Abstract
Lesson planning/design is arguably one of the core practices of teachers and hence, receives considerable attention in initial teacher education. Preparing student teachers to design lessons coupled with learning how to enact the lessons they have designed and to reflect on that lesson, provides the initial springboard for novice teachers (once they enter teaching) to become equipped to respond flexibly and adaptively to the complexities of teaching and learning. This study reports on the lessons learnt from the learning experiences of student teachers who were involved in a new approach to lesson design which is different from what they experienced before in the teacher preparation programme.
The year-long course focused on the introduction of a new approach to lesson design and was piloted in 2020 within the final year of a four-year Bachelor of Education programme. The course was planned to intentionally teach principles derived from the learning sciences and competencies for a fast-changing world to student teachers. I investigated lessons learnt by addressing the following research question: What were the learning experiences of final year student teachers in relation to a lesson design approach that deviates from what they used before in the teacher preparation programme?
Data were generated by conducting stimulated-recall interviews based on a lesson designed using the new approach to lesson design. Semi-structured interviews about student teachers’ experiences of the course were also conducted. The data were analysed using the constant comparative method of data analysis. The thematic pattern that emerged from the data was that: “In learning to design lessons using a new approach, the student teachers developed a solid understanding of how to design lessons that have the explicit intent to enable learning and infuse competencies for a changing world, leading them to realise that teaching was more complex than they originally thought. In this process student teachers were moving more explicitly from a ‘learning about’ to a ‘learning to be’ orientation as beginner teachers”. In interpreting and discussing the significance of the thematic pattern, I drew on transformative learning theory, initially
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developed by Jack Mezirow (1978). The facets of transformative learning (Mezirow, 2000) provided a relevant framework to discuss the findings of the study. The first implication for practice, was that there is potential for student teachers to develop a deeper understanding of how learning occurs when learning is foregrounded, and knowledge of principles derived from the learning sciences is explicitly taught with the concomitant implications for classroom practice. The second implication is that it is possible to prepare student teachers to intentionally design lessons which focus on the infusion of competencies for a changing world in the practice of lesson design. Thirdly, I found that this approach promoted the development of a ‘learning to be’ orientation in student teachers which is a way to bridge the theory-practice divide identified as a prevalent challenge in teacher education. Finally, initial teacher education could benefit from the deepened learning of student teachers in designing lessons infused with principles derived from the learning sciences and competencies for a fast-changing world when sustained interventions steeped in transformative learning are included in courses.
The study concludes with the understanding that introducing lesson design infusing principles derived from the learning sciences and competencies for a changing world to student teachers can prepare them to guide and support “meaningful learning, thus creating significant learning experiences for learners” (Gravett, 2022, p.1).