Videotaped lessons enhance analytical ability

The STEP (Secondary Teacher Education Project) Web is an innovative learning environment on the World Wide Web that supports case-based instruction for teacher education. Created by UW–Madison education professor Sharon Derry and colleagues, STEP Web resources aim to help future teachers acquire a scientific language for thinking about how students learn and develop within disciplines; instructional strategies and tools for helping students learn with understanding; and flexible transfer—the ability to combine, adapt, and apply the knowledge and tools acquired through STEP and other teacher education courses to classroom teaching. A recent evaluation study produced statistical evidence of significant growth in students’ ability and propensity to activate and combine concepts from the learning sciences in the analysis of videotaped lessons. An undergraduate teacher education course, based on approaches and materials from the STEP Web, is being offered at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The course centers around in-depth discussion and learning from videotaped classroom lessons. The resources include: stories of lessons, and of student learning and development resulting from lessons, in actual classrooms. These cases include: WCER Highlights