Exploring Technological Innovations to Support Practice-based STEM Teacher Education

Learn about technology for teacher education as presenters introduce the work of the LessonSketch R+D Fellows and online tools being used in practice-based teacher education.

Date/Time
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This topical session (1.5 hours) explores how teacher educators have used technological tools in teacher education to support broader participation by students in STEM classrooms. The session unfolds in four parts.

  1. Patricio Herbst begins with illustrations of tools that allow teacher educators to decompose teaching practice into smaller domains and author representations of practice, and that provide teacher candidates with opportunities to develop their skills in these domains in scaffolded approximations of practice (15 minutes).
  2. Presenters illustrate the work of the LessonSketch R+D Fellows in making use of such tools to focus on broadening participation in STEM. For example, William Zahner describes the use of representations of mathematical dilemmas that arise in teaching mathematics as a tool for engaging prospective secondary teachers in discussions of common student reasoning. Daniel Chazan illustrates representations of students’ and teachers’ race as an important factor in understanding classroom interaction. And Dana Grosser-Clarkson illustrates how articulating students’ mathematical strengths is an important domain of practice for teacher candidates. For each of these examples, presenters emphasize how representations can help shift deficit thinking about students and broaden participation in STEM (30 minutes).
  3. Imani Goffney follows with commentary on the ways in which technological tools of these sorts contribute to larger efforts of equitable teaching practices (15 minutes).
  4. The session closes with 30 minutes devoted to a dialogue on the roles of tools for the work of teacher education in efforts to broaden participation in STEM classrooms.