PBTE: Problem Solver or Problem Maker? Methodological Problems and Issues

Abstract

Competency-based teacher education (CBTE) cannot be defended unless a systematic large-scale research effort is directed to discovering the linkage between patterns of teacher behavior and student change. A more immediate need, however, is the development of techniques that (a) permit assessment of skills trainees possess, and (b) provide training in areas where performance is inadequate. The Teacher Behavior Research Group and the Intern Teaching Program, both in the process of developing a CBTE compenent, collaborated in a research program focused on these areas. The two groups jointly created a paradigm which allowed causal inferences to be drawn about (a) the effectiveness of training procedures, and (b) observed relationships between criterion teacher behaviors and student achievement. Results of the study indicated several inherent problems in measuring microteaching studies of teacher behavior when student achievement was the dependent variable. These problems are: (a) lesson content must be unfamiliar yet interesting to students, and it must incorporate intended teacher behaviors; (b) objectives must be limited in scope, and clearly and precisely defined: and (c) teacher behaviors must be manipulated systematically in order to obtain accurate experimental data. (JS)