What Types of Knowledge Are Used by Early Childhood Teachers to Inform Their Moment-to-Moment Instruction?

• In Event: 41.056 - Examining the Relationship Between Teachers' Language and Literacy Knowledge and Practice in Early Childhood Classrooms

Abstract

Due to growing concern over the quality of early childhood education researchers have focused on teachers in order to improve outcomes for children (Early et al., 2006; PCER, 2009). This has resulted in many investigations of the knowledge teachers hold (Cunningham et al., 2009; Dickinson et al., 2011) which is viewed to inform instruction (Ben-Peretz, 2011). However, researchers often study knowledge disconnected from practice, omitting teachers’ perspectives on what is important to them during the instructional process – which may be different than what is studied by researchers (Friesen & Butera, 2012; Hiebert et al., 2002; Munby, 1982). This study uses a phenomenological approach (Alexandersson, 1995; Polkinghorne 1983), focusing on teachers’ own experiences in the classroom and the knowledge that they report using to inform their in-the-moment instruction rather than a-priori, decontextualized views of knowledge. Thus, shifting away from investigating EC teachers’ depth of knowledge to knowledge in use (pedagogical reasoning, Shulman, 1987). It asks, What types of knowledge do prekindergarten teachers use during their pedagogical reasoning about moment-to-moment instruction during whole-group and small-group language and literacy activities?

Eight prekindergarten teachers from two early childhood centers serving middle class children in a large Urban City participated in the study. Teachers had a variety of educational backgrounds, with a mean age of 49.5 (SD = 16.19), and ranged from three months to over 20 years of experience teaching preschool.

Each teacher was observed and video recorded twice during each whole group and twice during small group instruction, resulting in a total of 32 observations. Stimulated recall interviews were conducted to access teachers’ knowledge and its use during the four observed instructional activities. This procedure provides insight into the types of knowledge that teachers use to inform their thinking during instruction (McAlpine et al., 2006), and it is especially valuable in examining non-visible components of teaching without interrupting the act of teaching (Gass & Mackey, 2000; Shavelson & Stern, 1981). Each teacher participated in four stimulated recall interviews. The majority of interviews occurred within four hours of instruction (Ericsson & Simon, 1980; Lyle, 2003).

A grounded theory approach (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) was used to explore teachers’ reports for emerging themes in descriptions of the types of knowledge used to inform moment-to-moment instruction. Several categories of knowledge emerged. Importantly teachers seemed to depend on knowledge from the immediate context (e.g., knowledge of specific children, knowledge of required curriculum, instructional learning goals) more frequently than external sources of knowledge typically examined by researchers (e.g., formal education, previous teaching experience, research-based understandings of child development). Importantly, how teachers assimilated knowledge in their pedagogical reasoning had consequences for the enacted instruction.

These findings about the differences in types of knowledge used by teachers as well as how that is connected to in-the-moment instruction will be discussed. Identifying how teachers’ use knowledge to inform their practice, provides insight into what is most meaningful for teachers and can inform future research about teacher knowledge and professional learning experiences.

Author

• Rachel E. Schachter, University of Nebraska