Education Commons^™

Teaching Games For Understanding (Tgfu); A Model For Pre Service Teachers, Gregory J. Forrest, Paul I. Webb, Philip J. Pearson

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) has been present in the Australian sporting community for the last ten years and more recently as the focus of physical education lessons in some Australian schools’ curriculum, especially in NSW. However, the effectiveness of TGfU as a teaching method is limited by the skill of its practitioners in developing the appropriate games and questions to generate understanding opportunities for their students. If practitioners do not develop these skills, there may be limited opportunities for their students to gain skills in critical analysis, deep knowledge and deep understanding, essential in any productive pedagogy.

Evaluating Online Mathematics Resources: A Practical Approach For Teachers, Boris Handal, Parvan Handal, Anthony J. Herrington

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Gradually Internet-based educational resources are making their way into the school mathematics curriculum (Handal & Herrington, 2003). Online resources are potentially useful compared to normal courseware because of their abundance, availability at no cost, platform-free accessibility, and their wide reaching accessibility. On the other hand, a major limitation of online resources is their lack of appropriate pedagogy, coupled with poor instructional design and layout. According to Alessi and Trollip (2001, p. 392), “The tendency for the Web to be used only for presentation of materials greatly restricts its instructional potential”.

Classsim: Preparing Tomorrows Teachers For Classroom Reality, Lisa K. Kervin, Brian Ferry, Lisa A. Carrington

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper reports on an on-line simulation that we have developed to support our pre-service teacher education program. The purpose of this paper is three fold: first it reports on the need identified within the literature for pre-service teacher education to make stronger connections between the theory of their university experience with classroom reality; second it reports on the creation of a prototype version of simulation software (ClassSim) developed to engage pre-service teachers in decision-making processes within a virtual classroom environment; third it reports on our research where the software was used with a cohort of 186 pre-service teachers.

From Surviving To Thriving: An Induction Program For Early Career Teachers Of Personal Development, Health And Physical Education, Gregg S. Rowland, Douglas Hearne, Ann Mccormack

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper is a discussion of a project with both face-to-face and online components designed to support early career teachers from the key learning area of Personal development.

Transfer Of Online Professional Learning To Teachers' Classroom Practice: An Analysis Of Eight Cases, Anthony J. Herrington, Janice A. Herrington, Garry Hoban, Doug Reid

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Professional learning is an important process in enabling teachers to update their pedagogical knowledge and practices. The use of online technologies to support professional learning has a number of benefits in terms of flexibility and scalability. However, it is not clear how well the approach impacts on teachers’ classroom practices. This paper outlines a research study conducted on behalf of a state-based Department of Education to evaluate the transfer of professional learning from online modules about the integration of ICT to the practices of K-12 classroom teachers.

Scaffolding Numeracy: Pre-Service Teachers' Perspective, Irina M. Verenikina, Mohan Chinnappan

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

Scaffolding has become increasingly popular as it provides teachers with an appealing alternative to traditional classroom techniques of teaching. Recent research identified a number of different ways that scaffolding can be used in the classroom to improve students’ numeracy levels in primary schools. However, despite the importance of scaffolding, pre-service teachers experience difficulties in understanding the complex techniques of scaffolding and often fail to make connections between theoretical explanations and their practical use. This paper examines current perceptions of scaffolding by a cohort of pre-service teachers, both in its conceptual framework and its practical implications to teaching in the classroom, …

Grade 12 Mathematics Teachers' Views On Curriculum Reform In New South Wales, Paul L. Ayres, John M. Mccormick

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

This paper reports on teachers’ perceptions of major curriculum reform in New South Wales at the Higher School Certificate. Quantitative and qualitative data are presented. Measures of teacher self-efficacy and stress related to the innovation, as well as general perceptions of the implementation are reported. Mathematics teachers' views of the curriculum reform are also compared with those of other subject teachers.

A Model For Professional Development Of Teaching Games For Understanding For Teachers In New South Wales, Australia, Paul I. Webb, Philip J. Pearson, Kim Mckeen

Faculty of Education - Papers (Archive)

With the advent of a new syllabus for secondary schools (years 7-10) and a quality teaching focus in New South Wales schools the Australian Council of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER, New South Wales) determined that there was a need for the professional development of teachers in teaching games for understanding (TGfU) and relating this to the new syllabus. The result was a full day professional development workshop for teachers of which five have been held and which approximately 200 teachers have attended. This paper will address the content of the workshop and respondents comments about the workshop.

The …