How does video analysis support student teachers in the very early stages of their initial teacher education?

Abstract

Abstract

This paper describes how video analysis can greatly enhance the learning resulting from student teachers’ first experiences of lesson observation and classroom teaching. A group of nine undergraduate students studying Science and Mathematics education used video recordings of exemplar Science and Mathematics lessons to identify aspects of best practice before analysing recordings of their own teaching. Each pair of students used WIMBA Create to produce a multimedia account of their learning. Data obtained from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews indicate that this use of video technology developed the students’ planning and teaching skills and, crucially, introduced them to the value and nature of reflective practice. Even this brief use of video was found to have a significant impact on students’ future practice and disposition to reflection. The paper discusses how this use of video is ideally suited to adopting a constructivist approach to initial teacher education by facilitating active learning and collaboration.

Keywords

Video; reflection; constructivism; collaboration; placement.