From Observation to Instructional Change: Patterns of Teaching Practice Across Five Feedback Cycles in Grade VIII Science and Mathematics Classrooms

Abstract

This study reports on the variation of four observed instructional practices over five cycles of

classroom observation and feedback. The Teach observation sheet recorded lesson facilitation,

checks for understanding, instructional feedback and critical thinking at five observation points.

Analysis was conducted to report on the dissertation's descriptive statistics and selected school-level

tests without re-computing results from unavailable individual tests. All four mean scores were

higher at observation five than at observation one at the full-sample level. Lesson facilitation rose

from 12.17 to 15.10, checks for understanding from 10.28 to 12.00, instructional feedback from

6.96 to 7.64 and critical thinking from 10.57 to 12.28. The paths differed. There was a fall in lesson

facilitation and instructional feedback at the second observation, though it did improve. Feedback

and critical thinking also decreased slightly between observations 4 and 5. The thesis reported an

omnibus result for lesson facilitation for School 3 as F = 5.77, p = .05. No school-level omnibus p

value was less than .05 for the other instructional elements. These are describing inequitable

changes in observed practice. The single group design cannot prove that the changes were due to

observer feedback. The paper provides a focused narrative about the timing and stability of

instructional change, and areas that might need continued coaching