highlights the tensions between the hopes and expectations of teacher educators and the expectations and experiences of beginning teachers. While this review supports the findings of others that many traditional programs of teacher education have little effect upon the firmly held beliefs of the beginning teachers, it also provides examples of successful programs. Such programs typically build upon the beliefs of pre service teachers and feature systematic and consistent long-term support in a collaborative setting. It is concluded that this body of research has advanced the field in significant ways, offering new directions for research and program reform. The critique of the papers themselves reveals that authors need to pay more careful attenti...
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19 Nov 2008TL;DR: This meta-analyses presents a meta-analysis of the contributions from the home, the school, and the curricula to create a picture of visible teaching and visible learning in the post-modern world.
Abstract: Preface Chapter 1 The challenge Chapter 2 The nature of the evidence: A synthesis of meta-analyses Chapter 3 The argument: Visible teaching and visible learning Chapter 4: The contributions from the student Chapter 5 The contributions from the home Chapter 6 The contributions from the school Chapter 7 The contributions from the teacher Chapter 8 The contributions from the curricula Chapter 9 The contributions from teaching approaches - I Chapter 10 The contributions from teaching approaches - II Chapter 11: Bringing it all together Appendix A: The 800 meta-analyses Appendix B: The meta-analyses by rank order References
6,776 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that much of what teachers need to know to be successful is invisible to lay observers, leading to the view that teaching requires little formal study and to frequent disdain for teacher education programs.
Abstract: Much of what teachers need to know to be successful is invisible to lay observers, leading to the view that teaching requires little formal study and to frequent disdain for teacher education programs. The weakness of traditional program models that are collections of largely unrelated courses reinforce this low regard. This article argues that we have learned a great deal about how to create stronger, more effective teacher education programs. Three critical components of such programs include tight coherence and integration among courses and between course work and clinical work in schools, extensive and intensely supervised clinical work integrated with course work using pedagogies linking theory and practice, and closer, proactive relationships with schools that serve diverse learners effectively and develop and model good teaching. Also, schools of education should resist pressures to water down preparation, which ultimately undermine the preparation of entering teachers, the reputation of schools of education, and the strength of the profession.
2,136 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the adaptability of purposeful sampling strategies to the process of qualitative research synthesis is examined, and the authors make a unique contribution to the literature by examining how different sampling strategies might be particularly suited to constructing multi-perspectival, emancipatory, participatory and deconstructive interpretations of published research.
Abstract: Informed decisions about sampling are critical to improving the quality of research synthesis. Even though several qualitative research synthesists have recommended purposeful sampling for synthesizing qualitative research, the published literature holds sparse discussion on how different strategies for purposeful sampling may be applied to a research synthesis. In primary research, Patton is frequently cited as an authority on the topic of purposeful sampling. In Patton’s original texts that are referred to in this article, Patton does not make any suggestion of using purposeful sampling for research synthesis. This article makes a unique contribution to the literature by examining the adaptability of each of Patton’s 16 purposeful sampling strategies to the process of qualitative research synthesis. It illuminates how different purposeful sampling strategies might be particularly suited to constructing multi‐perspectival, emancipatory, participatory and deconstructive interpretations of published research.
1,414 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors adopt a complexity theory framework to review the literature on teachers' professional development practices, the generative systems of these practices, and the impact that learning experiences have on their knowledge and changes in classroom practices.
Abstract: This article adopts a complexity theory framework to review the literature on teachers’ professional development practices, the generative systems of these practices, and the impact that learning experiences have on their knowledge and changes in classroom practices. The review brings together multiple strands of literature on teacher professional development, teaching and learning, teacher change, and organizational learning. In doing so, it illustrates that process–product logic has dominated the literature on teacher professional learning and that this has limited explanatory ability. The review demonstrates the ways the elements of three subsystems (the teacher, the school, and the learning activity) interact and combine in different ways and with varying intensities to influence teacher learning. The limitations of studies focusing on specific elements or subsystems are highlighted. The article concludes that to understand teacher learning scholars must adopt methodological practices that focus on ex...
1,269 citations
TL;DR: A thorough, sophisticated literature review is the foundation and inspiration for substantial, useful research in education research as discussed by the authors, which is a prerequisite for increased methodological sophistication and for improving the usefulness of education research.
Abstract: A thorough, sophisticated literature review is the foundation and inspiration for substantial, useful research. The complex nature of education research demands such thorough, sophisticated reviews. Although doctoral education is a key means for improving education research, the literature has given short shrift to the dissertation literature review. This article suggests criteria to evaluate the quality of dissertation literature reviews and reports a study that examined dissertations at three universities. Acquiring the skills and knowledge required to be education scholars, able to analyze and synthesize the research in a field of specialization, should be the focal, integrative activity of predissertation doctoral education. Such scholarship is a prerequisite for increased methodological sophistication and for improving the usefulness of education research.
1,230 citations
References
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01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: This is also one of the factors by obtaining the soft documents of this competing paradigms in qualitative research by online as discussed by the authors. But, it will totally squander the time.
Abstract: This is likewise one of the factors by obtaining the soft documents of this competing paradigms in qualitative research by online. You might not require more become old to spend to go to the books establishment as skillfully as search for them. In some cases, you likewise do not discover the broadcast competing paradigms in qualitative research that you are looking for. It will totally squander the time.
15,524 citations
"A Critical Analysis of the Research..." refers background or methods in this paper
...We urge authors to consider the issue of comparison of studies posited by Guba and Lincoln (1994) to be similar to the post-positivist notion of replication....
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...In addition, we drew upon Guba and Lincoln's (1994) criteria, which provide guidelines for different paradigms, and Hatch and Wisniewski's (1995) discussion of criteria for judging the quality of narrative research....
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...Hargreaves and Jacka (1995) described a single preservice teacher who graduated from teacher preparation enthusiastic about teaching in general and about cooperative learning in particular—the focus of her preservice year....
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TL;DR: The authors examines the meaning prominent researchers give to beliefs and how this meaning differs from that of knowledge, provides a definition of belief consistent with the best work in this area, and explores the nature of belief structures as outlined by key researchers.
Abstract: Attention to the beliefs of teachers and teacher candidates should be a focus of educational research and can inform educational practice in ways that prevailing research agendas have not and cannot. The difficulty in studying teachers’ beliefs has been caused by definitional problems, poor conceptualizations, and differing understandings of beliefs and belief structures. This article examines the meaning prominent researchers give to beliefs and how this meaning differs from that of knowledge, provides a definition of belief consistent with the best work in this area, explores the nature of belief structures as outlined by key researchers, and offers a synthesis of findings about the nature of beliefs. The article argues that teachers’ beliefs can and should become an important focus of educational inquiry but that this will require clear conceptualizations, careful examination of key assumptions, consistent understandings and adherence to precise meanings, and proper assessment and investigation of spec...
8,257 citations
"A Critical Analysis of the Research..." refers methods in this paper
...'We drew on reviews on prior beliefs (Pajares, 1992; Richardson, 1996), teacher education (Feiman-Nemser, 1990; Kagan, 1992; Zeichner & Gore, 1990; Reynolds, 1992), and multicultural teacher education (Artiles et al....
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Book•
01 Jan 1974
TL;DR: A new printing of Lortie's classic, including a new preface bringing the author's observations up to date, has been published by as discussed by the authors, which is an essential view into the world and culture of a vitally important profession.
Abstract: Upon its initial publication, many reviewers dubbed Dan C. Lortie's Schoolteacher the best social portrait of the profession since Willard Waller's The Sociology of Teaching. This new printing of Lortie's classic - including a new preface bringing the author's observations up to date - is an essential view into the world and culture of a vitally important profession.
5,440 citations
TL;DR: The authors divide narrative inquiries into two distinct groups based on Bruner's types of cognition: paradigmatic-type narrative inquiry gathers stories for its data and uses paradigmatic analytic procedures to produce taxonomies and categories out of common elements across the database.
Abstract: Narrative inquiry refers to a subset of qualitative research designs in which stories are used to describe human action. The term narrative has been employed by qualitative researchers with a variety of meanings. In the context of narrative inquiry, narrative refers to a discourse form in which events and happenings are configured into a temporal unity by means of a plot. Bruner (1985) designates two types of cognition: paradigmatic, which operates by recognizing elements as members of a category; and narrative, which operates by combining elements into an emplotted story. Narrative inquiries divide into two distinct groups based on Bruner's types of cognition. Paradigmatic‐type narrative inquiry gathers stories for its data and uses paradigmatic analytic procedures to produce taxonomies and categories out of the common elements across the database. Narrative‐type narrative inquiry gathers events and happenings as its data and uses narrative analytic procedures to produce explanatory stories.
3,472 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1968
TL;DR: The authors conducted an experiment in a public elementary school, telling teachers that certain children could be expected to be growth spurters, based on the students' results on the Harvard Test of Inflected Acquisition.
Abstract: In 1965 the authors conducted an experiment in a public elementary school, telling teachers that certain children could be expected to be “growth spurters,” based on the students' results on the Harvard Test of Inflected Acquisition. In point of fact, the test was nonexistent and those children designated as “spurters” were chosen at random. What Rosenthal and Jacobson hoped to determine by this experiment was the degree (if any) to which changes in teacher expectation produce changes in student achievement.
2,635 citations