Education Commons^™

Threshold Concepts In Quantitative Reasoning, Judith Canner, Jennifer E. Clinkenbeard

Numeracy

The idea of “threshold concepts” has been used to identify discipline-based concepts that are critical to that academic area. Threshold concepts are often difficult for students to assimilate in a meaningful way but, once done, can be powerful for the learner. In general, threshold concepts are 1) transformative to learner thinking; 2) bounded by the discipline; 3) integrative with other concepts; and 4) irreversible once understood (Meyer and Land 2003). This paper presents five threshold concepts in quantitative reasoning (QR) developed by transdisciplinary faculty workgroups that may be applicable for non-mathematics disciplines as well. They are as follows: 1) QR …

Teaching And Assessing With Taxonomies, Tony Shannon

International Journal for Business Education

The development of taxonomies which articulate learning outcomes are necessary to disconnect the silos among educators, employers and learners (Mathews, 2019; Uranis et al.) What are taxonomies? A taxonomy is a systematic classification of objects. Why do they matter? Without systematic classification and coding it is difficult to compare or combine objects. How are they relevant to teaching and learning? In the years after the Second World War, educational psychologists saw the progress made in the biological sciences with taxonomies and started to apply them in education. Among the first to appear in the mid-50s was the work of Bloom.

Engaging First Year Students In Assessment Rubrics: Three Personal Experiences, Katherine Ashman, Kristina Turner, Dona Martin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In a direct effort to build a greater understanding of higher education teaching and learning opportunities, this study shares the journey of three university lecturers working to ensure best practice outcomes from criterion-referenced assessment [CRA]. The work was built on a belief that our respective higher education undergraduate students did not fully value the design structure or feedback outcomes inherent in CRA. Using a collaborative autoethnographic lens we pooled experiences, outcomes, challenges, assumptions, and accounts of unconscious biases from across our different tertiary education schools and subjects. Our examination enriched our understanding, our teaching, and our student outcomes. In sharing …

The Influence Of Emotion On Preservice Teachers As They Learn To Assess Student Learning, Frances Edwards

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

_{This paper explores the experience of emotion for eight preservice teachers as they learn to assess their students while concurrently being assessed. This qualitative study utilised semi-structured interviews and assessment-related artefacts. Findings indicate that emotional engagement influenced preservice teachers’ assessment decision making. The teachers also experienced emotional reactions as in turn they were assessed. This paper argues for the need of preservice teachers to be cognisant of the influence of emotion on themselves and their work, to allow them to better rationalise their assessment decision making and reflect on their practice.}

Teacher, Researcher, And Accountability Discourses: Creating Space For Democratic Science Teaching Practices In Middle Schools, Cory A. Buxton, Shakhnoza Kayumova, Martha Allexsaht-Snider

Democracy and Education

This study explores the role of competing discourses that shape current practices in U.S. schools and how professional development efforts can support teachers and researchers in finding ways to reinsert more democratic processes into their collaborative work. We examine the case of one research and professional development project with the goal of supporting middle school science and ESOL teachers in fostering more meaningful science learning for all their students but especially their English language learners. Using Gee’s notion of big-D discourses and Fairclough’s notion of interdiscursivity, we trace how the Discourse of accountability, the Discourse of science teaching, and the …

Crt Assessment Instrument, Janet L. Applin

Kentucky Teacher Educator

The Culturally Responsive Teaching Assessment Instrument (CRT) is an observation instrument that was developed to assess teachers' use of culturally responsive teaching in applied classroom settings.

The Development Of The Culturally Responsive Teaching Assessment Instrument, Janet L. Applin

Kentucky Teacher Educator

This article is concerned with developing an instrument to assess Culturally Responsive Teaching. A study was conducted to explore the process of developing a valid and reliable CRT Assessment Instrument. Teaching behaviors widely accepted to indicate culturally responsive teaching were operationalized and an observation instrument was developed to assess teachers' use of culturally responsive teaching in applied classroom settings. Teachers were observed using the instrument and it was evaluated for its reliability and validity. Results of the study indicated that the instrument was found to have acceptable inter-rater reliability for approximately half of the indicators. The results supported the content …