Science teachers’ consideration: a phenomenographic study of learner-centred teaching analysis

ABSTRACT

Teachers’ consideration may affect their intention to implement learner-centred pedagogy. Literature showed that aspects such as task goal, students’ characteristics, teachers’ ability, learning environment design, and school shape teacher considerations in teaching analysis. However, the interrelationship among these aspects remains largely underexplored. This study aims to explore science teachers’ considerations when designing and implementing learner-centred teaching tasks and the interrelationship among them. Through phenomenographic analyses, the authors identified five categories of experiencing teaching analysis: (a) covering the curriculum contents; (b) preparing students for assessment; (c) accommodating students’ characteristics; (d) designing appropriate learner-centred pedagogy; and (e) enhancing students’ autonomy and social interaction. Findings suggest that teachers’ considerations in the first three categories were limited to the classroom settings, while the last two categories show extension from classrooms to beyond school settings. The authors suggest school leaders and teacher educators leverage teachers’ pragmatic reasoning to raise the holistic awareness and extend the horizon of teachers’ consideration.

KEYWORDS:

• Teaching analysis
• phenomenography
• learner-centred pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported by Nanyang Technological University research scholarship.

Notes on contributors

Wei Ching Lee

Wei Ching Lee is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Educational Development, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore. Her PhD study focused on teacher learning and teacher efficacy beliefs. She received her Master of Education at the University of New South Wales, Australia. When she served in the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, she was involved in various research projects including research on teacher attitudes on educational technology, multimodal teaching and learning, new media and learning, teaching task analysis, and science teaching.

Victor Der-Thanq Chen

Victor Der-Thanq Chen is an Associate Professor with the Learning Sciences and Assessment Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. He obtained his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction/Computers in Education from the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA. He also received his Masters of Science in Instructional Systems Technology from the same university. Dr Chen is a graduate of National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, where he majored in Physics/Science Education.

Li-Yi Wang

Li-Yi Wang is an Associate Professor at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). He received his Masters of Science (TESOL) from the University of Stirling and PhD (TESOL) from Deakin University. His PhD thesis looked into professional identity of non-native English teachers in teaching English as a foreign language. Before joining NTNU, he was affiliated with the Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. His research interest includes school-based curriculum innovation, education policy, and teacher identity.