Teacher`s pedagogical thinking in planning for teaching

TEACHER’S PEDAGOGICAL THINKING
IN PLANNING FOR TEACHING
Jaanet Salminen & Tiina Annevirta
Department of Teacher Education
Introduction
Preliminary results
The curriculum is seen as directing and framing the
teacher’s educational task. Teacher’s pedagogical
thinking is essential to the process of the curriculum
being conveyed into school work. Already when planning
and preparing teaching, teacher is making decisions and
choices based on his or her own pedagogical thinking.
Teachers’ pedagogical thinking related to teaching was
very individual. Quantitative analysis showed that teachers’
pedagogical thinking varied a lot on the three dimensions
(SC, CT, TS) of the didactic triangle, as the examples
illustrate (figure 2).
Aims
The purpose of this study is to find out what kind of
pedagogical thinking teachers in comprehensive school use
when planning and preparing their teaching.
FIGURE 2. Pedagogical thinking of three teachers on the dimensions of the didactic
triangle.
Conducting the study
Participants of the study were 12 teachers from primary
and secondary school. The teachers were either class
teachers, subject teachers or special education teachers.
Their work experience as teacher ranged from 1 year to 30
years.
The teachers were met at their schools outside their
lessons. They were first instructed to draw up a concept
map about how they plan and prepare teaching and after
that they were interviewed. The interviews were recorded
on video, so that when analysing the data, it was possible
to observe when the teachers pointed at the concept map.
Teachers’ pedagogical thinking was analysed by the
dimensions of Herbart’s didactic triangle, which describes
the framework of the curriculum (figure 1).
For the analysis, the data was divided into conceptual
entities of teacher’s pedagogical thinking, and they were
analysed by the dimensions of the didactic triangle (figure
1).
In the qualitative analysis the following categories of
pedagogical thinking on the three dimensions were found:
SC-dimension: a) what are the student’s abilities and ways
to learn contents and b) which contents the student should
learn
CT-dimension: c) what do I as a teacher have to take into
account when teaching the contents and d) what are my
own abilities to teach the contents
TS-dimension: e) what do I have to take into account as
the student’s teacher
Preliminary discussion
With the dimensions of the didactic triangle, it was possible
to describe teacher’s pedagogical thinking rather
extensively in the context of the curriculum. However, a
part of teachers’ thinking was not yet interpreted in this
framework and requires further analysis.
References
Clark, C. M., & Peterson, P. L. (1986). Teachers’ Thought Processes. In M. Wittrock (Ed.),
Handbook of Research on Teaching (s. 255–296). 3. painos. New York: Macmillan.
Kansanen, P. 2004. Opetuksen käsitemaailma. Jyväskylä: PS-kustannus.
Kansanen, P., & Meri, M. (1999). The didactic relation in the teaching-studying-learning
process. In B. Hudson, F. Buchberger, P. Kansanen, & H. Seel (Eds.), Didactik/Fachdidaktik as
science(-s) of the teaching profession? (s. 107–116). Umeå: TNTEE publications 2(1).
Kansanen, P., Tirri, K., Meri, M., Krokfors, L., Husu, J., & Jyrhämä, R. (2000). Teachers’
pedagogical thinking. Theoretical landscapes, practical challenges. New York: Peter Lang.
FIGURE 1. The didactic triangle and its three dimensions SC, CT and TS.
Jaanet Salminen, jaanes@utu.fi, +358 2333 8865
Tiina Annevirta, tiirau@utu.fi, +358 2333 8881