Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine Chinese, primary school teachers’ developmental stages in blended learning environments when exploring the use of thinking tools (TTs) for improving students’ thinking skills. This study analyzed data using the Trajectory Equifinality Modeling (TEM). TEM is a new qualitative methodology of Cultural Psychology that explores the trajectory of multiple decision-making actions based on time and interaction between social direction and social guidance. TEM clarified that Chinese primary teachers went through the followings five stages: Stage 1: application of TTs, Stage 2: trials of improving students’ reasoning, Stage 3: reflection of the usage of TTs in one year, Stage 4: “Aha” experiences of matching TTs with specific thinking skills (reasoning) and Stage 5: shifting the focus from TTs to reasoning. In Stages 1, 2, 3, and 5, online support was the major turning point and sustaining Lesson Study was the social guidance that promoted teacher inquiry. In Stage 4, face-to-face training triggered the “Aha” experience and multiple viewpoints from the teachers who had experienced using TTs in the training workshop and provided social guidance. Furthermore, attention needed to be paid to how the relocation of the principal and the director of the research group in the school affected teacher’s decision-making.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Miyake, K., Kishi, M., Kubota, K.: International collaborative research on developing lesson for higher order thinking: how do Chinese primary school teachers apply practice developed in Japan into their lesson in China? In: Research Report of Japan Education Technology Conferences, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 139–144 (2015)
Li, K.: Visualization learning action research. Educ. Inf. Technol. China 7–8, 9–17 (2016)
So, H., Brush, A.T.: Student perceptions of collaborative learning, social presence and satisfaction in a blended learning environment: relationships and critical factors. Comput. Educ. 51, 318–336 (2008)
McCarthy, H.: Blended learning environments: using social networking sites to enhance the first year experience. Australas. J. Educ. Technology. 26(6), 729–740 (2010)
Dziuban, D.C., Picciano, G.A., Graham, R.C.: Conducting Research in Online and Blended Learning Environments: New Pedagogical Frontiers (2015)
Li, Y., Yang, H.H., Cai, J., MacLeod, J.: College students’ computer self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, attitude, and satisfaction in blended learning environments. In: Cheung, S.K.S., Kwok, L.-f., Ma, W.W.K., Lee, L.-K., Yang, H. (eds.) ICBL 2017. LNCS, vol. 10309, pp. 65–73. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59360-9_6
Kishi, M., Kubota, K., Ito, T.: A case study of implementing lesson study for pre-service training for education in Myanmar. J. Educ. Technol. Res. Jpn. Soc. Educ. Technol. 35, 1–10 (2012)
Guskey, R.T.: Professional development and teacher change. Teach. Teach.: Theory Pract. 8(3), 381–391 (2002)
Sato, K., Akita, K., Shimizu, K., Kotama, S., Kitamura, Y.: Teacher as learning professional expert. Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo (2016)
Kurokami, H., Kojima, A., Taizan, Y.: Teaching how to think with thinking tools, NPO Gakusyu Sozou Forum, Osaka (2012)
Kansai University Elementary School.: The guidebook of the method to nurture thinking skill. Sakura Sha, Tokyo, Japan (2015)
Ministry of Education of China.: The key competency of Chinese students (2016). http://jwc.lzu.edu.cn/upload/news/N20180803173448.pdf
Miyake, K., Kishi, M., Kubota, K.: The awareness of nurturing thinking skills in Chinese primary teachers. Jpn. Soc. Educ. Technol. 40(Suppl), 53–56 (2016)
Miyake, K., Kishi, M., Kubota, K., Li, K.: The evaluation of the lessons with using thinking tools since 4 years: from the viewpoint of interaction between teachers and students. Jpn. Assoc. Educ. Media Study 24(1), 43–56 (2017)
Thorne, K.: Blended Learning: How to Integrate Online and Traditional Learning. Kogan Page, London (2003)
Singh, H.: Building effective blended learning programs. Educ. Technol. 43(6), 51–54 (2003)
Tucker, R.C.: Power up Blended Learning: A Professional Learning Infrastructure to Support Sustainable Change. Corwin, California (2019)
Yeh, Y., Huang, L., Yeh, Y.: Knowledge management in blended learning: effects on professional development in creativity instruction. Comput. Educ. 56, 146–156 (2011)
Guzer, B., Caner, H.: The past, present and future of blended learning: an in depth analysis of literature. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 116, 4596–4603 (2014)
Kubota, K.: Applying a collaborative learning model to a course development project (1999)
Shulman, L.S., Shulman, J.H.: How and what teachers learn a shifting perspective. J. Curric. Stud. 36, 257–271 (2004)
Zhao, Y., Frank, A.K.: Factors affecting technology uses in schools: an ecological perspective. Am. Educ. Res. J. 40(4), 807–840 (2003)
Akita, K.: Research of lessons and learning of teacher: for Lesson Study, Akashi Syoten (2008)
Kolb, D.A., Rubin, I.M., McIntyre, J.M.: Organizational Psychology: An Experiential Approach to Organizational Behavior, 4th edn. Prentice Hall, London (1994)
Schon, D.: The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books, New York (1983)
Korthagen, F., Vasalos, A.: Levels in reflection: core reflection as a means to enhance professional growth. Teach. Teach.: Theory Pract. 11(1), 4747–4771 (2005)
Garii, B.: That “aha” experience: meta-cognition and student understanding of learning and knowledge. 4, 1–22 (2002)
Csikszentmihalyi, M.: Applications of Flow in Human Development and Education: The Collected Works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Springer, Heidelberg (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9094-9
Sato, T., Hidaka, T., Fukuda, M.: Depicting the dynamics of living the life: the trajectory equifinality model. In: Valsiner, J., Peter, M., Lyra, M., Chaudhary, N. (eds.) Dynamic Process Methodology in the Social and Developmental Sciences. Springer, New York (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-95922-1_10
Sato, T.: Collected Papers on Trajectory Equifinality Approach. Chitose Press Inc., Tyoko (2017)
Richland, E.L., Begolli, N.K.: Analogy and higher order thinking: learning mathematics as an example. 3(2), 160–168 (2016)
Gegen, S.: Comparative study of China and Japan elementary school Art textbook. Mod. Soc. Cult. Res. 58, 75–91 (2014)
Ueno, S., et al.: Future and Schools Reformation in East Asia. Kitaooji-Shobo, Kyoutou (2015)
Yasuda, Y., Nameda, A., Sato, K.: TEA Theory: Let’s Study Trajectory Equifinality Approach. Shinyo-Sha, Tokyo (2015)
Marsico, G., Valsiner, J.: Beyond the Mind: Cultural Dynamics of the Psyche. Informaion Age Publishing Inc., Scottsdale (2018)
Kitamura, T.: Using thinking tools to improve reading ability in Japanese literature. In: Research bulletin of Middle Education in Shika University, pp. 24–29 (2013)
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the funding of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant Number: 17H04572). We greatly thank for the methodological support from Yasuda Yuko, Ritsumeikan University, Japan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Zhang, X.H., Kubota, K., Kubota, M., Li, K. (2019). Teacher’s Developmental Stages of Exploring Thinking Tools in a Blended Learning Environment. In: Cheung, S., Lee, LK., Simonova, I., Kozel, T., Kwok, LF. (eds) Blended Learning: Educational Innovation for Personalized Learning. ICBL 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11546. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21562-0_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21562-0_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-21561-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-21562-0
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)