Enhancing Preschool Teachers’ Reflection on Science Teaching and Learning in the US and Brazil

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Introduction:
Reflective practice is one of the key recommended practices in early childhood (EC) education and has been positively associated with the quality of EC teaching. Reflection defined as “the deliberate, purposeful, metacognitive thinking and/or action in which educators engage in order to improve their professional practice” (Sellars, 2017, p. 2) provides teachers with opportunities to think deeply and intentionally about their practices and make informed decisions in their classroom (Robins et al., 2003); and allows teachers to understand their strengths and weaknesses, personal philosophies that guide their thinking, and the dynamics of classroom interactions that inform teaching and learning (Sellars, 2017), all of which may result in changes in their behavior in the classroom. Strategies that facilitators use also play an important role in deepening teacher reflection (Foong et al., 2018), and cultural expectations and backgrounds also need to be considered. In the current study where we used science concepts and practices as the content of reflection, we examined (a) how levels of teacher reflection were different across four reflection meetings when provided facilitation and (b) how cultural context is associated with the levels of teacher reflection across reflection meetings (the United States [US] vs. Brazil).

Methods:
Eight preschool teachers (four in the US and four in Brazil) participated in four 30- to 40-minute meetings with a facilitator and verbally reflected on their observations and classroom practices related to teaching science concepts and practices. When needed, facilitators prompted teachers’ reflection by posing questions or adding reflective statements. The videotaped interactions included children’s interactions with science-related materials and ideas, children’s interactions with one another, and teachers’ interactions with children and materials. The reflection sessions were also videotaped and later coded using two different coding systems: one focused on the levels of teacher reflection and the other focused on the facilitation strategies. For teacher reflection, each meaning-focused utterance was coded as 1=description (lowest level), 2=justification, 3=critique/evaluation, and 4=discussion (highest level), while facilitators’ prompts were also coded using a parallel coding system: 1=gathering information (lowest level), 2=eliciting justification, 3=eliciting critique/evaluation, and 4=inciting discussion (highest level).

Results/Discussion:
Overall, we identified 496 and 354 meaning-focused utterances from reflections of the US and Brazil teachers, respectively, across four reflection sessions. Preliminary analyses revealed that both the US and Brazil teachers showed significantly different levels of reflection across the four reflection meetings, whereas levels of facilitation strategies were not (F(3, 494)=6.66, p<.001; F(3, 350)=6.22, p<.001; Figure 1). The three facilitators used significantly different proportions of facilitation strategies (F(2, 502)=42.20, p<.001). The mixed-effect logistic regression analysis suggested that the US teachers used lower-level reflections at the initial reflection session than the Brazil teachers; however, the increase in the levels of reflection was significantly higher for the US teachers than the Brazil teachers, as sessions progressed (Table 1). Further analyses (i.e., lagged sequential analysis) on the likelihood of higher-level reflections occurring sequentially after higher-level facilitation strategies are used will enable us to better understand the effective ways to enhance teacher reflections.

Authors

• Soo-Young Hong, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Presenting Author

• Jiwon Shin, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gisela Wajskop
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kejin Lee, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author

• Erin E Hamel, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Debora Maclean
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Roberts, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yao Yao, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author