Adolescents and the extended residential learning program : A case study
- Authors: McDonough, Sharon
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: The purpose of this study was to explore, through the use of a case study, the impact of an eight-week residential learning program upon self-concept, learning and understanding of community amongst adolescent participants. The study utilized multiple methods of data collection including interviews, focus groups, observation, the Learning Process Questionnaire and the Self-Description Questionnaire II in order to address the research question.
- Description: Master of Education (Research)
Learning to think like a teacher educator
- Authors: McDonough, Sharon
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Pedagogies for the future p. 61-72
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The rapid pace of change and reform in education requires teachers to be both the subjects and implementers of change (Main, 2012). For those working in higher education the challenge can be twofold as they attempt to develop their own teaching and learning, while also preparing students for the future world of work beyond university. This dual challenge is present for teacher-educators who seek to provide students with opportunities to think pedagogically and to discover ways in which experience, theory and practice come together (Hedges, 2012).
Activating teaching dispositions in carefully constructed contexts : Examining the impact of classroom intensives
- Authors: McGraw, Amanda , McDonough, Sharon , Wines, Chris , O’Loughlan, Courtney
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Teacher Education : Innovation, Intervention and Impact Chapter 12 p. 193-209
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The current policy stance in Australia which seeks to produce ‘classroom ready’ teachers requires that pre-service teachers (PSTs) be assessed against national professional standards that articulate minimum skills and knowledge required of beginning teachers. There is no mention within these standards of affective qualities (e.g. humour, passion, inspiration) or thinking dispositions (e.g. curiosity, reflection, creativity) that enable good teaching and professional learning and which capture the complexity that is inherent within good teaching. This study focuses on the research of a team of teacher educators in a regional Australian university who believe that a focus on dispositions is central to effective teacher education. They have embedded a ‘Dispositions for Teaching Framework’ within a Master of Teaching (Secondary) program to allow PSTs’ various thinking dispositions to be activated within carefully constructed professional learning contexts. The context in this study was a Classroom Intensive experience at a P-12 School in regional Victoria where PSTs participated in structured classroom observations over a two day period. The key research questions were: Did the Classroom Intensive experience activate the dispositions in the PSTs? Were some dispositions activated more than others? How could evidence be collected of these dispositions in action? A variety of research methods enabled a complex data-set to be collected. It was identified that the Classroom Intensive experience provided a rich professional learning context which activated all five of the thinking dispositions in the framework, and that these dispositions are not discrete but interconnect and rely upon each other. © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016.