Teacher Education Instruments

Case Study Protocols

Instrument 1: Case Study Outline

Project: New York City Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (NYCETP)
CUNY, Brooklyn College

Funding Source: NSF: Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (DUE)

Purpose: This instrument is designed to guide the documentation of collaborative courses by case-study researchers. The goal of the instrument is to document similar features of the case study sites; guide interviews of faculty; guide classroom observations and the collection of student assessment data; and document the features of curriculum, instructional practices, and course development.

Administered To: The case study protocol was provided to all researchers who were responsible for collecting case studies on collaborative courses at NYCETP campuses. The protocol was used to conduct studies of teacher education courses conducted at NYCETP schools.

Topics Covered:

• Attitudes & Beliefs (Teacher/Faculty): content, teaching profession
• Course Context: assessment, classroom activities, department, enrollment, faculty, instructional methods
• Facilities: access to technology, classroom, laboratory
• Institutional Context: campus, local population
• Instructional Practices: assessment, classroom activities, materials, methods, pedagogy
• Perceptions (Teacher/Faculty): content, role, student characteristics

Format/Length: 26 open-ended questions that have multiple subquestions, plus 5 demographic questions. The protocol is composed of the 11 sections listed above. Each section is composed of a series of questions that highlight the various types of information covered under each section and provide examples of questions to be asked for that section.

The outline is provided to guide your documentation of the Collaborative course. The goal is to attain similarity between the case studies of the courses on different campuses. Please use the categories/questions to guide your interviewing and writing. Collect all materials that are available for the course and that may be included to illustrate your case descriptions. Note that not all categories/questions will be relevant to any particular course.

Identifying information:
Instructor's name, department, title/position, course title and section, campus.

I.  Context

Briefly, describe the institution-large, urban, enrollment size, characteristics of student body, physical appearance of campus.

Describe the course—department in which taught, number of hours per week, broad goals and expected outcomes; where does it fit within the college/university? liberal arts & science dept? teacher education? required, elective? foundation or core course? for whom? other students enroll? several sections offered, different faculty and/or adjuncts teach?

Course history (how long in curriculum, etc.) and reasons for changing and general goals of change.

II. Students: What is the target population?

Describe 2-3 typical students—age, gender, ethnicity, SES, background, recruitment of students for course, preparation for course; freshman, sophomores, etc.; likely educational and career goals;

III. Faculty

Describe relevant educational background, pertinent experience, years teaching this course, etc.

IV. Physical facilities for course

Describe room(s) /labs/etc. where instruction usually occurs; technological support (computers, video taping equipment, VCRs), other equipment; other supporting resources—science or math centers etc.
How frequently are labs, support technology, etc., used by students?

V. Curriculum and materials

Topics and domains, sequence, course syllabus, reading lists, assignments, text (full reference: author, title (edition), date, publisher).

Criteria for selection of topics, sequencing, demonstrations, student activities, etc.

Describe two to three classroom activities in detail. How do these activities reflect the goals of the course? How do the activities foster greater understanding of the concepts/processes within the topic (science, math)? How could these activities be easily adapted by prospective teachers for use in their classrooms?

VI. Instructional methods

What is the predominant mode of instruction or pedagogical approach in the course (e.g., lecture, demonstration, recitation/drill, group work, independent work, etc.)?

Describe what happens during a "typical" class? a lab? during use of a computer center or (media, curriculum materials) center? in discussion groups? in other instructional settings? (Ex., teacher and/or student use of lecture, written presentations; demonstrations; concrete models (including manipulatives), pictorial models; equations/formulas; graphical; field work, laboratory work (describe--pre-set) experiments or inquiry based; types of mathematical problems)

Reasons for and/or criteria for decisions to use particular instructional methods, activities, and assignments.

VII. Student outcomes and assessments

Describe assessments/evaluation of students: What is the predominant method of assessment? How does this form of assessment provide evidence of course goal attainment?

Collect sample assessments/tasks etc. Examples may include paper and pencil examinations such as multiple choice/open-ended questions with student responses and faculty evaluation, if possible. (Blank out student names.) Other examples might be written papers, oral presentations, videotapes, logs, portfolios, etc.

Reasons for and/or criteria for decisions to use particular types of assessments and evaluations.

Overall, what impact do you think this class has had on students as prospective teachers (e.g., student knowledge, understanding, and attitudes toward the subject matter)? Please provide specific examples or anecdotes to illustrate these impacts.

VIII. Faculty roles: questions for faculty

How do you view your role as an instructor in relation to student learning and outcomes in this course?

How do you view mathematics (or science) as a discipline?

How do you view science (or mathematics) education as a discipline?

What do you see as your role in the preparation of teachers?

IX. Cross discipline collaboration

Does the course reflect an integration of mathematics, science, and technology? How is this integration achieved?

Does it reflect an integration of teacher preparation goals and the discipline? How is this achieved? Are discipline and education faculty both involved? How?

X. School and field site collaborations

Does this course involve the collaboration of experienced or master teachers? school district coordinators or others? the observations of school students? the use of field sites? Describe how.

XI. Course revision/development

Are you involved in the revision of this course? How? What are your plans for revisions? Who else is involved with and participating in the revision process? (Please query specifically for involvement of these groups: education students, student teachers, beginning teachers, cooperating teachers, experienced or master school teachers, education and liberal arts faculty members, outside agencies/institutions.)

Do any of these plans involve student recruitment? collaboration across CUNY or other campuses?