Pedagogische Studiën

Empirische Studie

• Exploring teaching of scientific reasoning and argumentation in psychology education: the central role of epistemology

  Marleen Evers, Jan Elen, Machteld Vandecandelaere

  1-26

  Scientific reasoning and argumentation (SRA) are complex thinking skills enabling students to evaluate, generate, and use information that helps to understand and solve scientific and societal challenges. Unlike in hard sciences and history education, teaching SRA in psychology education is understudied. This is problematic as SRA-skills are highly discipline-specific and can help students to cope with the characteristics of psychology as ill-structured and nonparadigmatic discipline. Therefore, the aim of this exploratory study was to identify key issues in teaching SRA in psychology education. Fifteen secondary psychology teachers participated in three focus groups. An inductive thematic analysis identified three key themes which show that (1) teachers' ambitions for psychology education, (2) the ways in which teachers understand SRA, and (3) teachers' epistemological beliefs, help to understand the reported difficulties in teaching SRA in psychology. The strong epistemological dimension of SRA was not easily recognized by teachers, nor did teachers refer to epistemological criteria when discussing assessment criteria, making it difficult for teachers to see how to assess SRA. The study indicates that teachers’ epistemological beliefs (e.g. psychology is vague and subjective) may explain this difficulty. The results can serve as starting point for further research on SRA in psychology education.

• Scripting synchronous collaborative writing in second language education within a multi-shared visual workspace: a quasi-experimental study

  Siem Buseyne, Annelies Raes, Berten Hurkmans, Margot Leemans, Kamakshi Rajagopal, Carmen Eggermont, Maribel Montero Perez

  27-58

  This study explores collaborative writing in a multi-shared visual workspace, involving 76 students in higher education. We adopted the Activity-Centred Analysis and Design framework to describe our quasi-experimental design and the influencing context variables. First, we studied the impact of a collaboration script on students' perceived quality of the group processes and the evaluated quality of their writing products. Findings revealed no significant differences in the overall quality of the group process and the overall writing product quality. However, when looking at the individual dimensions, the experimental condition demonstrates significantly higher scores on the lexicon dimension. Second, the interaction with the shared visual workspace was studied. While participants expressed an overall positive perception of the multi-shared visual workspace and its benefits for joint coordination, the use of a collaboration script did not significantly impact students' perception of the shared screen's added value. This study contributes to understanding the complexity of collaborative writing implementation in innovative learning spaces, with practical implications for educators and designers in creating effective computer-supported collaborative learning environments, considering different (i.e., social, set, and epistemic) design dimensions. Considering the limitations of the current study, we also express future research aspirations.

• Aan de slag met formele prestatiegegevens uit centrale toetsen. Veranderingsbereidheid van Vlaamse leerkrachten en de impact van schoolbeleid en leiderschap.

  G. Molenberghs, R. Van Gasse, S. De Maeyer, J. Vanhoof

  59-88

  In een ontwikkelingsgericht systeem van centrale toetsen is het gebruik van formele prestatiegegevens cruciaal. Zeker in Vlaanderen (waar centrale toetsen worden ingevoerd vanaf het schooljaar 2023-2024), maar ook in een internationale context, kan een doorgedreven gebruik van formele prestatiegegevens om het leren van leerlingen te verbeteren (nog) als een verandering worden beschouwd. Om de verdere ontwikkeling van zulke vormen van informatiegebruik te onderbouwen, beschrijft en verklaart deze studie de veranderingsbereidheid van Vlaamse leerkrachten om met formele prestatiegegevens uit centrale toetsen aan de slag te gaan in hun onderwijspraktijk. Hiertoe voerden we een surveyonderzoek bij 611 leerkrachten. Beschrijvende analyses tonen dat de veranderingsbereidheid bij de bevraagde leerkrachten eerder beperkt is. Het multigroep padmodel maakt daarnaast duidelijk dat het ervaren van een informatiegebruikstimulerend schoolbeleid, waarin transformationele schoolleiders een cruciale rol spelen, op een betekenisvolle manier samengaat met deze veranderingsbereidheid. Implicaties voor de praktijk zijn onder andere het belang van het communiceren van duidelijke verwachtingen ten aanzien van het gebruik van formele prestatiegegevens en het op poten zetten van interne samenwerkingsverbanden. Tevens worden suggesties voor toekomstig onderzoek besproken.

• Teachers' Stress and Professional Learning: A Day-to-Day and Teacher-to-Teacher Investigation

  Thijmen van Alphen, Joost Jansen in de Wal, Jaap Schuitema, Thea Peetsma

  89-118

  To keep up with fast-paced societal changes, teachers must continuously commit valuable time and effort to their professional learning. However, teaching is already a demanding profession, leading to high levels of work-related stress - possibly impeding commitment to professional learning. Data were collected among 151 secondary school teachers for 15 consecutive work days. Models comparing teachers and daily changes were tested, accounting for the dynamic nature of stress emotions and the profession. The results showed ambiguous findings, emphasizing the differences in responses to the daily and cross-sectional measures. These findings and their relevance for practice are discussed.