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Tools for Reflection: Video-Based Reflection Within a Preservice Community of Practice

  • Published:
Journal of Science Teacher Education

Abstract

Current reform in science education calls for teachers to understand student thinking within a lesson to effectively address students’ needs (NRC in A framework for K-12 science education: practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 2012; NRC in Guide to implementing the Next Generation Science Standards. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2015). This study investigates how to scaffold preservice teachers with learning to attend to students’ thinking for the purpose of guiding curricular decisions. The study focuses on one team teaching a science unit during their early field experience. We sought to understand how participants’ thoughts and abilities changed through participation in a moderated community of practice using video of their own teaching as a reflective tool. We examined how these changes affected both their classroom practice and their decision-making for future lessons. Evidence shows growth in participants’ ability to identify opportunities to elicit, assess, and use students’ thinking to guide instructional decisions. Implications for use of the approach used in this study to begin developing novice teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science are discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University, Bloomington, 201 North Rose Avenue, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Susan Hawkins & Meredith Park Rogers

Authors
  1. Susan Hawkins
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  2. Meredith Park Rogers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Hawkins.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Sample Interview Protocols

Pre-interview

  1. 1.

    How will you know if your students are achieving the objectives you have for them?

  2. 2.

    How important is subject knowledge for effective teaching? Why?

  3. 3.

    What are the purposes of assessment and how important is it in facilitating learning?

  4. 4.

    Tell me about some different teaching strategies that you know of for teaching science?

  5. 5.

    What is important to know about your students in order to help them learn science?

  6. 6.

    In what ways can a teacher’s feelings and beliefs affect their teaching?

  7. 7.

    Is paying attention to student thinking important? How do you think you as a teacher can effectively discover what or how a child is thinking about a science concept?

  8. 8.

    What do you hope to gain from participating in this research study?

Post-interview

  1. 1.

    How will you know if your students are achieving the objectives you have for them?

  2. 2.

    How important is subject knowledge for effective teaching? Why? How do you plan to go about attaining this knowledge?

  3. 3.

    What are the purposes of assessment and how important is it in facilitating learning?

  4. 4.

    Can you tell me about some different types of teaching strategies that you know of for teaching science? Why do you think certain types are useful?

  5. 5.

    What is important to know about your students in order to help them learn science?

  6. 6.

    In what ways can a teacher’s feelings and beliefs affect their teaching?

  7. 7.

    Is paying attention to student thinking important? How do you think you as a teacher can effectively discover what or how a child is thinking about a science concept?

  8. 8.

    What do you feel you have gained if anything from participating in this research study?

Appendix 2

Sample Team Meeting Protocol

Meeting Agenda

5 min: Gather snacks. Conduct any necessary business.

5 min: review hard copy of lesson and mark areas where student thinking was addressed

40 min: review video tape of science lesson (session will be both video and audio taped)

10 min: Discuss possible modifications and next steps for this lessons and future lessons.

***************************************************************************

Questions Used to Guide Video-Based Reflection

Note: Questions below are adapted from Nilsson and Loughran (2011).

  • What do you intend students to learn about this idea?

  • Why is it important for students to know this?

  • What else do you know about this idea (that you do not intend students to know yet)?

  • What difficulties/limitations are connected with teaching this idea?

  • What is your knowledge about students’ thinking which influences your teaching of this idea?

  • What other factors influence your teaching of this idea?

  • What teaching procedures will you use and what are the particular reasons for using these to engage with this idea?

  • What specific ways do you have of ascertaining students’ understanding or confusion?

We used a call out protocol, meaning when anyone in the community noticed attention being made to student thinking someone would indicate to stop the video and we would discuss how the teacher was addressing the student’s thinking. We also discussed alternative approaches to drawing out student thinking in that situation.

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Hawkins, S., Park Rogers, M. Tools for Reflection: Video-Based Reflection Within a Preservice Community of Practice. J Sci Teacher Educ 27, 415–437 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-016-9468-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-016-9468-1

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