Opportunities to Teach During the Clinical Experience: The Effect of Novice and Mentor Sharing a Vision of "Good Teaching"

• In Event: Examining Practice-Based Science Teacher Education

Abstract

Problem

Reports such as Taking Science to School (NRC, 2007) and texts such as Ambitious Science Teaching (Windschitl, Thompson & Braaten, 2018) have brought into focus new practice-based frameworks for teaching that are being integrated into teacher preparation. What novices learn in university coursework can, however, challenge prevailing assumptions about effective instruction in some classrooms that host them for their clinical experience, and may contribute to tensions with mentors about “what counts” as high-quality teaching practice. We know little about if and how novices’ patterns of opportunity to learn about teaching vary, depending upon whether they are in high-congruence (mentor’s practices and classroom culture is consonant with reform recommendations) or low-congruence field placements (discordant with reform).

Design

We analyzed the cases of 65 pre-service science teachers (PSTs) from three university-based preparation programs as they navigated their clinical experiences. Individuals were selected from programs advocating for research informed teaching, focusing on practices that 1) anchor instruction in phenomena that relate to students’ interests or everyday experiences, 2) equitably foster student sense-making, 3) involve students in authentic disciplinary reasoning, and 4) use formative assessments to modify instruction. We documented types and the timing of opportunities PSTs had to take up teaching roles. We asked:

• What patterns of opportunities to engage in active teaching characterize the experiences of these participants?
• In what ways does congruence relate to their opportunities to take up meaningful roles in teaching over time?

We used a mixed-method, multi-case strategy. The research team collected survey (ten for each participant) and interview data (four per participant), cross-referenced participant responses from these sources, and used the results to develop credible storylines for opportunities to learn about teaching as well as create a picture of the classroom contexts within which they took up teaching practices.

Findings
In placements where mentor practices were congruent with reform-based visions of science teaching, novices were more likely than peers in lower-congruence classrooms to engage in educative co-teaching with that mentor, to take up responsibilities for teaching lessons earlier in the year, and to receive useful feedback. In high-congruence placements, novices were more likely to request experimentation with instructional strategies that were variants of what the mentor was using, to volunteer to plan lessons, and to find ways to get feedback from students on the quality of their instruction. In lower-congruence settings, novices had fewer opportunities to co-teach or take the lead in teaching, and were subject to more push-back on their lesson plans.
We describe new supports for teacher candidates and mentors that can make their dyadic relationships more productive and trustful, regardless of whether they share similar images of exemplary practice.

Authors

• Mark A. Windschitl, University of Washington

• Karin Lohwasser, University of Washington