Biological evolution stands out as critically important content for K-12 education as it is considered a cornerstone of the biological sciences. Yet, it remains one of the most socially controversial topics related to science education. In this exploratory study, we are seeking to understand the ways elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) use their views of science to justify including or excluding alternative explanations to evolution in the science curriculum. This investigation included 76 PSTs who were enrolled in an elementary science methods course. Data came from an activity designed by the authors entitled “Science in the Public Schools – School Board Scenario.” The scenario proposed that the local school board was considering a motion to alter the science curriculum by introducing creationism and intelligent design (ID) to the unit on biological evolution and the PSTs had to offer their informed recommendations. The two researchers independently read and coded the data using an inductive, constant comparative approach. Findings revealed that 32 would not add creationism or ID, 26 would add both, 9 would add creationism, 6 would add ID, and 3 would only mention them. PSTs came up with diverse explanations for their decision on if to include alternative explanations when teaching evolution. Common rationales emerged within each group and are further explored.

This article examined the role of Lesson Study in a center school located in the southeastern United States through an analysis of a narrative by the school principal. This methodology allowed a level of reflexivity across the research team, who appreciated hearing about the powerful first-hand enactment of the initiative. The paper begins with an analysis of Lesson Study, particularly in special education, and the key tenets of Lesson Study followed by a narrative account of the principal. Subsequent to her story, we explored lessons learned in relation to implementing a system change in a school, namely Lesson Study. We learned that a deeper understanding of school culture, sustaining professional development, and collaborative practice, were significant factors enabling the principal and teachers at the center school to embrace, plan, and implement a successful Lesson Study for learners with significant disabilities. In addition, we learned that Lesson Study plays an important role in teacher and student engagement in teaching and learning at the center school and supports teachers to design lessons that are efficacious in meeting the individual needs and higher expectations of students.

In the field of education, globally, teachers are recognised as important contributors in shaping learners’ interaction in a cooperative learning environment through effective lesson planning. There is a plethora of research conducted internally on lesson planning, as a critical instructional competency for good teaching and as a purposeful activity that precedes the delivery of instruction. This study aimed to explore Life Orientation teachers’ lesson planning incorporating a cooperative teaching and learning approach in secondary schools in De Aar, South Africa. The researchers adopted a mixed-methods phenomenological research design. Seven Grade 10 Life Orientation teachers were purposely selected to collect semi-structured interviews data, non-participatory observation, and document analysis. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and supported with the literature review and the theory underpinning this study. This paper suggests an enactment between teachers’ subject and pedagogical content knowledge and instructional material. Lastly, it is also evident that many teachers lack knowledge, insufficient instructional resources, and an understanding of effective lesson planning to implement a cooperative teaching approach.

The early phase is the decisive period for the teachers’ career. Intellectual styles (particularly thinking styles) play a vital role in teachers’ professional development. With the purpose of measuring thinking styles of teachers at the early phase, this study was designed to validate a revised inventory of thinking styles (TSI-R2) for pre-service and early career teachers. A sample of pre-service teachers (n = 248) were invited to join the pilot study and a sample of teachers with one year work experience (n = 252) participated in the main study. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis were performed. The results suggested that with slight modification, TSI-R2 was a reliable and valid instrument to measure thinking styles of pre-service teachers and early career teachers, which has some implications to enhancing teacher education and development.

Technical and pedagogical counseling as accompaniment benefits teachers’ development. However, there are information gaps on the specific impact of counseling with a socio-formative approach on both professionalization and the improvement of teaching practice. The objective is to analyze the relationship between these three elements. A cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach was employed. A validated questionnaire was applied to a representative sample of 212 teachers. The information analysis was carried out through statistics: descriptive, correlational, and linear regression, whose level of significance was: <.01-. 05. Teachers consider that technical and pedagogical counseling from socio-formation fosters the development of an ethical life project, promotes problem solving in their educational practice, collaborative work, metacognition, and entrepreneurship (92.78 ± 14.3). The correlational analysis showed a significant relationship between socio-formative pedagogical technical counseling and teaching practice, the latter of which was enhanced by the former. In the linear regression analysis, the best model of pedagogical technical counseling is made from socio-formation, which predicts a 71% improvement of teaching practice. As a result, this form of counseling benefits both professionalization and teaching practice through metacognition.

There are different strategies to analyze teacher and student performance when they interact with each other in class. The most used strategies are direct observation and verbal reports. Even though what is observed or reported depends on theoretical frameworks regarding didactic interactions, these must be related to teacher functions such as supervision, providing feedback, and evaluation of student performance. In this study, instruments for observational recording and verbal reports were developed and validated considering teacher functions and their student performance counterparts to compare the degree of correspondence or divergence between data gathered from both strategies. 135 students enrolled in a science class and their teachers participated. The class was taught in a public high school located in center/south Mexico. Classes were videotaped and the corresponding observational records were analyzed. Two months later, verbal reports were administered to students and teachers. Coincidences and differences that were found revealed that observer-observe interaction is conditioned by social norms. These results were interpreted considering the notion of silence as a communicative element.

This research aims to prove and find out the influence of local wisdom-based learning media on the character of students in Indonesia. This research uses a quantitative method with a meta-analysis approach. The research data were analyzed using the 0.8.5 version of JASP software. The eligibility criteria used include: (a) The publications must be searchable in search databases such as Google Scholar, ERIC, DOAJ, Research Gate, and or ScienceDirect; (b) The publications are reputable indexed; (c) The publications must relate to learning media based on local wisdom and student character; (d) The publications must be in the range of 2015 to 2023; (e) The articles are worth (r), (t), or (F); (6) N ≥ 30. The results of the analysis of 30 studies showed that there was a significant effect of learning media on the character of students in Indonesia (z = 9.700; p < .001; 95% CI [.987; 1.487]). This effect is categorized as very strong (rRE = 1.237). This meta-analysis study is the result of accurate, valid, and representative research reviewed because publication bias was not detected. Thus, it can be concluded that learning media based on local wisdom has a big influence on student character.