The Effect of Social Context on the Reflective Practice of Preservice Science Teachers: Incorporating a Web-Supported Community of Teachers

This study examines the use of electronic networking technologies in the context of a secondary science methods course and an accompanying student teaching experience. Specifically, we examined the effects of social context on the student teaching reflections written by students randomly assigned to one of three different online settings: (a) a private journal, (b) an asynchronous discussion forum, and (c) a discussion forum within a web-supported community of teachers. The results indicate that these different online social contexts had effects on reflections themselves, as well as how the students perceived the assignment. Students in the private journal wrote better initial reflections than the other two groups; however, both of the discussion forum groups reflected on their teaching in their initial posts and in the responses that they wrote to other students. Furthermore, only the students using the discussion forum within the web-supported community of preservice and inservice teachers found both the assignment and reflection in and of itself to be of value. This study has implications with regards to how one can structure online interactions for preservice teachers in a way that will encourage meaningful reflection and collaboration. ********** "Reflective teaching" and "teachers inquiring into their own practice" are slogans that have been firmly embraced by both teacher educators and educational researchers over the past 15 years. Teacher educators have invested a significant amount of time trying to restructure teacher education programs, college and university courses, and teacher professional development workshops in manners that prepare teachers and future teachers to be more thoughtful and analytic about their teaching (Boud & Walker, 1998; Hatton & Smith, 1994; McMahon, 1997). At the same time, educational researchers have attempted to understand better the conditions that affect the quality and nature of teacher reflections (Bos, Krajcik, & Patrick, 1995; Erickson & Mackinnon, 1991; Xiaodong, Hmelo, Kinzer, & Secules, 1999). Currently, many teacher educators are experimenting with the use of electronic networking technologies to scaffold and or facilitate the reflection process (reviewed in Barnett, 2002). However, how best to leverage these technologies and how different contexts impact the nature and process of reflection is an important topic about which we have yet much to learn. In this study, we examine how the online social context in which reflections are shared and discussed affects the nature of teacher reflections and the perceptions that individuals have on such reflections when participating in different online social contexts, each of which reflected a different theoretical perspective (described in more detail later). Within these contexts the students shared, and sometimes discussed, personal reflections on their student teaching experiences. One third of the students used an online discussion forum as a personal journal. Only the professor and the students had access to this private journal (individualistic cognitive perspective). The second group of students were within a private discussion forum to which only the professor and these individuals had access. This provided these students with a private place to share and discuss their student teaching experiences (social constructivist perspective). Finally, a third group would have a similarly structured discussion forum within a "public" space in the Inquiry Learning Forum website. The Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF) is a video-centered, web-based learning forum designed to support a community of inservice and preservice science and mathematics teachers interested in developing a better understanding of inquiry-based teaching and inquiring into their own teaching practice (Barab, MaKinster, Moore, Cunningham, & the ILF Design Team, 2001). The discussion forum situated within the Lounge of the ILF was intended to serve as a more authentic and socially interactive setting because any and all ILF members (inservice teachers, preservice teachers, and teacher educators) could read and participate in their discussions (situated cognition perspective). …