Investigating Teacher–Teacher Feedback : Uncovering Useful Socio-pedagogical Norms for Reform-Based Chemistry Instruction (Journal Article)

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Abstract: Teacher–teacher feedback is an important feature of professional learning. However, deeply ingrained socio-pedagogical norms may affect both the nature and content of feedback, constraining its effectiveness. Prior studies have reported that avoiding critique and providing excessively generic information can hinder pedagogical inquiry and adoption of reform-based instruction. To better understand the nuances of socio-pedagogical norms for chemistry-specific settings, we investigate the conversational functions and the ways in which teacher–teacher feedback addresses macroscopic, symbolic, and particulate levels of representation within lessons they experienced as students. We deductively coded 16 instances of feedback provided by eight VisChem Institute-2 teacher participants. Results from the first phase of analyses indicate that teacher–teacher feedback largely comprised of praise with few instances of critique. The second phase of analyses shows that teacher–teacher feedback most frequently referenced the particulate level. Synthesizing the results, we find that more chemistry-specific topics were referenced in conversational functions that prepare teachers for pedagogical change. Our findings suggest foregrounding the particulate level may support teachers’ critical engagement with each other. We thus recommend that teacher educators and professional developers base mutual engagement, shared repertoire, and the joint enterprise on the particulate level when constructing a community of reformed chemistry teaching practice. We also provide insights on how our findings can be adapted for chemistry graduate teaching assistants and raise new questions about investigating spiraling, dialogic forms of feedback.