1. The Effect Of Social Context On The Reflective Practice Of Preservice Science Teachers: Leveraging A Web-Supported Community Of Teachers
Jim MaKinster
Hobart & William Smith Colleges
William Harwood
Indiana University Bloomington

2. Overview of Study Secondary Science Methods Course
Student Teaching Experience
Reflection Assignment
Goals:
To provide students with meaningful opportunities to reflect on their teaching
To integrate the Inquiry Learning Forum into this course
To systematically examine how different online contexts effect student experiences

3. Overview of Study Three different online contexts
Private Journal
Private Discussion Forum
“Public” Discussion Forum within a “Web-supported Learning Community”
Three different levels of authenticity
Two questions:
To what extent do these different contexts affect the nature of the student reflections?
How do the different experiences affect the students’ perceptions of this assignment?

4. Theoretical Frameworks
Reflective Practice (e.g. Dewey, 1933; Schon, 1987; Zeichner & Liston, 1996)
Empowers current and future teachers
Views teaching as a life-long learning opportunity
Electronic Networking Technologies
Real-time Chat
Discussion Lists
Bulletin Board Discussions
Can provide effective support for beginning teachers (reviewed by Barnett, in press)

5. Theoretical Frameworks
Situated Cognition
The importance of context
Learning and knowing are viewed as active interactions (Young, 1993)
Knowledge
Individual
vs.
Knowledge
Context
Content
Example: Pianist

6. Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF)
A web-supported “community” of inservice and preservice science and mathematics teachers sharing and improving inquiry-based classroom practices
Focus:
Inquiry (dual notion)
National and state standards
“Visit” classrooms online
Coordinate teacher collaborations

8. Reflection Assignment
Methods course – Weeks 1-6
Student teaching – Weeks 7-16
KWL Structure
What happened or what decisions were made? (what you know)
What questions and thoughts you have about the situation? (what you want to know)
a. Make connections to concepts, ideas, and experiences that you already understand or have experienced
What you might do differently next time? (what you learned)

9. Online Contexts Private Journal Group Private Discussion Forum
“Public” Discussion Forum

10. Private Journal Group ILF Workroom – private area in ILF
Each of four students had own private discussion board – “journal”
Individualistic Cognitive Perspective
One-on-one basis with the professor

11. The Private Journal

12. Private Discussion Forum
ILF Workroom – private area in ILF
Four students in a single private threaded discussion
Social Constructivist Perspective
Collaborative reflection and discussion about their conceptions of teaching

13. Private Discussion Forum

14. “Public” Discussion Forum
ILF Lounge – public area - four students shared discussion forum
Situated Cognition Perspective
It is essential to consider the context in which this activity occurs
ILF as a potentially more authentic context for reflection
Other ILF members were able to read and respond

15. ILF Lounge Discussion Forum

16. Research Methodology Electronic Copies of Reflections Post Interviews
Reflections and Online Discussions
Predetermined coding scheme (Bonk, et al., 1998)
# of Posts
# of sentences
Constant Comparison Method (Glasser & Strauss, 1967)

17. Referring to Posts Reflection Response Reply
Only reflections and responses were analyzed for this study

18. Overall Online Activity

19. Characterizing Reflections

20. Characterizing Responses

21. Development of Cases
Constant Comparison Method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967)
Cases
Private Journal
Private Discussion Forum
ILF Lounge Discussion Forum
Foci within each case:
Nature of Student Reflections
Student Perceptions of Assignment

22. The Private Journal Personal Reflections Student Perceptions
Were usually quite good
Contained detailed descriptions
Entailed all three parts of KWL
Description  Questions  Analysis
Student Perceptions
Negative attitude about the assignment
Thought it was of little personal value
Wrote superficial reflections

23. Private Discussion Forum
Personal Reflections
Did a good job describing situation or problem and reflecting on the experience
Seldom talked about what they would do in the future
Often ended with open-ended questions
Responses to Others
Typically very good
Provided praise or positive affirmation
Described personal experiences
Suggested potential solutions

24. Private Discussion Forum
Student Perceptions
Overall, “it was a valuable experience”
Perceptions varied from student to student
Ron – little value, especially the responses
Sean – very enthusiastic
Kristen – reflection was valuable, but responses she received were of little value
Amanda – grew into liking it
Forced them to reflect on their teaching

25. ILF Lounge Discussion Forum
Personal Reflections
Good to fair descriptions of situations
Seldom discussed future strategies
Responses to Others
Were similar to those in the Private Discussion Forum
Provided praise, positive affirmation, suggestions, solutions, and described personal experiences
Very good about providing encouragement and expressing empathy

26. ILF Lounge Discussion Forum
ILF members from outside this course
Ben – clearly comfortable in challenging their ideas
Terry – most active, supportive, often included personal examples and experiences
Clarissa – responded to a single student and asked for more information

27. ILF Lounge Discussion Forum
Student Perceptions
Definitely of value to all students
Value of reflection in and of itself
Liked getting feedback
From peers – shared experiences
From inservice teachers – valuable ideas
3 out of 4 students - nothing negative to say
Seth – “a lot of additional work during student teaching”

28. Conclusions - Reflections
Students in Private Journal were better at writing initial reflections
Nature of assignment
Private nature of journal setting
Reflection occurred within discussions
Students reflected by writing responses
Discussed personal experiences
Gave opinions, suggestions, ideas
Articulated identities and perspectives

29. Conclusions – Perceptions
Students in ILF Lounge Discussion Forum valued both the assignment and reflection in and of itself
Feedback from peers
Emotional support
Curricular support
Multiple perspectives
Feedback from inservice teachers
Provided more of an authentic setting
Context was motivating and engaging

30. Implications
Web-based collaborative discussion forums can foster meaningful and engaged reflection
Reflecting in online discussions can be ideal for student teaching experiences
Learning communities can serve as meaningful contexts
Informs how to structure a similar experience in the future