Attitudinal Factors Influencing Pre-service Teachers’ Pedagogical Philosophies

in an Innovative Learning Sciences Course and Curriculum:

A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis.

Youl-Kwan Sung, James Benson, & Sharon J. Derry

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Research question and context How pre-service teachers’ beliefs about

learning sciences, their beliefs about the nature of knowledge, and perceptions of their effectiveness as classroom teachers are related to their pedagogical philosophy. Context: Students enrolled in STEP (Secondary

Teacher Education Project) learning sciences course

An innovative learning sciences course for teachers Constructivist teaching methods Theory-based online problem based learning (pbl)

activities

Pedagogical philosophy (PP) Fundamental beliefs and assumptions that

influence the way teachers reflect on and apply theory in their pedagogical practices.

Why is pedagogical philosophy of interest? Pre-service teachers’ philosophies likely influence how

they will create environments for their students. Pedagogical philosophy is shaped by the context of the

teaching-learning environments in which they work in teacher education courses (Loughran, 1994).

PP1: Teachers greatly facilitate student learning when they require students to engage in learning projects that allow them to construct their own knowledge about topics

PP2: The best instructional environment is a community of learners that includes the teacher as a member as well as a mentor.

Epistemological beliefs (EB) Beliefs about the origin and nature of

knowledge (realist vs relativist)

Relationship: Epistemology and pedagogical philosophy

Different epistemological world views affect different choices of teaching practices in terms of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment (Schraw, 2001; Schraw & Olafson, in press).

Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge influence their pedagogical philosophy (Mintrop, 2001).

EB1: Debating ideas is useless. For every question, there’s either a correct answer or no answer at all.

EB2: I find it refreshing to think about issues that authorities can’t agree on.

Attitudes toward learning sciences (LS) Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of importance of

scientific knowledge and theory on learning

Why attitudes about learning science is important:

Appreciation of course content crucial factor influencing cognitive engagement (Tuckman, 1999).

If learners appreciate the principles of a course requiring in-depth study of the learning sciences, their teaching would presumably be more consistent with teaching approaches supported by learning science research.

LS1: Learning about different educational theories helps me to construct my own theory of teaching.

LS2: The learning sciences (the study of learning, thinking, and development) gives pre-service teachers tools for interpreting classroom situations.

Teacher efficacy (TE) The pre-service teacher’s belief about personal

performance abilities

To what extent were students who completed the STEP course confident in their ability to apply principles of the learning sciences to the analysis of teaching and design of instruction?

Pre-service teachers’ beliefs may affect not only her or his performance the STEP course but also future effectiveness as classroom teachers.

TE 1: I am confident in my ability to justify my own instructional designs to my fellow students.

TE 2: If a student in my class becomes disruptive and noisy, I will know some techniques to redirect him/her quickly.

Data and method The ATLS (Attitudes Toward Learning Sciences)

survey first developed in spring, 2002.

Administered at the spring and fall of the 2002, at University of Wisconsin-Madison and The State University of New Jersey (Rutgers).

Validity study conducted to determine whether variable measures what it is supposed to measure.

Software LISREL 8.52 used for the structural equation modeling approach

A hypothesized model was examined using various goodness-of-fit tests

Results

PP: Pedagogical Philosophy

EB: Epistemological Beliefs

LS: Learning Sciences

TE: Teacher Efficacy

Results (con’t) Evaluation of model fit

Most of the parameters are significant at the .05 level

The path representing epistemology-philosophy connection is not significant.

Fit indices of the model indicate very good fits Goodness of Fit Index (.98), Comparative Fit Index

(.99).

Students who hold higher level of agreement with relativist epistemology showed a positive (but small) tendency to prefer constructivist teaching philosophy.

However, in comparison with other two constructs (LS & TE), the effect (see arrow from EB to PP) is quite small (gamma=.06).

Results (con’t)

EB: Epistemological Beliefs

LS: Learning Sciences

TE: Teacher Efficacy

PP: Pedagogical Philosophy

Results (con’t) This model (at figure 2) enables us to calculate direct and

indirect (via TE) effects from EB to PP and from LS to PP.

Epistemological beliefs have very small direct effect (.06) on pedagogical philosophy.

However, epistemological beliefs have relatively larger effects (.16) on the PP via TE that indirectly mediates the influence of EB on PP (indirect effect=.1).

Again, the coefficient value from the epistemological beliefs (EB) to pedagogical philosophies (PP) is very small and not statistically significant while four other coefficients are much bigger than this and, by and large, statistically significant.

Discussion Epistemology-pedagogy connection

Assumption: Teachers’ beliefs toward the nature of knowledge and knowing are key influences on how they want to teach (Reeves & Reeves, 1997; Levitt, 2001; White, 2000).

Derry (in press), challenges an oversimplified assumptions about this connection:

Points out misconception in the way of thinking that particular teaching and assessment techniques can’t be used within the framework of certain epistemologies.

Opposes one-dimensionally simplified pedagogy-follows-epistemology causal connections.

Discussion (con’t) Results of our analysis

The association of constructivist style of pedagogy with a relativist epistemology, as can be seen in Figure 1 and 2, is positive, but significantly small in terms of path coefficient (gamma=.06) in comparison with the effects of attitudes toward learning sciences and teacher efficacy.

Implication for the STEP learning system Research outcomes

Confirms that the STEP research team (along with other educators) can promote constructivist pedagogy by empowering students and promoting good attitudes toward learning science course content.

Provides the STEP course designers with guidance for facilitating learning by designing with factor structure relationships in mind.

Suggestions for future research

Impact of mandated standards on epistemological beliefs and teaching practices.

Worthwhile to investigate what happens to links between epistemology and pedagogical practice of pre-service teachers in face of mandated standards and tests.

Schraw and Olafson (in press): Few clear links between epistemological world views and their real practices with respect to implementing classroom teaching consistent with external constraints.

Cochran-Smith & Lytle (1993): A set of underlying assumptions about school change in the shifted educational climate de-emphasizes the construction of local knowledge in and by school communities.

McNeil (2000): The curriculum teachers desire is often set aside in order that students can prepare for the test.

Suggestions for future research (con’t)

Epistemological factors influence on the transfer of knowledge

Transfer: A key to helping students acquire knowledge that is useful to them in the world outside of school (Bransford et al., 2000).

Cognitive Flexibility Theory (Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson & Coulson, 1991): The ability to flexibly interpret and re-interpret practice in terms of course concepts.

Research: Explore whether epistemological factors affect the amount and quality of the transfer specific to STEP learning sciences course.

Assess evidence of transfer that pre-service teachers acquire useful knowledge and skills that can be applied flexibly to the design and analysis of learning environments.