Think Aloud?

Some people think that something must be wrong with them because they talk to themselves. But experienced teachers know that this is a way in which we make sense to ourselves. Sometimes we do this when we're alone - putting ideas into words helps us organize our thoughts. But it can be even more effective when we're in a group. This even has a name: think-aloud.

Think-aloud is a meta-cognitive strategy in which we think publicly about our thinking processes as teacher educators and examine them with our student teachers. Teacher educators use think-alouds to assist their student-teachers to understand how teaching and learning interact by overtly presenting aspects of their pedagogical decision making and putting these forward for discussion, analysis and criticism.

At our upcoming online session (Thursday, December 18, 2008, 20:00 - 21:30 GMT+2) we'll listen to a report of a study in the use of think-aloud conducted simultaneously by teacher educators in Israel, Australia, and Canada. We'll be meeting with the chief researchers:

Prof. Lea Kosminsky,
Kaye Academic College of Education Beer Sheva and The MOFET Institute, Israel
Prof. Tom Russell,
Queen’s University, Canada
Prof. Amanda Berry,
Monash University, Australia

This was a "self-study" in which the researchers examined their own use of think-alouds and the ways these contributed to the learning of their student-teachers. The researchers served as critical friends for each other, sharing protocols of think-aloud episodes and commenting on their insights concerning the use of the think-aloud approach.

The research on think-aloud with teacher training is still rather sparse, and we hope that this upcoming session with spark additional interesting in this promising tool.

Please note - participation in this session is open to paying participants and requires downloading and installing the Interwise online communication tool. More information on these, and registration, can be found at:
http://mofetitec.macam.ac.il/calendar/Pages/TheBoundariesofThink-Aloud.aspx