Section archive - Instruction in Teacher Training

This study examined how Chinese teachers perform on Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) measures. The study also examined Chinese teachers' quality of interactions across settings and activities for future professional development considerations. Finally, the authors were interested in finding out any teacher-related variables that might contribute to teachers' better instructional supports in the classrooms. The results showed that Chinese teachers were successful in building a warm and supportive relationship with children and managing behavioral aspect of classroom. It was found that all teachers were more effective at promoting children's development in structured activities than unstructured activities. The authors also found that Chinese teachers scored lower on instruction support quality compared to international colleagues.

This article describes a learning and teaching strategy based on complexity science and explores its impacts on a higher education game design course. The purpose of the strategy was to generate conditions fostering individual and collective learning in educational complex adaptive systems. The data demonstrate that collaboration was initially challenging for students, but collective learning emerged as the course developed, positively affecting individual and team performance. The participants felt highly motivated and enjoyed working on course activities. The students' perception of progress and expertise were always high, and the academic performance was on average very good.

The purpose of this study was to assess the emotional intelligence (EI) of the student in the process of training for teaching in secondary schools. The findings reveal that the participants show acceptable levels of EI and skills that are adequate to feel, express and understand their emotions according to the criteria that each of the instruments used present: MSCEIT and TMMS-24. Furthermore, the authors found differences among students enrolled in the various specialities of the Master’s degree in Teacher Training in some aspects of EI, namely in the strategic EI area and the branch of emotional management in the Physical Education and Educational Guidance specialities.

In this study, the authors aimed investigated to identify elements that constitute the practical rationality of mathematics teaching. Specifically, they focused on the assumptions that participants made regarding what should constitute the launch of a problem-based lesson. The authors hypothesized that different assumptions may lead to tensions and dilemmas when launching a problem. The authors conclude that the manner in which teachers set up a problem can reduce the opportunities for high-level mathematical reasoning. Hence, they argue that the launch is important for teachers to maximize student engagement and mathematical reasoning. They also note that teachers’ decisions about launching a problem can enable students to exercise conceptual agency.