Seidel & Sturmer Measuring Professional Vision

Seidel, T., & Sturmer, K. (2014). Modeling and measuring the structure of professional vision in preservice teachers. American Educational Research Journa, 51(4), 739-771. Doi://10.3102/0002831214531321

Summary: The purpose of this quantitative study was to empirically determine whether the concepts of professional vision (description, explanation, predication) could be empirically tested and quantitatively proved. Results from the suggest that the previously qualitatively explored concept of professional vision can indeed be measured. The implications suggest that the Observer instrument could be used in university teacher preparation course work to develop preservice teachers’ professional vision prior to them entering the authentic classroom.

Research Questions:

• Are the selected video clips discernible examples of the three teaching/learning components?
• Does a model operationalizing professional vision into three dimensions (description, explanation, and prediction) fit the data generated by our measure better than a one- or two-dimensional model?
• To what extent is the measurement of preservice teachers professional vision stable over time, showing that no developments or changes occur without further knowledge-based interventions?

Important Quotations:

• “Teachers’ reasoning about video-based examples of classroom practice serves as an indicator for the quality of teacher knowledge. High reasoning abilities indicate differentiated and integrated knowledge with a flexible application to various teaching situations. Low reasoning abilities on the other hand indicate fragmented and rather sparse knowledge structures without the ability to use this knowledge flexibly” (p. 740).
• “In accordance with our assumptions, our data can be taken as support for the idea that the three abilities are highly interrelated and that they substantially relate to the overall construct of professional vision” (p. 765).