Abstracts - Earli

class discussions, and fostering inquiry-oriented experiments, there is a good chance for aconsequent development of critical thinking capabilities.Teaching effectiveness research in the last decade: Role of theory and research design indisentangling meta-analysis resultsTina Seidel, IPN - Leibniz-Institute for Science Education, GermanyRichard J. Shavelson, Stanford University, USAThis meta-analysis summarizes teaching effectiveness studies of the last decade and investigatesthe role of theory and research design in disentangling results (Seidel & Shavelson, revised).Compared to past analyses based on the process-product model, a framework based on recentcognitive models of teaching and learning proved useful in analyzing studies and accounting forvariations in effect sizes. While the effects of teaching on student learning were diverse andcomplex, they were fairly systematic. We found the largest effects for domain-specificcomponents of teaching - teaching most proximal to executive processes of learning. By takinginto account research design, we further disentangled meta-analytic findings. For example,domain-specific teaching components were mainly studied with quasi-experimental orexperimental designs. Finally correlational survey studies dominated teaching effectiveness studiesin the last decade but typically contained components more distal from the teaching-learningprocess.Exceptional teachers working in difficult learning environments: narratives of effectiveness.Annemarie Hattingh, University of Pretoria, South AfricaTeaching in the age we live in is a demanding and complex task. Learning environments arealways challenging, though some are more so than others. A difficult learning environment in thisstudy was viewed as a poverty stricken school and its community; where learning resources suchas text books and equipment for science teaching barely existed and where a culture of learningwas fragile – a harsh reality for many in the developing world. While many teachers despair andtry to survive on a daily basis, some teachers excel in developing potentials for learning despitedifficult working environments. Why? I problematised this intellectual puzzle through tworesearch questions: · What are the personal dispositions of effective teachers teaching science inconstraining learning environments? · Which patterns of innovation and creativity emerge inpedagogical practices of exceptional teachers? Using the teacher as the unit of analysis, thetheoretical frame is situated in teacher effectiveness literature. Moving beyond the criteria ofstudent achievement or student progress I examined the work of Campbell, Kyriakides, Muijs &Robinson (2004) regarding values driving educational effectiveness. Three in-depth case studieswere conducted on South African national award winning high school science teachers working inpoor rural schools. Findings show that these teachers do not exactly fit a ‘standardised image’ ofexperts who work in more favourable conditions. Their asset-based disposition (as opposed to adeficiency-based one) hosts core values underpinning their pedagogical, personal and interpersonaldecision-making. It also foregrounds how these teachers take valued pedagogicalprinciples such as, for example, curriculum relevance, to a new level when they implementindigenous examples and beliefs of local cultures to demystify science concepts.– 328 –