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   Simonson, Shawn R; Frary, Megan; Earl, Brittnee (February 2024, Faculty Focus)
2. Teaching Mathematics with Technology: TPACK and Effective Teaching Practices

   https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12020133  

   Rakes, Christopher R.; Stites, Michele L.; Ronau, Robert N.; Bush, Sarah B.; Fisher, Molly H.; Safi, Farshid; Desai, Siddhi; Schmidt, Ashley; Andreasen, Janet B.; Saderholm, Jon; et al (February 2022, Education Sciences)

   This paper examines how 17 secondary mathematics teacher candidates (TCs) in four university teacher preparation programs implemented technology in their classrooms to teach for conceptual understanding in online, hybrid, and face to face classes during COVID-19. Using the Professional Development: Research, Implementation, and Evaluation (PrimeD) framework, TCs, classroom mentor teachers, field experience supervisors, and university faculty formed a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) to discuss a commonly agreed upon problem of practice and a change idea to implement in the classroom. Through Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, participants documented their improvement efforts and refinements to the change idea and then reported back to the NIC at the subsequent monthly meeting. The Technology Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework (TPACK) and the TPACK levels rubric were used to examine how teacher candidates implemented technology for Mathematics conceptual understanding. The Mathematics Classroom Observation Protocol for Practices (MCOP2) was used to further examine how effective mathematics teaching practices (e.g., student engagement) were implemented by TCs. MCOP2 results indicated that TCs increased their use of effective mathematics teaching practices. However, growth in TPACK was not significant. A relationship between TPACK and MCOP2 was not evident, indicating a potential need for explicit focus on using technology for mathematics conceptual understanding. 

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3. “Protected Teaching Spaces”: Opportunities and Constraints When Teaching for the edTPA

   https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737231162112  

   Lohwasser, Karin; Long, Caroline; Shim, Soo-Yean; Windschitl, Mark (April 2023, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis)

   Preservice teacher performance assessments, such as the edTPA, are one of the accountability policies from states and local authorities designed to ensure the quality of beginning teachers and standardize teacher education. We studied experiences of 65 preservice teachers regarding the effect of the edTPA on their learning in field-placement classrooms. These cases revealed that the edTPA created “protected teaching spaces” for participants to experiment with student-centered instructional practices supported in university courses and codified in edTPA rubrics. This was especially impactful for novices who previously had limited opportunities to try out equitable reform-oriented instruction in their placements. In these cases, the edTPA also helped mitigate inequities in learning to teach, an unintended outcome that is important for policymakers to consider when deciding on credentialing requirements. 

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4. Student perceptions of confidence in learning and teaching before and after teaching improvements

   Orton, S.; Yu, F.; Flores, L.; & Marra, R. (June 2023, 2023 ASEE Annual Conference)

   As part of an overall research program investigating the impact of changes in teaching strategies on students' engineering social cognitions (self-efficacy and outcome expectations), this paper investigates students' confidence in their ability to learn and their instructor's ability to teach across 6 engineering courses. A group of 6 faculty formed a learning community focused on improved teaching strategies for their classes. The faculty chose selected strategies and implemented them in their classes. Surveys asked students to rank their confidence level in "their ability to learn" the specific class material and the instructor's "ability to teach" the class material using a sliding bar scale from 0-100. Surveys were conducted before and after the improvements to the teaching strategies at both the beginning and end of the semesters. The results of the surveys are compared before and after the teaching improvements, beginning to end of semester, per course, online to in-person, and per gender. In summary, the study found that while there was no significant difference in the control group, a decrease in students’ confidence to learn and in their confidence in their instructors’ ability to teach was observed in the treatment group. This decrease was observed in specific courses that changed instructional modes due to Covid. Despite teaching improvements, students’ confidence decreased as they moved through the course material. Further research is needed to explore these findings and their implications for teaching strategies. 

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5. Some mathematicians’ perceived and envisioned instructional relationships in secondary teaching and teaching secondary teachers

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-022-09567-y  

   Lai, Yvonne; Ahrens, Sally (January 2023, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education)