New Technologies Give Future Teachers a Head Start

When she graduates from Peabody College next month, Karen Kinsel will have done all of the things teaching students normally do, including listening to lectures and spending a semester in the classroom as a student teacher. Yet Kinsel feels she will have an edge in the job market and be better prepared than many others for the realities of teaching because of another Peabody course she completed, Teaching Mathematics in the Elementary School, which uses real classroom case studies for teaching elementary mathematics methods to prospective teachers.

Developed and supported since 1987 with four National Science Foundation Grants ranging from $500,000 to $1 million each, the mathematics case studies program incorporates video of actual elementary-level classrooms in session into a computer program. Investigations in Teaching Geometry is a video-based case, organized into CD-ROM format, that has been produced through the current NSF project and is being used in the mathematics methods classes at Vanderbilt.

During a Peabody class, the video contained on the CD-ROM is watched and discussed among the future teachers. By using the video - which shows classrooms as they really are, problems and all - professors can replay key portions of the CD-ROM for discussions on the role of the teacher in guiding students' learning, students' thinking strategies, and dealing with the day-to-day realities of classroom life.

As part of the CD-ROM program, students have access to real lesson plans, interviews with classroom teachers and even the written work of students.

But unlike the classroom, where a teacher has to react to certain situations, the program gives the future teachers time to stop and discuss what is happening and ways to approach each situation.

Kinsel, who taught kindergarten, third-grade and fourth-grade, said one benefit of the program's techniques is that she feels "more attuned to the kids. It gives you a more hands-on approach to teaching. You're able to look at very specific points and issues."

Designed to mirror the technology-rich environment many new teachers will work in, the technique developed at Vanderbilt is a big move away from past methods of simply lecturing. In the past, a student might have observed teachers in action, but could not have discussed what was seen with classmates and professors who had seen the same classroom interaction, said Victoria Risko, professor of elementary education and co-director of the Multimedia Case-Based Teacher Preparation Program.

"Typically we think of the lecture method as the old way of teaching teachers, telling teachers what they should do and to translate theory. I think we've been moving away for some time from someone just standing up and telling."

Linda Barron, research associate professor of mathematics education, said the Investigations in Teaching Geometry multimedia program helps prospective teachers learn in ways similar to their technology-savvy future students.

The program, she said, "is not instruction on how to teach geometry, but instead it provides a context to explore issues related to teaching and learning."

Investigations in Teaching Geometry multimedia program was produced by a team of developers, including Barron, Elizabeth Goldman, Paul Cobb, Kay McClain, John Harwood, Jan Altman, and a number of graduate students. Barron and her colleagues developed the multimedia program for use in the Peabody mathematics methods classes. Similarly, Risko and Charles Kinzer, co-director of the Multimedia Case-Based Teacher Preparation Program, developed eight multimedia cases that they have implemented in two of their reading education courses.

Culled from dozens of hours of videotape, the cases portray real classrooms with all of their strengths and weaknesses and allow program participants to follow particular students over time.

"We tried to get reality," said Risko. "We didn't ask teachers to 'show us your best,' but 'show us what you do.' And then we watch what happens."

Students use the case studies - Barron and Risko emphasized they are just one part of teacher instruction - during class discussions and for independent assignments.

"We're moving much more toward small group work and projects. We use some lecture, but it's minimal," said Barron, noting that the future teachers also learn to use the burgeoning technology through class projects that require them to make multimedia presentations on the cases they are studying.

The results of the multimedia approach are noticeable, she said. Students interact more with each other and think more about their work and their own classrooms.

"I think at first a lot of my peers couldn't figure out why we were doing this," said Kinsel, certified to teach grades K­p;8. "But it has caused us to have better dialogue about what we're doing and it provides a more analytical forum for looking at the techniques the teacher (on the video) was using."

The future teachers, Risko said, "mediate each others' learning. While one may have one view, another may have another."

Aware that many new teachers were not well-equipped for coping with a classroom's inevitable problems, Risko and Kinzer began using the video technique in 1991. Since then, they've seen a noticeable improvement in their students, who appear better prepared for the realities of teaching.

"The notion of problem solving in our college classrooms prepares them to be better problem solvers in their classrooms," said Risko. "That's not to say they can always solve their problems better, but they are prepared to think about their teaching as a problem-solving process. It's a subtle thing.

"Our students don't hit the ground running necessarily," she said. "They almost move backward for a few days because they're so overwhelmed by the problem. But different from their peers who don't have this kind of instruction, they seem to be on a trajectory to respond much more quickly. Though case methodology is just gaining popularity in teacher education, it isn't a new concept. Teacher education borrowed it from other professional schools, such as law and medicine."

The use of case methodology in teaching, however, differs from the other professions because teachers deal with constantly changing situations, so there are no concrete precedents to follow.

"What may be a good method of instruction in one setting may not be an effective method in other settings because of the particulars of the students, between students and teacher, students and students. It's much more complicated," Risko said.

Unlike the computer programs and videos now used, Risko said, early versions of the case-based method in teacher education were written, with a case author stating the problem and describing the solution. With the issue resolved, there was little thought given to considering the problem from different angles or to alternative solutions.

"First of all, that problem is a once-incident thing, so it's pretty narrowly defined,"she said. "And often the case writer has already resolved the issue so you don't need to put a lot of thought into alternative ways of thinking about the problem or alternative solutions."

With the program's approach to teaching growing in popularity within Peabody's curriculum, Risko and her colleagues are holding seminars to try and increase nationwide use of their technique. The word is spreading: teacher education programs in 25 universities in 17 states are using aspects of their cases.

After five semesters of testing at Vanderbilt, Investigations in Teaching Geometry is finding an audience elsewhere. Last semester three other university instructors had good results using the program, Barron said, noting, "It's something they want to use again."

Mercedes Tichenor, professor of education at Stetson University in Florida, has used the program for two semesters. "It's been wonderful because it allows the student to not only get familiar with technology, it also allows them to look at different approaches to teaching and learning."

When future teachers go out into the schools to observe, they often go to different classrooms and see different situations, Tichenor said. But Investigations In Teaching Geometry "gives us as a class an opportunity to look at the case and talk about it. It allows us all to have a similar experience and a shared knowledge base so we can have discussions."

Barron, co-principal investigator for the NSF project, McClain, and other program developers are testing a second CD-ROM-based case, Building on Students' Thinking: Data Analysis in the Middle Grades. That case centers around two seventh-grade lessons integrating mathematics and science.

For her part, Kinsel feels participating in the program betters her chances of landing her first teaching job. "It takes your skills to another level," she said of the program. "We've had some discussions with school principals and they've indicated that just having the confidence to take the risk (to master the technology) is representative of your character."