Unlicensed patient care assistants (PCAs) are often tasked with providing constant observation (CO) of patients with complex health behaviors. The unique demands of CO are poorly understood, making it challenging to design effective training. Four-component instructional design theory suggests the tasks associated with CO…

This study considers the concept of observer--the fundamental concept axial for fundamental physical theories. The history of the observer concept in physics is reviewed and summarized. In the following, the observer concept is considered with regard to science education where scientific concepts should reflect their status in science. This…

Building on research on teacher noticing, the goal of this study was to understand what and how mathematics teacher educators notice critical events and how they make connections to consider the characteristics of distinguished coach noticing, meaning the noticing we would hope those coaching would attain to support teachers. We interviewed 29…

Capturing and measuring instructional patterns by using standardized observation manuals has become increasingly popular in classroom research. While researchers argue that a common vocabulary of teaching is necessary for the field of classroom research to move forward, instructional features vary across classrooms and contexts, which poses…

Teachers grow from sharing their practice and receiving feedback, yet it can be difficult for teachers to welcome others into their classrooms without feeling judged. Observers need to enter teachers' classrooms projecting respect and value for the challenging work of teaching. In this article, we share an approach to visiting classrooms, called…

Background/purpose: This study presents a systematic review of teaching observation instruments in the current literature based on PRISMA standards. Materials/methods: Three researchers performed searches on two databases, SCOPUS and Web of Science, focusing on two criteria: A) peer observation of teaching and B) higher education, with search…

Opinions on the value of self-study in teacher education are fierce. Utilising our relative perspectives as insider and outsider to this methodological approach to researching one's own teaching, the authors promote the value of self-study while simultaneously questioning certain assumptions associated with how it is typically enacted. To engage…

There is ongoing conceptual clutter and variability in the definitions of self-regulation, as well as challenges in developing reliable and valid observational coding scheme within the field. Observational approaches suit early childhood well by enabling raters to gather data from real-world contexts without requiring young children to complete a…

Researchers increasingly have access to two types of data: (i) large observational datasets where treatment (e.g., class size) is not randomized but several primary outcomes (e.g., graduation rates) and secondary outcomes (e.g., test scores) are observed and (ii) experimental data in which treatment is randomized but only secondary outcomes are…

A teaching life is not one continuous thread of progress, moving ever forward. Theories that become fixed, as well as habits of thought and approach within the teacher, can cloud their understanding of their students and life in the classroom. For the teacher, the key to understanding is "seeing" the person, continually working within a…

Critical events are incidents encountered by teachers in their practice that can potentially provoke questions about the instructional decisions made, gaining an entry to changing and improving teaching practices. Current research often conceptualises critical events as those that occur during instruction, but critical events can also occur before…

In response to national and state trends promoting inquiry-based social studies over the last decade, social studies teacher educators at the University of Kentucky revamped their pre-service program to create alignment around the key inquiry concepts of questions, tasks, and sources. Part of the program revision involved the creation of a new…

One limitation of the naturalistic observation method is that it is understudied how accurately personal relationships may be judged by observers in real-life settings. To assess this judgment accuracy, we observed 285 dyads of individuals in public places and then asked whether they were affiliated or strangers. We found that human observers were…

In this article, the authors address some of the scientific challenges associated with using observation as a research method. The authors ask how researchers contextualise and understand observation in terms of its theoretical underpinnings and how it is conducted. Using a vignette in the kindergarten context, the authors explore how observation…

In a clustered observational study, a treatment is assigned to groups and all units within the group are exposed to the treatment. We develop a new method for statistical adjustment in clustered observational studies using approximate balancing weights, a generalization of inverse propensity score weights that solve a convex optimization problem…