Lessons From the Field of Learning Science: How Teachers Can Learn From Context to Improve Their Practice

• In Event: Roundtable Session 95
  In Roundtable Session: Indigenous Cultures and Knowledge—and Teacher Education

Abstract

Although teacher education is under increasing public scrutiny for its lack of standardization, within the field, the most salient problems are related to how to prepare teachers for the incredible diversity of possible teaching contexts they may encounter during the course of their professional career. This study illuminates key constructs from the field of Learning Science (adaptive expertise, design process thinking, communities of practice), and situates them as observed in the practices of a group of teachers in Hawaii who use culture-based education. Themes emergent from teacher practice are interpreted in parallel with key constructs, and thus made more accessible for those teachers and teacher educators who wish to benefit from the perspective of learning science.

Author

• Zanette Johnson, Stanford University