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In teacher education, video representations of practice offer a motivating means for applying conceptual teaching knowledge toward real-world settings. With video analysis, preservice teachers can begin cultivating professional vision skills through noticing and reasoning about presented core teaching practices. However, with novices' limited prior knowledge and experience, processing transient information from video can be challenging. Multimedia learning research suggests instructional design techniques for support, such as signaling keyword cues during video viewing, or presenting focused self-explanation prompts which target theoretical knowledge application during video analysis. This study investigates the professional vision skills of noticing and reasoning (operationalized as descriptions and interpretations of relevant noticed events) from 130 preservice teachers participating in a video-analysis training on the core practice of small-group instruction. By means of experimental comparisons, we examine the effects of signaling cues and focused self-explanation prompts on professional vision performance. Further, we explore the impact of these techniques, considering preservice teachers' situational interest. Overall, results demonstrated that preservice teachers' professional vision skills improved from pretest to posttest, but the instructional design techniques did not generally offer additional support. However, moderation analysis indicated that training with cues fostered professional vision skills for preservice teachers with low situational interest. This suggests that for uninterested novices, signaling cues may compensate for the generative processing boost typically associated with situational interest. Research and practice implications involve the consideration of situational interest as a powerful component of instructional design, and that keyword cueing can offer an alternative when interest is difficult to elicit.

Background: Previous research has shown that teachers hold misconceptions about multimedia learning (e.g., multimedia instruction needs to be adapted to students' learning styles), which may be at odds with evidence-based teaching. Objectives: Refutation texts are a classical method to reduce misconceptions and thus to stimulate conceptual change. We wanted to know whether making use of a computer algorithm to personalize refutation texts would best initiate teachers' conceptual change. Methods: We designed an online experiment, in which N = 129 in-service teachers read either (1) expository texts (without direct refutation), (2) common refutation texts, or (3) personalized refutation texts. The teachers filled in a misconception questionnaire pre and post to assess their conceptual change. Results and Conclusions: Statistical analyses revealed that personalized refutation texts initiated the strongest conceptual change, which was driven by increased feelings of guilt and shame. Common refutation texts did not foster teachers' conceptual change as compared to expository texts. These findings indicate that refutation texts should be personalized for experienced practitioners such as teachers. Takeaways: Personalized refutation seems to be promising in the context of online teacher training programs. Further research should test to which extent the present findings also apply to other groups of experienced learners or practitioners.

Preservice teachers face the challenge of integrating multiple types of knowledge, such as pedagogical-psychological knowledge and subject-specific pedagogical knowledge. We investigated whether prior instruction emphasizing the importance of knowledge integration (relevance instruction) supports preservice teachers in using both knowledge types simultaneously. Seventy-two preservice music teachers participated in this computer-based study. They worked on two separate lectures about learners' beliefs. One lecture contained pedagogical-psychological knowledge; the other contained music-specific pedagogical knowledge. The preservice teachers received either a relevance instruction before starting a new lecture or a control instruction. We found that the relevance instruction increased the simultaneous use of the two knowledge types in scenario-based tasks. In these tasks, the preservice teachers needed to provide interpretations and decisions for excerpts describing various classroom situations. The relevance instruction increased the time that the preservice teachers spent on the lectures slightly; but it did not increase the perceived task difficulty or mental effort. Furthermore, the effect of the relevance instruction was not moderated by prior knowledge. We conclude that relevance instructions are a promising approach to fostering knowledge integration in teacher education.

There is a general consensus among researchers and teacher educators that classroom video can be a valuable tool for pre-service teacher education. Media such as video are not, however, in themselves effective. They have to be embedded in an instructional program to be useful. Yet, little empirical research examines how specific instructional approaches might effectively exploit the potential of video in teacher education. In this study we explored the use of two video-based university courses, one representing a cognitive instructional strategy integrating video, the other representing a situative strategy. Using data from learning journals we analyzed the effects of the two strategies on pre-service teachers' (N = 28) ability to reflect on classroom video. We found that the two strategies have distinct impacts on the kinds of reflection patterns that are fostered. Our findings suggest that the learning goal and purpose at hand should determine which instructional strategy should be employed when embedding classroom video into teacher education courses.

Developed principles for integrating instructional explanations into worked-out example situations and tested them with 28 student teachers, compared with 20 student teachers who did not receive the instructional explanations. Results show the positive effect of the instructional explanations and some ways to improve them. (SLD)

Abstract When analyzing classroom video, pre-service teachers can improve their professional vision, that is, their ability to notice important events in a classroom and to interpret them based on theoretical knowledge. However, learning with video is especially challenging for novice learners. Thus, video needs to be embedded into an instructional context to be effective. In an experimental study with 89 pre-service biology teachers, we investigated the effect of a short professional vision training and whether two design principles from multimedia learning research—namely segmenting and self-explanation prompts—could additionally increase training effects. In a one-hour training session on small-group tutoring strategies, participants watched practice video examples either as a whole or segmented. After each video or video segment, respectively, they received either open or focused self-explanation prompts to analyze the scene. We assessed participants’ professional vision skills before and after training. Overall, participants’ performance substantially increased from pretest to posttest. Moreover, during training, both segmented video examples and focused self-explanation prompts led to increased noticing of relevant strategies. This advantage during training, however, did not result in higher professional vision improvement in posttest scores compared to participants who worked in the less supported training phase conditions. We discuss possible explanations why additional support increased training performance but not learning gains and suggest an additional fading phase as a means to achieve persistent effects.

Video cases are commonly used in teacher education to support evidence-based professional knowledge acquisition. Novice teachers, however, often struggle when learning with video, since they lack professional knowledge schemata that facilitate noticing and reasoning about relevant events. Scripted video case development provides an approach to make relevant events more salient and visible. In alignment with previously reported approaches, we applied relevant design steps and quality criteria within the presented project to promote use in further research. Thereby, we introduce the novel approach of using mock-up settings as a way to identify naturalistic behavior as a basis for script development. User experience (UX) evaluations based on defined quality criteria of realistic experiences (i.e., authenticity), personal relevance (i.e., utility value), engagement (i.e., situational interest), and challenge (i.e., cognitive load) were carried out in a set of four studies including N = 423 teacher students. Findings support the conclusion that our design approach resulted in the development of high-quality scripted video cases for further use in initial teacher education.

Teachers' assessment of student thinking is both difficult to attain and essential for responsive teaching in ongoing interaction during science lessons. Principles of practice-based learning provide a basis for the design of learning environments which may equip prospective teachers for this challenging task. In an experimental study (N = 104), we examined the extent that the use of different media types as representations of practice (video and written cases), the number of rehearsals, and the complexity of student thinking contribute to preservice teachers' acquisition of assessment skills. Our findings indicated that participants benefited equally well from video and written cases. The number of necessary rehearsals depended on the complexity of student thinking to be assessed. This finding implies that specifics of the content to be assessed need to be taken into consideration when designing learning environments for practicing assessment skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video-based training offers teacher students approximations of practice for developing professional vision (PV; i.e., noticing and reasoning) of core teaching practices. While much video analysis research focuses on whole-classroom scenarios, for early PV training, it is unclear whether the focused instructional context of tutoring could be an appropriate and potentially supportive design element. The present study describes 42 biology teacher students’ performance on a tutoring video analysis task. With qualitative content analysis, we investigated how teacher students describe and interpret noticed tutoring events, with particular reference to research-informed PV indicators. With epistemic network analyses, we explored co-occurrences of PV indicators across teacher students’ six video analysis responses, contrasting low and high quality description and interpretation network models, respectively. We found that teacher students’ skills paralleled previous PV literature findings on novices (e.g., vague, general pedagogy descriptions). Yet, unexpectedly, some teacher students demonstrated aspects of higher sophistication (e.g., describing individual students, making multiple knowledge-based interpretations). Findings suggest tutoring is a powerful context for showing tutor-student interactions, making it suitable for initial teacher students’ PV training. Moreover, results offer hints about the range of teacher students’ PV mental models and highlight the need for more support in content-specific noticing and reasoning. Nevertheless, tutoring representations within PV video analysis training may offer teacher students support in student-centered attention and knowledge-oriented focus.

Inspired by evidence-based medicine, many researchers in the field of learning and instruction assume that meta-analyses are the best scientific information source to inform teachers' practice. This position is evaluated critically. For this purpose, I first clarify my fundamental assumptions about employing evidence for educational practice, as they form the basis for later argumentations (e.g., scientific evidence is just one of several important information sources for teachers). Then, the numerous disadvantages of meta-analyses as an information source for teachers are outlined (e.g., piecemeal information, partly inconsistent information) and, on this basis, I argue that they should not be considered a privileged source. Theories (including instructional models) provide some key advantages (e.g., coherent information) so that they should be seen as a prime information source. Nevertheless, theories also have some disadvantages so that teachers might be best advised to rely on multiple sources, and integrate them when trying to improve their practice. Finally, potential objections to theories as privileged information source are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research indicates that student teachers frequently have misconceptions about multimedia learning. Our experiment with N = 96 student teachers revealed that, in contrast to standard texts, refutation texts are effective to address misconceptions about multimedia learning. However, there seems to be no added benefit of making "concessions" to student teachers' prior beliefs (i.e., two-sided argumentation) in refutation texts. Moreover, refutation texts did not promote the selection of appropriate multimedia material. This study suggests that refutation texts addressing multimedia-learning misconceptions should be applied in teacher education. Yet, further support seems needed to aid the application of the corrected knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we present the newly developed Misconceptions about Multimedia Learning Questionnaire (MMLQ), we evaluate its psychometric properties (item difficulties, scale reliabilities, and internal structure), and we use it to examine the prevalence of four different misconceptions about multimedia learning in student teachers and teachers. A total of 311 participants (176 teachers and 135 student teachers) responded to the items of the MMLQ. The results revealed moderate reliabilities of the MMLQ scales. Moreover, an a priori assumed four-factor structure of misconceptions about multimedia learning was most compatible with teachers' and student teachers' answers to the MMLQ items. These four factors were learning styles (multimedia instruction needs to be adapted to students' learning styles [visual or auditory]), hemispheric isolation (multimedia instruction enables hemispheric communication), naïve summation (multimedia instruction is more effective the more sensory channels are used), and motivation primacy (multimedia instruction is mainly effective because it is motivating). The majority of teachers and student teachers endorsed three of the four misconceptions about multimedia learning (i.e., learning styles [78.1%], hemispheric isolation [58.8%], and naïve summation [81.4%]) as assessed by the MMLQ. This finding may provide valuable information for teacher education and training regarding this specific issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although comprehension-oriented learning strategies are known to be important and teachable, teachers have been found to rarely assess and teach them well. A reason might be suboptimal knowledge about learning strategies. We collected data from 129 student teachers. We asked them in written form about what they know about learning strategies and analyzed their answers’ contents and structure. For the analyses, we developed a coding scheme differentiating between strategies directly contributing to comprehension, support strategies, and misconcepts. We measured the quality of knowledge by the number of strategies mentioned and by ratings on the knowledge structure (coherence, prioritization). We identified subgroups with specific knowledge patterns by cluster analyses. Almost one half of student teachers did not spontaneously mention comprehension-oriented learning strategies, and almost half of them mentioned at least one misconcept (most often a teaching strategy). Overall, we found typical characteristics of knowledge-in-pieces in students’ knowledge: malprioritization, deficits in coherence, and context sensitivity. Educational methods addressing such knowledge are discussed (e.g., refutation strategy, contrasting cases, categorization aids). Continuing research should use additional methods to assess prerequisite knowledge and look at further areas of teacher knowledge that is important for teaching students how to learn. Tailored teacher education should be developed based on the current findings of student teachers' prior knowledge about learning strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brief, problem-oriented phase such as an inventing activity is one potential instructional method for preparing learners not only cognitively but also motivationally for learning. Student teachers often need to overcome motivational barriers in order to use computer-based learning opportunities. In a preliminary experiment, we found that student teachers who were given paper-based course material spent more time on follow-up coursework than teachers who were given a well-developed computer-based learning environment (CBLE), leading to higher learning outcomes. Thus, we tested inventing as an instructional method that may help overcome motivational barriers of teachers' use of computer-supported tools or learning environments in our main experimental study (N = 44). As a computer-based environment, we used the 'Assessment of Learning strategies in Learning journals'. The inventing group produced ideas about criteria to evaluate learning strategies based on student cases prior to the learning phase. The control condition read a text containing possible answers to the inventing problem. The inventing activity enhanced motivation prior to the learning phase and assessment skills as assessed by transfer problems. Hence, the inventing activity prepared student teachers to learn from a CBLE in a motivational as well as cognitive way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Psychological research on learning has brought forth many insights that are relevant for teachers (for example, knowledge about learning strategies). However, teachers sometimes have intuitive fragmentary knowledge that is partly incorrect. Such knowledge hinders the acquisition of psychological knowledge. Tried-and-tested interventions dealing with fragmentary knowledge remain scarce and thus a generalized categorical framework was developed to support preservice teachers to (re)organize their fragmentary prior knowledge. In the present experiment the framework group (n = 23) received this categorical framework as a pretraining intervention. The control group (n = 22) received similar factual information as a pretraining intervention but no categorical framework. Afterwards, all participants learned about cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies. While achieving approximately equal learning outcomes, the framework group needed less learning time (strong effect) and stated higher interest (medium effect). Overall, this study reveals that providing a categorical framework can help to heighten preservice teachers' interest in the learning material and save learning time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In teacher education at universities, general pedagogical and psychological principles are often treated separately from subject matter knowledge and therefore run the risk of not being applied in the teaching subject. In an experimental study (N = 60 mathematics student teachers) we investigated the effects of providing aspects of general pedagogical/psychological knowledge (PPK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in an integrated or separated way. In both conditions ("integrated" vs. "separated"), participants individually worked on computer-based learning environments addressing the same topic: use and handling of multiple external representations, a central issue in mathematics. We experimentally varied whether PPK aspects and PCK aspects were treated integrated or apart from one another. As expected, the integrated condition led to greater application of pedagogical/psychological aspects and an increase in applying both knowledge types simultaneously compared to the separated condition. Overall, our findings indicate beneficial effects of an integrated design in teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study analyzed whether student teachers exhibit insufficient prior knowledge concerning learning strategies and whether different contexts lead to variations in activated knowledge. Furthermore, we investigated whether pieces of prior-knowledge and their structured-ness were associated with the assessment of pupils' learning strategies. In a within-subjects experiment (ABABAB design; N = 47 student teachers), questions about learning-strategy application referred to either (A) pupil-focused or (B) teacher-focused contexts. After a short training intervention, student teachers assessed strategies in pupils' work. Different prior knowledge was elicited depending on contexts, suggesting "knowledge-in-pieces". Prior-knowledge pieces, even if insufficient, served as a prerequisite to learn strategy assessment. Highlights • Student teachers' knowledge about learning strategies was misconceived and in pieces. • Tailored short training prepared participants to assess strategies in student work. • Correct conceptual knowledge on learning strategies predicted strategy assessment. • Even misconceptual knowledge served as resource for learning to assess strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using video in teacher education can increase pre-service teachers' ability to apply knowledge. However, video is not effective in itself. To be useful, it must be embedded in appropriate instructional contexts. We investigated the differential impact of two university modules—one using video as an illustrative example (rule-example) and one using video as an anchor (example-rule)—on pre-service teachers' (N = 56) knowledge. The rule-example group scored higher on reproducing factual knowledge and evaluating videotaped classroom situations, whereas the example-rule group scored higher on lesson planning. The findings emphasize the need for their targeted use depending on specific learning goals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Students' belief that abilities are unchangeable (fixed mindset) can hamper learning. Teachers should thus be able to recognize such problematic beliefs. We explored whether teachers' skills to notice students' fixed mindset were related to teachers' knowledge about learners' beliefs, teachers' mindset, and their experience. Our sample included pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers (N = 112). Noticing (i.e., attending and interpreting) was measured with text scenarios. Results indicate that knowledge supported noticing, especially interpreting, whereas teachers' growth mindset was unrelated to noticing. Experience was associated with less declarative knowledge and, in turn, with less noticing. • Teachers' declarative knowledge supported attending and interpreting. • Teachers' growth mindset was unrelated to attending and interpreting. • Teachers' experience was related to less knowledge, less attending, and interpreting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying professional-vision skills to classroom situations depends on knowledge about what matters in these situations. In an experiment with 85 biology pre-service teachers, we investigated a 90-min intervention combining both acquisition and application of knowledge about tutoring. The intervention started with an introductory text, followed by classroom video examples. Students who read a text on concrete tutoring strategies made more references to pedagogical concepts in their analyses than students who read about generic video observational guidelines. We conclude that combining a short, focused theoretical introduction and video analysis is a promising method to broadly anchor professional-vision training within teacher education. [Display omitted] • Effects of an initial intervention session on pre-service teachers' professional vision. • Pretraining improves the quality of subsequent observation of classroom videos. • Pretraining raises situational interest in video analysis tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solving an open problem as proposed by inventing and productive failure approaches has been shown to prepare learners effectively for subsequent direct instruction. Inventing can raise awareness of knowledge gaps (cognitive) as well as increase curiosity about and interest in the learning contents (motivational effects). However, studying the problem with a worked solution can have different cognitive and motivational advantages. In two experiments in quite different domains and settings ( N 1 = 42; N 2 = 40), we tested to what extent working on an open problem (inventing)—as opposed to studying a worked solution of the same problem—better prepares (1) student teachers for learning-strategy evaluation, and (2) 8 th -graders for learning about ratios in physics. Transfer was better supported by a worked solution. Mediators were the (self-regulated) learning time on most relevant learning contents (Experiment 1) and self-efficacy (Experiment 2). Inventing, however, increased knowledge-gap experience as well as (in Experiment 1) interest and curiosity. The stable transfer effect in two different domains and settings raises interesting questions for further research that had not been systematically investigated so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]