Proposal Title
Resistance among some Lesley alumni to using student centered teaching methods
Abstract
Lesley’s teacher certification programs teach and promote “student centered” pedagogical methods such as inquiry teaching, cooperative groups and project based learning. However, not all alumni go on to employ these methods in their professional careers. The principal investigators arrived at this finding after co-designing and implementing a study of Lesley’s recent graduates (n=243) to try and determine whether they are actually employing the student-centered teaching methodologies that are the centerpiece of Lesley’s teacher education programs. We found that, while most report that they are indeed using such methods in their classrooms, teachers who had fewer years of teaching experience reported using student-centered methods less frequently than did more experienced teachers (p=0.007). Teachers of mathematics, at any grade level, reported using student-centered methods less frequently than teachers of other subjects (also at p=0.007). We employed follow-up interviews and a review of the literature to offer possible explanations for these results. This presentation will be an adaptation of an article submitted for publication entitled: “What is best for the students, or what will not get me fired” : The dilemma of student-centered pedagogy.”
Start Date
27-3-2019 4:00 PM
End Date
27-3-2019 4:50 PM
Room Number
U-Hall 3-092
Presentation Type
Paper
Disciplines
Curriculum and Instruction | Educational Methods | Scholarship of Teaching and Learning | Science and Mathematics Education | Secondary Education
Resistance among some Lesley alumni to using student centered teaching methods
Lesley’s teacher certification programs teach and promote “student centered” pedagogical methods such as inquiry teaching, cooperative groups and project based learning. However, not all alumni go on to employ these methods in their professional careers. The principal investigators arrived at this finding after co-designing and implementing a study of Lesley’s recent graduates (n=243) to try and determine whether they are actually employing the student-centered teaching methodologies that are the centerpiece of Lesley’s teacher education programs. We found that, while most report that they are indeed using such methods in their classrooms, teachers who had fewer years of teaching experience reported using student-centered methods less frequently than did more experienced teachers (p=0.007). Teachers of mathematics, at any grade level, reported using student-centered methods less frequently than teachers of other subjects (also at p=0.007). We employed follow-up interviews and a review of the literature to offer possible explanations for these results. This presentation will be an adaptation of an article submitted for publication entitled: “What is best for the students, or what will not get me fired” : The dilemma of student-centered pedagogy.”
