Dr. John L Pecore

An examination of published reports on Free or Reduced-Price Lunch (FRPL) regarding Per Pupil Spending, Technology Resources, Science Course Offerings, and Race and Ethnicity Distribution in FRPL Groups shows that science for all remains an elusive goal in the United States. Science for all requires long-term solutions, including adequate fiscal resources for high FRPL quartile schools and effective policies to ensure quality science learning experiences for low-income students. Teachers in high FRPL schools need access to high-quality instructional resources, technology tools, and effective strategies to engage students in science learning. Schools should invest in technology tools like virtual reality and simulations, and teachers should be prepared to apply inquiry-based pedagogies. Additionally, students in high FRPL schools deserve teachers with context knowledge to teach advanced placement and international baccalaureate courses afforded to students in low FRPL schools. Education stakeholders, including small- to large-scale enterprises and local, state, and federal governments, must collaborate with the scientific education community to eliminate inequalities in science education. Existing socioeconomic disparities in science education remain an impediment to science for all. By addressing the genesis and dynamics of disparities, every student in K-12 classrooms can benefit from a quality science education.

In the United States of America, democratic education has evolved philosophically over 200 years from Jeffersonian ideas of educated citizenry to Deweyan principles of democracy as a “mode of associated living.” In contemporary society, Dianna Hess has written about democratic education as a process of deliberative democracy. Yet the idea of democratic education remains challenging to implement in actual classrooms. In this article, we focus on one teacher’s practice of introducing the topic of Confederate monuments in a Georgia history classroom. Then, we explore how philosophical theories of democratic education help teachers guide students as they encounter controversial issues. Although democracy is viewed by contemporary philosophers of education as a social construct that must be cared for primarily by educators, placing the responsibility for democracy solely on teachers through democratic classroom practices is unrealistic. However, by implementing democratic pedagogies to foster active student decision-making and deliberative skills in a respectful environment that values diversity, students and teachers can embark on a mode of associated living that values democracy. We conclude with recommendations to assist teachers who want to practice democratic education.

Virtual reality (VR) is an evolving emergent technology that recently gained growing interest and has gradually been utilized into teaching and learning processes for educational purposes. VR has great potential to enhance student engagement and learning in a more interactive and authentic manner. However, mass adoption for the teaching-learning process has not yet occurred and integrating VR technology into higher education classrooms is still at an infant stage. Moreover, research on providing a comprehensive guide for designing a high-quality engaging learning environment integrating VR, specifically in an online learning environment, is scant. This presentation will share how VR technology was integrated into a higher education online course to provide students with the opportunity to design and develop a VR learning experience addressing a specific learning outcome that was also assessed within the VR environment.

Formative research is used to explore designing a holistic virtual learning experience for pre-service teachers. Experiential deliberate practice is used as a framework for designing and implementing instruction through asynchronous and synchronous learning platforms. Data were gathered through surveys, focus-group interviews, observations, and meeting minutes of discussions on the development and implementation of the program. Themes that emerged to guide the design of the virtual program using experiential deliberate practice included feedback, discrete skill practice, distributed and repeated practice, authentic scenarios, thoroughly designed self-learning modules, and the use of a rubric for feedback and reflection. The holistic program design fostered practice-based experiences with skill development to prepare pre-service teachers for real classroom experiences.

The first warnings of a potential teacher shortage in the United States occurred in the mid-1980s. According to a Rand Corporation Report (Darling-Hammond, 1984; Antonucci, 2016) titled Я Coming Crisis in Teaching, the main causes of an impending teacher shortage were poor working conditions, low pay, lack of decision-making input, and a prevalence of standardized testing. Of the impending teacher shortage, Linda Darling-Hammond (1984) wrote: "LTnless major changes are made in the structure of the teaching profession, so that teaching becomes an attractive career alternative for talented individuals, we will in a very few years face widespread shortages of qualified teachers" (p. vi). Darling-Hammond's report cautioned that the least academically qualified people could become the teaching force for future generations of American schoolchildren. The predicted teaching shortage of the late 1980s, however, was averted because of a growing teaching force and consistent student enrollment (Antonucci, 2016) resulting in a lower overall pupil-teacher ratio (Ingersoll & Merrill, 2013).

Background: Adequately preparing teachers for the demands of the classroom requires a clinical, skill based approached (Walkoe & Levin, 2018) with experiential deliberate practice (Pecore et. al., 2022). Obstacles to providing a clinical, skill-based approach, which include limited instructional activities, pedagogies, and repeated practice (Peercy & Troyan, 2017), can be addressed using mixed reality simulations that are skill based (Klassen et al., 2021). More importantly, focused formative feedback on direct skill development can be impactful in a focused mixed reality simulation experience. McDonald et al. (2014) and Davis et al. (2017) showed the benefits of practice opportunities that include feedback on skill development Additionally, feedback providing direction on skill improvement and appraising learners of progress (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996; Brookhart, 2017) advances growth (Natriello, 1987; Crooks, 1988; Black & Wiliam, 1998). The framework for investigating this study on characteristics of feedback relied mainly on Hattie and Timperley’s (2007) feedback categories of task, process, self-regulation, and self. Other feedback models to inform this study include Van den Bergh et al (2014) five categories of feedback, Brookhart’s (2017) description of feedback as comments, and Page et. al’s (2020) 10 elements of feedback. The research question guiding this work asked what characteristics of written feedback are helpful with skill development?
Methods: Using a naturalistic inquiry approach, this study examined written feedback provided to 20 preservice elementary education majors that volunteered to participate in a mixed reality simulation experience During the three-week experience, each participant practiced the skill of questioning by facilitating a class discussion on the water cycle with five avatars. Each participate completed three cycles of mixed reality simulations receiving mentor feedback throughout the process. Data collection consisted of mentor written feedback, participant iterative questioning, and mentor interview. Data analysis entailed an initial coding of written feedback as task oriented, process oriented, self-regulation, and self. Subcategories were identified from the works of Van den Bergh et al (2014), and Page et. al. (2020) and Chan & Luo (2021). These were then organized to further define the initial four categories. Overlaps were collapsed into a single subcategory where appropriate.
Preliminary Findings and Conclusions: Preliminary findings revealed that initial mentor feedback related primarily to task oriented feedback (i.e. “most of your questions were lower level meaning they had one correct response determined in advance”). As participants progressed through subsequent mixed reality simulations, mentor feedback became more process focused (i.e. “make sure you are asking students to explain their thinking and respond to other students.”) Self related feedback, encouragement from the mentor, consistently served to start all written feedback (i.e. “great job for your first lesson. I know it can be intimidating and awkward, but you did push through.”) Mentor feedback was determined to be a main factor in over 80% of the participants improving in questioning skill. This study provides insight into the characteristics of feedback that assist with advancing skill development growth of preservice teachers during a focused mixed reality simulation experience.

Effective questioning and discussion are fundamental instructional skills for science teacher candidates to master. These skills are important for teacher competence that aids student achievement. Opportunities to practice these skills in traditional teacher preparation programs may be limited. This embedded single case study focused on an intervention consisting of an experiential deliberate practice approach which provides a virtual learning simulation experience and asynchronous skill development provided science teacher candidates with the opportunity to learn and practice questioning and discussion skills. Teacher candidates taught the same lesson three times to avatars over the course of three weeks to establish a baseline and post-intervention practices. Feedback was provided after each teaching experience and asynchronous skill development modules were presented between each teaching session. Data included scores of teacher practice using an evaluation rubric for questioning and facilitating discussions, self-reflective surveys after each teaching session, and culminating semi-structured interviews. Both participant self-reporting through surveys and interviews and scorer ratings of lessons supported the intervention having positive impacts on skill competencies of participants.