http://hdl.handle.net/2139/6036 Mon, 20 May 2013 04:07:34 GMT 2013-05-20T04:07:34Z http://hdl.handle.net/2139/6739 Classroom research: A defining feature of professional practice Singh, Vashti Classroom research, teaching, and professional development are closely linked. Their interrelation and interconnectedness may be described as axiomatic. In addressing the question: Why classroom research by teachers?, a range of issues emerges from topics such as classroom practice, social context, curriculum knowledge, professional learning, and the usefulness of research. This paper urges that teachers who are committed to their own professional practice seek to expand their knowledge and adapt their teaching to educationally sound delivery, arising from authentic classroom research. In the Caribbean, the teacher's claim to professionalism sometimes falters in this regard. A significant issue is that teachers need to be increasingly effective in enabling culturally diverse groups of students to learn increasingly complex subjects. This includes aspects of pedagogical content knowledge that incorporate culture and community contexts for learning. Simultaneously, teachers ought to reflect on their practice to learn from and improve upon it continually. This paper focuses on three themes that explore the concept of classroom research by teachers. The first establishes the link between classroom research and the teacher professional. The second evaluates curriculum and the teaching/learning process as the focus of classroom research, and the third discusses problems in the traditional research paradigm for guiding teachers to improve their teaching. The paper concludes with a reflection on the nature of classroom research itself and its relevance for teachers' professional development within the Caribbean context Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2139/6739 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2139/6738 Pre-service secondary school mathematics teachers exploring computer technology in a Caribbean context: Challenges encountered Junor Clarke, Pier A. This paper discusses the challenges encountered in an English-speaking Caribbean context as five pre-service secondary school mathematics (PSSM) teachers explored the use of computer technology (CT) in their instructional practices. A conceptual framework of three compatible theories guided the study. The major goals of this study were to investigate the experiences and perceptions of the PSSM teachers, and to identify factors they considered necessary for successful integration. I found that the teachers were faced with similar challenges as those experienced in earlier explorations of developed and developing countries. The PSSM teachers learned that their efforts to move away from the traditional "chalk and talk" approach to a learner-centred approach did lend itself to genuine positive progress in using CT. They further realized that reading and group skills, along with computer literacy, are factors to be considered in their planning when introducing CT use in mathematics instruction in their context Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2139/6738 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2139/6737 Selected teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans (TTEA) Gift, Sandra This paper presents teachers as the main source of secondary school students' content knowledge of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans (TTEA). It investigates what content knowledge teachers in select parts of the Atlantic world communicate to students; what informs the approaches they employ in their teaching; and how students respond to this knowledge at the affective level. The findings serve as a contribution to teachers' professional development for teaching the TTEA at a time when international attention is increasingly focused on the TTEA and its legacies. A thematic approach is used to discuss the historiography of the TTEA. Three geographic sites: the Americas/Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, provide the broad context of the study on which the paper is based. The UNESCO Slave Route Project and Transatlantic Slave Trade (TST) Education Project serve as its programmatic background. The conceptual framework for the interpretation of the findings relies heavily on Shulman's (1987) concept of pedagogical content knowledge, its emotional dimension as elaborated upon by Jerry Rosiek (2003) and Nate McCaughtry (2004); concepts of human development as proposed by the UNESCO International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, and Lorrie Shepard's (2000) reformed vision of the curriculum Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2139/6737 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2139/6736 Teachers' professional growth: Examining the effect of teacher maturity on LOC orientation Cook, Loraine D.; Bastick, Tony This research compared the professional growth of Jamaican teachers with those in the United States and Israel. The high correlation (r = 0.845) between age and length of service allowed for two studies to be replicated; one from the US showing increasing internality with increased length of service and the other from Israel showing increasing internality with age. In this research, a modified version of Rose and Medway's Teachers' Locus of Control (TLOC) instrument was used to compare the increases in maturity of self-direction and self-confidence of Jamaican teachers with that of teachers in the United States and Israel. A sample of 205 teachers in the Corporate Area, Kingston, Jamaica completed this study to replicate the findings relating years of service and age to teachers' locus of control orientation as measured using the TLOC scale. T-test and analysis of variance showed no significant difference between Jamaican teachers' length of service, age, and their locus of control orientation. These results imply that Jamaican teachers are not developing the same levels of self-direction and self-confidence as Israeli and US teachers who have similar years of teaching experience. It is suggested that in-service development programmes should address these particular shortfalls in professional growth of Jamaican teachers Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2139/6736 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z