SITE 2010 - San Diego, CA

The Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) is an international association of individual teacher educators, and affiliated organizations of teacher educators in all disciplines, who are interested in the creation and dissemination of knowledge about the use of information technology in teacher education and faculty/staff development. SITE members learn about, and contribute to, the latest developments, techniques, and concepts in teacher education and instructional technology.
In SITE 2010 it was great to be part of a symposium: “Strategies for teacher professional development of TPACK” organized by Joke Voogt of Twente University. The symposium consisted of 4 different presentations by faculty and graduate students from different universities (Twente University, Michigan State University, Iowa State University and University of Cape Coast) demonstrating how TPACK has been used in different context to assess teachers’ integration of technology. Though it was my first time at SITE, it was a wonderful conference and the various presentations at this symposium gave me a deeper insight on the usefulness and applications of TPACK.

You can access the proposal for the symposium. In this page also I post the various abstracts of the presentations.

Developing TPACK through teacher design teams: The case of pre-service mathematics teachers in Ghana - Douglas Agyei.

Abstract: Although many studies have shown the need to better align teachers’ preparation in the integration of technology in classroom practice, most teachers in Ghana have not had any preparation that develops their Technology Pedagogical and Content Knowledg (TPACK).This paper presents a case study of four mathematics teachers at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. The teachers worked in two design teams to develop lessons and subsequently taught in a technology-based environment for the first time. To make them familiar with technology use in mathematics teaching the teachers first discussed and used exemplary lesson materials, which were prepared by the researcher. Based on this experience the teachers designed their own technology-based lessons, which they taught to a group of teachers. Interview, observation, and survey data were collected throughout the study. The study revealed key attributes of a professional development scenario to foster growth of teachers in TPACK.

You can access the slides for the presentation below and the full text here.

Slide for Presentation

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Technology Integration in the Science Teachers Preparation Program in Kuwait: Becoming TPACK competent through Design Teams-Ghaida M Alayyar.

Abstract : The research studies the integration of technology in the science teacher preparation program in Kuwait at the Public Authority of Applied Education and Training (PAAET) aiming at preparing prospective teachers to work in the school of the 21st century. The TPACK framework is used as a starting point for designing a course where prospective student-teachers are prepared to integrate technology in elementary science education. In the course a group of 50 science students had to design and implement a technology application in small groups (3-4 persons) for elementary science education. During the design the small groups were coached by subject matter, pedagogical and
technology experts. Data were collected on students’ TPACK competencies (Schmidt et al. 2009), their attitudes towards technology, their perception on collaborative group work, their appreciation of the new course and the quality of their products.

The Development of an Instrument to Assess Teacher Development of TPACK Denise Schmidt, Evrim Baran,& Ann Thompson, Iowa State University.

Abstract: A research group including faculty and students from both Michigan State University and Iowa State University have been working on the creation and validation of an instrument designed to assess the development of TPACK in pre-service teachers (Schmidt et al., 2009). Current work on the instrument will be shared. The instrument is used at the beginning and end of an introductory pre-service teacher technology course. Results suggest that with a minor modification of the survey items, the survey is a reliable and valid instrument that will help educators design longitudinal studies to assess pre-service teachers’ development of TPACK. Results also indicated statistically significant gains in all seven TPACK components.

Developing TPACK by design in a Master’s Program-Punya Mishra, Matthew J. Koehler, Tae Seob Shin, Leigh Graves Wolf, & Mike DeSchryver, Michigan State University.

Abstract: As evidenced by Koehler and Mishra’s (2005) study, the “learning technology by design”is an effective instructional technique to develop deeper understanding of TPACK. In this study, we introduce an intense educational technology course sequence designed to create an experience that would expose in-teachers to ideas and skills from educational technology that can be incorporated into their own teaching. These experiences happen in cohort based summer study programs with students who are experienced educators. These programs include a unique face to face context in Europe in and a hybrid format for in-state educators. During the course, participants worked on a range of assignments that required them to learn and use technology in multiple pedagogical contexts including developing digital video, writing a technology based grant proposal, exploring web 2.0 technologies, and designing a personal web portfolio. The analysis of pre and post-test data showed that in-service teachers’ understanding of TK, TCK, TPK, and TPACK improved as a result of their course experience.

The entire slides for the symposium can be found on Punya Mishra's blog. More details of SITE 2010 can be found on Petra Fisser's blog.

UTRECHT SUMMER SCHOOL- August 2008

The Utrecht Summer school is a program organized by Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (FIsme) in the Netherlands. The aim of this program includes bringing participants up-to-date in curriculum development and research in the field of science and mathematics education. It also includes refreshing and deepening the knowledge in core subjects of various fields of Science and mathematics. (For more information of the Utrecht summer school, see http://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/ ) .
In the 2008 Summer School it was really a pleasure for me and colleagues from different part of the world (mainly Asia, Africa and Europe) to discuss the principles of Realistic mathematics Education (RME) to think about ways in which students can learn mathematics meaningfully. For pictures of the Summer School 2008, see: http://www.fi.uu.nl/en/summerschool/images/index.html. In this page i post summaries of activities of various workshops, presentations and interesting concepts in mathematics teaching particularly for the primary and secondary schools.

REALISTIC MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (RME): What is it?

Lesson on limits

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KNOWLEDGE CAN NOT BE TRANSMITTED, KNOWLEDGE CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED IN AN ACTIVE WAY…

RME: An approach towards the learning and teaching of mathematics developed by the Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University, the Netherlands(www.fi.uu.nl).

Started around 1970
* Not affected by “New Math”-movement
* Freudenthal said: “New math” uses anti-didactical inversion: the endpoint of the work of mathematicians (e.g. set theory as organizing tool) is used as a starting point for instruction.
* Alternative: mathematics as a human activity:
- organizing subject matter from reality
- ‘guided’ opportunity to ‘re-invent’ by doing
* Focus: on math as an activity, on the process of mathematization, not on math as a closed system . You can find examples in the clip following.

WHAT RME IS?

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TEACHING STRATEGIES

Teaching-strategies should involve:

- COMMON SENSE

- CONNECTIONS
Do not introduce new formula’s were they are not needed! Relate to the students’ common sense and to what they know already; use what they know rather than adding a new formula to their knowledge…..

- CONTEXTS/APPLICATIONS/EXPLORATIONS
Start a new topic with preferably a context in which the mathematical topics get a meaning. Give time for exploration!

- E-C-R: Estimation – Calculation – Reflection
A very useful teaching-technique, that can be used for a lot of topics. By using it, a ‘feeling’ for numbers and measurement will be developed.
If this technique is used all the time, a student will know that something went wrong if he wrote:
47.01 - 0.65 = 22.1, or 6.25 – 4 = 6.21 . Some examples in "Distance between two points" and "Angles" can be found here and here.

QUESTIONING-TECHNIQUES TO ENCOURAGE REFLECTING ON AN ACTIVITY:
To encourage reflection on activities done by students, there are three ways you can use being the teacher:

1) by asking different kinds of questions:
(i) reflective questions: “what happened here?”
(ii) predicitve questions: “what happens next?”
(iii) open questions: “can you do this in more ways, you think?”
(iv) mirroring questions: “So if I understand you correctly, I hear you say: ….. Is that what you mean?”

2) by having the students report orally: the teacher requires the students to report back from what they have done. The students then think about their activity for the best way to talk about it. (And you will still use your questions during their reports!)

3) by having the students report in writing: the teachers directs the students to record things that come up from questions. The students draw and write (using their own words) in their notebook what they think has been discovered .

You use these types of questions to help the students structurize their way of working in a way that is understandable for more people. So an actual situation would be that students are working on assignments in class, you are walking around and you want to know what the students are doing, or how they are thinking; you want them to reflect on their thinking.

VERY GOOD TO REALIZE:
If you are really interested in what your students are doing, you will ask ‘the right’ questions without realizing what kind of questions they are!

QUESTIONING-TECHNIQUES TO ENCOURAGE REFLECTION ON AN ANSWER:
WHY do you think that is the answer? HOW did you come to that answer?
Actual situations in which these types of questions accour is when you are interactive with your students, discussing exercises, or questions about a (new) topic, etc.

RECOGNIZING DIFFERENT TYPES OF QUESTIONS
(f.i. in textbooks)

Low-level questions:
one-level questions, all information needed is in the question, there is only one way to solve it.

Example:
Problem 1: “We went for a ride in the car. We drove 231 miles and had to fill up at the petrol station. The tank took 14.3 gallons. How many miles per gallon did we get?”

High-level questions:
More steps have to be taken before you can find the answer, you can probably derive all information from the given but it is possible that you have to do some reasoning before you have that information, there are different strategies to get to the answer.

Example:
Problem 2: “We have driven 2/3 of the journey and the tank is still ¼ full. Do we have a problem if we don’t fill up?”

There is also the difference in WHAT-HOW-WHY-questions.
WHAT (WHEN, WHERE) – questions are called “fact-questions”
HOW-questions are called “partly fact, partly thinking-questions”
WHY (WHAT IF) - questions are called “thinking-questions”

In mathemaitcs-textbooks however, these words are not used all the time, so you should really take a look at what kind of activity is asked from the student in answering the question.

MIS CONCEPTIONS

In the post below i present some common examples teachers experience in mathematics lesson as were discussed in this summer school.

Some misconceptins in maths teaching

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For more information on how you can participate in this school in the coming years you can contact:
Jaap den Hertog

Coordinator Summer School

Utrecht University
Freudenthal Institute
for Science and Mathematics Education
Email: jaapdh@fi.uu.nl